| | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 2.33 quiet 24-hr max: Kp= 2.33 quiet explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 2.66 nT Bz: 0.03 nT north more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 1146 UT Coronal Holes: 29 Apr 24 There are no significant equatorial coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA Polar Stratospheric Clouds Colorful Type II polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) form when the temperature in the stratosphere drops to a staggeringly low -85C. NASA's MERRA-2 climate model predicts when the air up there is cold enough: On Apr. 27, 2024, the Arctic stratosphere is much too warm for Type II polar stratospheric clouds. | more data. Noctilucent Clouds The southern season for NLCs is over. The first clouds were detected inside the Antarctic Circle on Dec. 4, 2023, by the NOAA 21 satellite. The same satellite detected the last cloud on Feb. 21, 2024. Daily maps are now blank: Updated: Feb 22, 2024 An instrument onboard NOAA 21 (OMPS LP) is able to detect NLCs (also known as "polar mesospheric clouds" or PMCs). Now that the southern season has ended, attention turns to the northern hemisphere. The first NLCs should appear inside the Arctic Circle in mid to late May. SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2024 Apr 29 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 35 % | 35 % | CLASS X | 05 % | 05 % | Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm Updated at: 2024 Apr 29 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 20 % | MINOR | 05 % | 10 % | SEVERE | 01 % | 01 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 15 % | MINOR | 25 % | 25 % | SEVERE | 25 % | 30 % | | | | | | | | | | | | This is an AI Free Zone! Text created by Large Language Models is spreading rapidly across the Internet. It's well-written, artificial, frequently inaccurate. If you find a mistake on Spaceweather.com, rest assured it was made by a real human being. | | | EARTH-DIRECTED SOLAR FLARES: Active sunspot AR3654 is crackling with M-class solar flares. The Earth-directed eruptions are causing shortwave radio blackouts at frequencies below 20 MHz. The most recent flare, an M3-class event on April 29th at 0111 UT, wiped out shortwave transmissions throughout much of the Pacific Ocean. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text ICE CRYSTALS CREATE A 'HOLE IN THE SKY': Last week, Andreas Kohlmann of Samnaun, Switzerland, looked up and saw a 22° sun halo caused by ice crystals floating over the snowy landscape. His iPhone11 photo of the phenomenon captured something sky watchers often overlook--the 'hole in the sky' effect: The sky inside the halo is darker than the sky outside, creating a large but subtle disk of partial darkness around the sun. It exists because the ice crystals scatter light at least 22° away from the sun. "No light is refracted through smaller angles, so the area inside the halo is dark," explains retired atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley. "Most rays are deflected through angles near to 22° to form the bright inner edge of the halo," he continues. "Red light is refracted less strongly than other colors, so the halo's inner edge is red hued." The 22° sun halo is the most common of all sun halos. The next time you see one, put on sunglasses to reduce the glare. You may see your own 'hole in the sky.' Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter TAHITIAN BLACK SOLAR ECLIPSE PEARL: It came from Tahiti, and now it has touched the shadow of the Moon. On April 8, 2024, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched this black pearl into a total eclipse of the sun over Texas. Riding on a cosmic ray research balloon, the pearl was 86,564 feet high when lunar darkness swallowed it for 3 minutes 45 seconds: You can have it for $299.95. Measuring 9 mm in diameter, this genuine Tahitian pearl has an 18K rose gold clasp and is suspended from a matching 925 Sterling Silver chain. It comes with a greeting card showing the pearl in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space during the 2024 total eclipse. Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store All sales support hands-on STEM education Realtime Comet Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com. On Apr 29, 2024, the network reported 4 fireballs. (4 sporadics) In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies] 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 April 29, 2024 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids. | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | 2021 VH2 | 2024-Apr-25 | 9.3 LD | 2.7 | 6 | 2024 HL1 | 2024-Apr-26 | 0.4 LD | 12.1 | 22 | 2024 FG5 | 2024-Apr-26 | 12.5 LD | 9.1 | 35 | 2024 HT | 2024-Apr-26 | 17.3 LD | 9.4 | 30 | 2024 GR1 | 2024-Apr-27 | 19.6 LD | 7.2 | 52 | 2024 HF1 | 2024-Apr-28 | 5 LD | 10.9 | 25 | 2024 GS4 | 2024-Apr-28 | 10.6 LD | 12.8 | 33 | 2024 GK5 | 2024-Apr-29 | 12.9 LD | 5.2 | 39 | 2021 GD3 | 2024-Apr-30 | 11.2 LD | 3.5 | 14 | 2024 HQ1 | 2024-Apr-30 | 2.2 LD | 5.5 | 8 | 2022 TN1 | 2024-Apr-30 | 18.6 LD | 17.7 | 314 | 2022 AA5 | 2024-May-02 | 12 LD | 8.9 | 67 | 2024 HK1 | 2024-May-04 | 1.8 LD | 8.7 | 33 | 2024 FR5 | 2024-May-05 | 4.9 LD | 5.2 | 49 | 2021 JG9 | 2024-May-10 | 16.9 LD | 16.1 | 32 | 2016 FT14 | 2024-May-10 | 19.9 LD | 5.9 | 39 | 2015 KJ19 | 2024-May-14 | 15.8 LD | 23.1 | 112 | 2014 WF6 | 2024-May-14 | 7.2 LD | 18.9 | 47 | 2021 JN10 | 2024-May-14 | 17.5 LD | 13.2 | 33 | 2021 JJ | 2024-May-15 | 17.2 LD | 5.8 | 28 | 2022 WN2 | 2024-May-17 | 13.7 LD | 5.5 | 6 | 2019 VB5 | 2024-May-21 | 7.8 LD | 6.3 | 2 | 2024 HP | 2024-May-23 | 15.5 LD | 7.7 | 210 | 2008 LD | 2024-May-28 | 7.7 LD | 4.5 | 6 | 2021 LV | 2024-May-29 | 12 LD | 15.5 | 9 | 1998 KY26 | 2024-Jun-01 | 12 LD | 5.3 | 25 | 2016 JC6 | 2024-Jun-01 | 19.9 LD | 7.1 | 188 | 2008 YN2 | 2024-Jun-05 | 10.5 LD | 7.7 | 20 | 2021 LW3 | 2024-Jun-06 | 9.7 LD | 9.8 | 86 | 2024 CR9 | 2024-Jun-11 | 19.2 LD | 7.4 | 447 | 2022 XC1 | 2024-Jun-12 | 16.5 LD | 6.5 | 21 | 2022 WW11 | 2024-Jun-17 | 19.7 LD | 14.4 | 15 | 2019 NJ | 2024-Jun-27 | 17.2 LD | 10.1 | 66 | 415029 | 2024-Jun-27 | 17.3 LD | 25.9 | 2304 | Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. | Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere | SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Almost once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with sensors that detect secondary cosmic rays, a form of radiation from space that can penetrate all the way down to Earth's surface. Our monitoring program has been underway without interruption for 7 years, resulting in a unique dataset of in situ atmospheric measurements. Latest results (July 2022): Atmospheric radiation is decreasing in 2022. Our latest measurements in July 2022 registered a 6-year low: What's going on? Ironically, the radiation drop is caused by increasing solar activity. Solar Cycle 25 has roared to life faster than forecasters expected. The sun's strengthening and increasingly tangled magnetic field repels cosmic rays from deep space. In addition, solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays, causing sharp reductions called "Forbush Decreases." The two effects blend together to bring daily radiation levels down. .Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. They can alter the chemistry of the atmosphere, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. According to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan school of public health, crews of aircraft have higher rates of cancer than the general population. The researchers listed cosmic rays, irregular sleep habits, and chemical contaminants as leading risk factors. A number of controversial studies (#1, #2, #3, #4) go even further, linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Technical notes: The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners. Data points in the graph labeled "Stratospheric Radiation" correspond to the peak of the Regener-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Regener and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today. | The official U.S. government space weather bureau | | The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. | | Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. | | 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory | | Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. | | information about sunspots based on the latest NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary | | current counts of failed and deployed Starlink satellites from Jonathan's Space Page. See also, all satellite statistics. | | Authoritative predictions of space junk and satellite re-entries | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | the underlying science of space weather | | Marketing yourself on YouTube is hard without real organic views on your videos. You can buy organic YouTube views from and enjoy social boosting that is actually real. Highly recommended! | | When looking for casinos to play online when the weather is bad, you can try the SkyCity Online Casino if you are located in New Zealand. If you are not from NZ you can try the Swedish page Svenska casino online to find suitable games, check out svenskacasinoonline.net. 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