SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 856.0 km/s
density: 2.6 protons/cm³
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: M1 1525 UT Oct30
24-hr: M1 0205 UT Oct30
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1955 UT

Daily Sun: 31 Oct '03
Sunspots 486 and 488 pose a continued threat for strong X-class solar flares. Image credit: SOHO MDI

Sunspot Number: 293
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 30 Oct 2003

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 8.3 nT
B_z: -0.0 nT
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on Nov. 2nd. Image credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope.

What's Up in Space -- 31 Oct 2003 Subscribe to Space Weather News! Would you like a phone call when auroras appear over your home town? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE. THE STORM IS OVER: After two days of mild-to-extreme geomagnetic storms, our planet's magnetic field is finally settling down. High-latitude observers should remain alert for intermittent auroras--but no widespread displays. BRIGHT AURORAS: It's been a wonderful week for sky watchers. Two fast-moving clouds of gas from the sun (CMEs) swept past Earth--one on Oct 29th and one on Oct 30th--and sparked extreme geomagnetic storms. In Alabama, Lucille Petruny and Auburn University geology professor David King took this picture of pink-glowing auroras at sunset on Oct. 29th: Visit our growing gallery of aurora pictures. SUNSPOT 486: The source of all this solar activity is giant sunspot 486. This week it unleashed two of the most powerful solar flares ever recorded and hurled massive CMEs toward Earth. More such eruptions are possible in the days ahead. Sunspot 486 is so big it's easy to see from Earth. But never look directly at the sun. Always use safe solar observing techniques. Right: Amateur astronomer Bill Cook of New Jersey made this sketch of active region 486 on Oct. 28th. He used a safely sun-filtered 4 inch refractor telescope "working at 111x magnification," says Cook. Drawing big sunspots is an excellent albeit underappreciated way to observe and enjoy the sun. Spaceweather PHONE | Upcoming Events | Archives

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 are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

October 2003 Earth-asteroid encounters

ASTEROID		MISS DISTANCE	MAG.
2003 SS84	Oct. 11	8 LD	17
1998 FG2	Oct. 21	15 LD	17
2003 TL4	Oct. 26	12 LD	15
2001 KZ66	Oct. 30	31 LD	16

Notes: LD is a "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.

NOAA Space Environment Center -- The official U.S. government bureau for real-time monitoring of solar and geophysical events, research in solar-terrestrial physics, and forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances.

Atmospheric Optics -- the first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory -- Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. (European Mirror Site)

Daily Sunspot Summaries -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Current Solar Images --a gallery of up-to-date solar pictures from the National Solar Data Analysis Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center. See also the GOES-12 Soft X-ray Imager.

Recent Solar Events -- a nice summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

SOHO Farside Images of the Sun from SWAN and MDI.

The Latest SOHO Coronagraph Images -- from the Naval Research Lab

The Sun from Earth -- daily images of our star from the Big Bear Solar Observatory

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

What is the Interplanetary Magnetic Field? -- A lucid answer from the University of Michigan. See also the Anatomy of Earth's Magnetosphere.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft. How powerful are solar wind gusts? Read this story from Science@NASA.

More Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Proton Monitor.

Aurora Forecast --from the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute

Daily Solar Flare and Sunspot Data -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

What is an Iridium flare? See also Photographing Satellites by Brian Webb.

Vandenberg AFB missile launch schedule.

What is an Astronomical Unit, or AU?

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; Jan-Mar., 2003; Apr-Jun., 2003;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL