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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 413.7 km/sec
density: 4.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A7
1715 UT Oct31
24-hr: A7
1329 UT Oct31
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 31 Oct 19
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 31 Oct 2019

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 28 days
2019 total: 227 days (75%)
2018 total: 221 days (61%)
2017 total: 104 days (28%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
2015 total: 0 days (0%)
2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
2008 total: 268 days (73%)
2007 total: 152 days (42%)
2006 total: 70 days (19%)

Updated 31 Oct 2019


Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 4.86
x1010 W Cold
Max: 49.4
x1010 W Hot (10/1957)
Min: 2.05
x1010 W Cold (02/2009)
explanation | more data: gfx, txt
Updated 31
Oct 2019

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux:70 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 31 Oct 2019

Cosmic Rays Solar minimum is underway. The sun's magnetic field is weak, allowing extra cosmic rays into the solar system. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth in 2019 are near a Space Age peak.

Oulu Neutron Counts

Percentages of the Space Age average:
today: +9.2% High
7-day change: -0.1%
Max: +11.7% Very High
(12/2009)
Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991)
explanation | more data
Updated 31 Oct 2019 @ 1800 UT

Since 2015, Earth to Sky cosmic ray balloons launched weekly from California have also detected significant increases in atmospheric radiation. Dose rates reported below are in the stratosphere at approx. 100,000 ft.

California Cosmic Ray Balloons
Monitoring started in March 2015
now: 4.64 uGy/hr High
change since 2015: +19%
Max: 4.79 uGy/hr High
(10/2019)
Min: 3.80 uGy/hr Low (05/2015)
explanation | more data
Updated 19 Oct 2019 @ 0400 UT

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 4
unsettled
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.0 nT
Bz: 1.7 nT north
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 31 Oct 19

Earth is entering a stream of solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole.
Credit: SDO/AIA

Noctilucent Clouds The northern season for noctilucent clouds has ended. NASA's AIM spacecraft is no longer detecting electric-blue clouds around the Arctic Circle.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 09-03-2019 13:55:02 UT
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2019 Oct 31 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
01 %
01 %
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: 2019 Oct 31 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
25 %
15 %
SEVERE
20 %
10 %
 
Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019
What's up in space
       
 

Solar minimum is here - but even now strangely beautiful auroras are dancing around the poles. Deep inside the Arctic Circle, the expert guides of Aurora Holidays in Utsjoki, Finland, can help you chase them. Book now!

 

HALLOWEEN CONJUNCTION: When the sun goes down tonight, Oct. 31st, step outside and look southwest. Jupiter and the slender crescent Moon are side-by-side in the constellation Sagittarius. If you can, try to catch them before the sky fades to black. An evening conjunction framed by twilight blue is extra heavenly. [sky map] [photos]

SPACE PUMPKIN SETS HIGH ALTITUDE RECORD--THE VIDEO: Every year around Halloween, something spooky happens to the Spaceweather.com--Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray ballooning program. It turns into a pumpkin! Launched by students on Oct. 18th, this year's Jack O'Lantern soared 109,908 feet above Earth, breaking the previous high-altitude mark for space pumpkins (set by us in 2017) by more than 2600 feet. When you play the video, be sure to turn up the volume to hear the original soundtrack, composed and performed by Earth to Sky student Anna Herbst:

We do this every October. Why? Because it stretches our skills as balloonists. Using a giant orange squash as a payload instead of our usual insulated capsule challenges us to invent ways to keep electronics warm, to mount the cosmic ray sensors, to GPS-track the flight. And it's so much fun!

We have been launching cosmic ray balloons from the Sierra Nevada mountains of California almost once a week since 2015, gathering a unique record of radiation in Earth's atmosphere. Since the launches began, atmospheric radiation has increased almost 20%--a counterintuitive side-effect of Solar Minimum.

Realtime Spaceweather Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

ARCTIC ALERT FOR AURORA BOO-REALIS: Earth is entering a stream of solar wind flowing from a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere. This is causing geomagnetic unrest and auroras around the Arctic Circle. Tour guide Marianne Bergli photographed the display from the island of Ringvassøy, Norway:

"A wonderful purple aurora is dancing in the skies above," says Bergli.

In auroras, purple is a sign of nitrogen. While oxygen atoms produce the common green glow in Bergli's image, the less-common purple comes from molecular nitrogen ions at very high altitudes. For some reason, the current solar wind stream is exciting high-altitude nitrogen, and Bergli witnessed its telltale hue.

More purple may be in the offing as Earth moves deeper into the solar wind stream on Oct. 31st. Arctic trick-or-treaters should be alert for aurora boo-realis. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

THE SHOOTING STAR PENDANT: It's simple. It's elegant. And it's been to the edge of space. On Sept. 27th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere. This stainless steel "shooting star" pendant hitched a ride, all the way to 108,245 feet:

You can have it for $89.95. The students are selling shooting star pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with greeting card showing the item in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again. These make great birthday and Christmas gifts.

Bonus: The star contains a hidden chamber, which you may fill with the ashes of a loved one or anything else you wish to keep close to your heart.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

  All Sky Fireball Network
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 Oct. 31, 2019, the network reported 30 fireballs.
(28 sporadics, 1 Orionid, 1 chi Taurid)

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]

  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 31, 2019 there were 2018 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2019 UX12
2019-Oct-26
1 LD
9.7
6
2019 UO5
2019-Oct-26
19.2 LD
10.5
27
2019 UL12
2019-Oct-26
12.5 LD
9.8
25
2019 UD2
2019-Oct-26
12.2 LD
7.7
17
2016 TH94
2019-Oct-26
11 LD
14
42
2019 UU5
2019-Oct-26
15.2 LD
7.2
31
2019 UJ12
2019-Oct-26
7.2 LD
39.5
109
2019 UY7
2019-Oct-27
1.4 LD
10.8
12
2019 UC2
2019-Oct-27
16.6 LD
6.7
16
2019 UJ6
2019-Oct-27
4.1 LD
7.7
21
2019 UD7
2019-Oct-27
1.9 LD
13.5
9
2019 UM9
2019-Oct-28
3.2 LD
7.6
13
2019 UT1
2019-Oct-28
4.7 LD
8.8
11
2019 UE1
2019-Oct-28
8.6 LD
6.8
24
2019 UC
2019-Oct-29
2.9 LD
8.9
51
2019 TR2
2019-Oct-29
19.4 LD
13.8
75
2019 UB8
2019-Oct-29
0.5 LD
10.6
6
2019 UL5
2019-Oct-29
3.9 LD
5.3
11
2019 UT8
2019-Oct-29
2.8 LD
15.7
13
2019 UB2
2019-Oct-29
15.2 LD
8.4
24
2019 UH7
2019-Oct-30
10 LD
6.2
11
2019 UM8
2019-Oct-30
5.9 LD
7
7
2019 UJ3
2019-Oct-31
7.3 LD
8.6
23
2019 UF9
2019-Oct-31
2 LD
10.3
8
2019 UG12
2019-Nov-01
4 LD
11.9
19
2019 UP7
2019-Nov-01
15.5 LD
9.4
25
2019 UM4
2019-Nov-01
11.1 LD
9.2
22
2019 UG11
2019-Nov-01
0.5 LD
10.1
17
2019 UR12
2019-Nov-02
9.8 LD
6.7
50
2019 UU3
2019-Nov-02
13.3 LD
13.9
30
2015 JD1
2019-Nov-03
12.9 LD
11.9
269
2019 UL8
2019-Nov-03
2.8 LD
12.8
19
2019 UH3
2019-Nov-03
10.4 LD
8.5
24
2019 UH5
2019-Nov-05
13.3 LD
3.5
12
2019 UL4
2019-Nov-07
16.7 LD
9
30
2019 UO7
2019-Nov-07
3.8 LD
4.1
10
2019 UM12
2019-Nov-08
1.3 LD
13.6
40
2019 UR4
2019-Nov-08
7.4 LD
4.5
15
2019 UB7
2019-Nov-10
13.7 LD
17.5
56
2010 JG
2019-Nov-12
19.6 LD
14.9
235
2019 UH1
2019-Nov-13
9.5 LD
9.1
50
2019 UN12
2019-Nov-13
3.8 LD
28.8
137
2019 UE8
2019-Nov-15
7.7 LD
6.6
26
2019 UR2
2019-Nov-18
18 LD
13.4
123
2019 UK6
2019-Nov-20
15.4 LD
7.7
64
481394
2019-Nov-21
11.3 LD
7.9
372
2008 EA9
2019-Nov-23
10.5 LD
2.2
10
2017 AP4
2019-Dec-03
8.5 LD
7.5
15
2018 XW2
2019-Dec-07
17.4 LD
13
28
216258
2019-Dec-20
15.3 LD
11.8
324
2013 XY20
2019-Dec-21
18.4 LD
1.9
28
2017 XQ60
2019-Dec-22
11 LD
15.6
47
310442
2019-Dec-26
19 LD
12.3
372
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.
  Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere

SOMETHING NEW! We have developed a new predictive model of aviation radiation. It's called E-RAD--short for Empirical RADiation model. We are constantly flying radiation sensors onboard airplanes over the US and and around the world, so far collecting more than 22,000 gps-tagged radiation measurements. Using this unique dataset, we can predict the dosage on any flight over the USA with an error no worse than 15%.

E-RAD lets us do something new: Every day we monitor approximately 1400 flights criss-crossing the 10 busiest routes in the continental USA. Typically, this includes more than 80,000 passengers per day. E-RAD calculates the radiation exposure for every single flight.

The Hot Flights Table is a daily summary of these calculations. It shows the 5 charter flights with the highest dose rates; the 5 commercial flights with the highest dose rates; 5 commercial flights with near-average dose rates; and the 5 commercial flights with the lowest dose rates. Passengers typically experience dose rates that are 20 to 70 times higher than natural radiation at sea level.

To measure radiation on airplanes, we use the same sensors we fly to the stratosphere onboard Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloons: neutron bubble chambers and X-ray/gamma-ray Geiger tubes sensitive to energies between 10 keV and 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

Column definitions: (1) The flight number; (2) The maximum dose rate during the flight, expressed in units of natural radiation at sea level; (3) The maximum altitude of the plane in feet above sea level; (4) Departure city; (5) Arrival city; (6) Duration of the flight.

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Approximately 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 radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 18% since 2015:

The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-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 Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes:

In this plot, dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x.

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.

Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

  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
NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts
  fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.
Aurora 30 min forecast
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather

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