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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 361.8 km/sec
density: 3.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B6
1916 UT Oct27
24-hr: C1
0411 UT Oct27
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 27 Oct 12
Decaying sunspot 1598 poses a slim threat for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 71
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 27 Oct 2012

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Update 27 Oct 2012


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 131 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 27 Oct 2012

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 0 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.9 nT
Bz: 3.2 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 26 Oct 12
There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2012 Oct 27 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
15 %
10 %
CLASS X
01 %
01 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2012 Oct 27 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
10 %
10 %
SEVERE
05 %
05 %
 
Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012
What's up in space
 

Hang the Transit of Venus on your wall! Hubble-quality images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory are now available as metallic posters in the Space Weather Store.

 
Venus Transit metal posters

MOSTLY QUIET WITH A CHANCE OF FLARES: Solar activity is low. With no sunspots actively flaring, the sun's x-ray output has nearly flatlined--for now. Strong flares are still a possibility. Sunspot AR1598 has a delta-class magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class eruptions. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.

CANYON OF FIRE: A filament of magnetism snaking around the sun's southeastern limb erupted on Oct 26th. The blast created a "canyon of fire" in the sun's lower atmosphere. Click on the circle to animate the event:

The glowing walls of the canyon are formed in a process closely related to that of arcade loops, which appear after many solar flares. Stretching more than 250,000 km from end to end, the "canyon" traces the original channel where the filament was suspended by magnetic forces above the stellar surface.

As erupting magnetic filaments often do, this one launched a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space. The Solar and Heliospheric Observary recorded the expanding cloud: movie. The CME does not appear to be heading for Earth or any other planet.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

A COMET IN TROUBLE? Amateur astronomers have been keeping a close eye on Comet 168P/Hergenrother since October 1st when it suddenly brightened 500-fold, from 15th to 8th magnitude. At the time, the comet was making its closest approach to the sun (1.4 AU). Some observers speculated that solar heating caused the fragile comet to break apart. On Oct. 26th, a group of astronomers found evidence to support this idea. "Using the Faulkes North (F65) telescope," writes Ernesto Guido et al., "we detected a fragmentation in Comet 168P."

"Our images, taken on Oct. 26th, reveal the presence of a secondary nucleus, or fragment, about two arcseconds away from the main central condensation of comet 168P." This is probably a chunk of rocky ice emerging from the haze of gas and dust that surrounds the main nucleus, still hidden inside. Comets are notoriously fragile, so its no surprise that Comet 168P/Hergenrother is breaking apart in this way.

The only question is, what happens next? Will the comet spit in two, with two heads and two tails, one tracking the fragment and the other tracking the parent? Or is this the prelude to a more complete disintegration? Amateur astronomers are encouraged to monitor developments while the comet remains bright enough to see through backyard telescopes. Here are the comet's coordinates. For best results, we recommend the Comet Hunter Telescope.

Realtime Comet Photo Gallery

BRIDE, GROOM, AURORAS: Space weather can have a big influence on human affairs--and we're not just talking about radio blackouts and power outages. On Oct. 25th, photographers Ronn Murray and Marketa Stanczykova were married under the Northern Lights in Alaska, and according to the groom, it was space weather that brought them together:

"Marketa Stanczykova and I met after a she looked me up from Iceland when she found this image on the cover of spaceweather.com 1 year and 21 days ago," explains Ronn. "We became friends on Facebook and after shooting auroras together in Alaska we fell in love. So, we gathered a small group of friends and headed up to the University of Alaska's Poker Flat Research Range where the aurora is studied. Last night we said 'I do' in front of the AuroraCam for all the world to see." (continued below)

"This is a self portrait of the aurora and wedding photographers celebrating their own love under the magnificent lights."

"The sky was dark and aurora activity was non existent until we pulled up to the observatory," he adds. "As if by magic, the sky came alive and we were able to say our vows with a select group of incredible friends, the amazing aurora that brought us together, and the Aurora Cam as our witnesses. It was a day none of us will forget!"

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011]

  Near Earth Asteroids
Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.
On October 27, 2012 there were 1343 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
1991 VE
Oct 26
34 LD
--
1.1 km
2012 UW9
Oct 29
9.4 LD
--
31 m
2012 UU169
Oct 29
3 LD
--
33 m
2001 CV26
Oct 30
68 LD
--
2.4 km
2012 UX136
Nov 4
2.7 LD
--
42 m
2007 PA8
Nov 5
16.8 LD
--
2.4 km
2012 UV136
Nov 10
5.8 LD
--
34 m
2012 UY68
Nov 14
6.7 LD
--
42 m
2010 JK1
Nov 25
9.3 LD
--
56 m
2009 LS
Nov 28
55.2 LD
--
1.1 km
2009 BS5
Dec 11
8.4 LD
--
15 m
4179 Toutatis
Dec 12
18 LD
--
2.7 km
2003 SD220
Dec 23
59.8 LD
--
1.8 km
1998 WT24
Dec 23
69.2 LD
--
1.1 km
2003 UC20
Dec 29
25.7 LD
--
1.0 km
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.
  Essential web links
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
  The official U.S. government space weather bureau
Atmospheric Optics
  The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.
Solar Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Space Weather Alerts
   
  more links...
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