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GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): Later today, a CME is expected to hit Earth, possibly sparking G1-class geomagnetic storms. It was hurled in our direction by one of many M-class solar flares earlier this week; no one is certain which one. NASA and NOAA models agree that the CME should arrive near the UT midnight boundary between Aug. 4th and 5th. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
THE EVERSHED EFFECT: Something is sucking plasma out of big sunspots. Earlier today Maximilian Teodorescu observed the process in action from the Bucegi mountains of Romania:
"This is an animation of big sunspot AR3392," he explains. "It shows material flowing out of the sunspot's core for 17 minutes."
This is known as "the Evershed Effect." British astronomer John Evershed discovered the phenomenon in 1909 while he was working at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory in India. (The government of India made a postage stamp to celebrate his work -- the first-ever stamp to highlight sunspot dynamics.) More than 100 years later researchers still aren't certain what causes the flows. A leading theory holds that material is being siphoned out of the sunspot through magnetic flux tubes much like a milkshake sucked out of a straw.
The animation above is only a fraction of what Teodorescu saw. The full field of view shows the Evershed Effect happening around the complete circumference of the sunspot.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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SOMETHING MARVELOUS IS HAPPENING TO VENUS: If you see Venus through a telescope this week, you might not believe your eyes. The Earth-sized planet has narrowed into a marvelously thin crescent. Yesterday, Patricio Leon photographed it in broad daylight from Santiago, Chile:
"Only 3.8% of the planet's disk was illuminated," says Leon. "I saw it high in the noontime sky using my 8-inch telescope."
This is happening because Venus is approaching "inferior conjunction." On Aug. 13th, the planet will pass almost directly between Earth and the sun. Around this time Venus turns its nightside toward Earth. The disk of Venus is completely dark except for a curved sliver of sunlit cloudtops.
"Inferior conjunction is less than 10 days away," says Leon, who plans to monitor changes in the days ahead. At closest approach on Aug. 13th, Venus and the sun will be separated by a little more than 7 degrees. This means careful daytime shots of Venus will be possible throughout the conjunction.
How do you do it? Check out these observing tips from Sky & Telescope.
more images: from Zlatko F Kovacevic of Virovitica, Croatia; from Alessio Ursino of Cavenago, Italy; from Wah! somewhere in Canada
Realtime Venus Photo Gallery
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THE PANSPERMIA CUBE: Every week, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus take an astronomy class from Dr. Tony Phillips. This summer they've been learning about panspermia--the unverified yet tantalizing idea that seeds of life have spread through the cosmos. To celebrate the concept, they just flew the Panspermia Cube to the stratosphere:
You can have it for $119.95. Inside the crystal cube, there is a laser-etched 3D model of a dandelion spreading its seeds on the winds of space. It comes with a greeting card showing the dandelion in flight (105,120 ft high on the students' cosmic ray research balloon) and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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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 Aug 04, 2023, the network reported 23 fireballs.
(11 sporadics, 8 Perseids, 2 southern Delta Aquariids, 2 alpha Capricornids)
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 August 4, 2023 there were 2335 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2021 BD3 | 2023-Jul-30 | 14 LD | 8.5 | 25 |
2023 OQ2 | 2023-Jul-30 | 4.1 LD | 3.8 | 12 |
2016 AW65 | 2023-Jul-31 | 16.7 LD | 5.7 | 47 |
2023 OQ3 | 2023-Aug-01 | 3.9 LD | 9.8 | 35 |
2023 OD5 | 2023-Aug-01 | 13.8 LD | 18.2 | 52 |
2023 OS3 | 2023-Aug-01 | 2.5 LD | 4.8 | 10 |
2023 OF1 | 2023-Aug-02 | 17.7 LD | 10.7 | 39 |
2023 OY4 | 2023-Aug-02 | 3.2 LD | 17.6 | 30 |
2023 OW4 | 2023-Aug-03 | 1.5 LD | 9.7 | 10 |
2020 PN1 | 2023-Aug-03 | 10.8 LD | 4.8 | 29 |
620082 | 2023-Aug-04 | 14 LD | 20.6 | 377 |
2023 OR5 | 2023-Aug-04 | 7.4 LD | 7.5 | 31 |
2023 OQ | 2023-Aug-06 | 9.9 LD | 21.3 | 145 |
2004 KG1 | 2023-Aug-06 | 19.9 LD | 9.1 | 56 |
2022 BS2 | 2023-Aug-11 | 17.3 LD | 8.2 | 30 |
2023 OE5 | 2023-Aug-14 | 4 LD | 3.9 | 18 |
2022 CP1 | 2023-Aug-17 | 13.8 LD | 9.8 | 12 |
2011 QJ21 | 2023-Aug-19 | 13 LD | 15.1 | 45 |
6037 | 2023-Aug-23 | 15.9 LD | 14.3 | 571 |
2012 PZ17 | 2023-Aug-30 | 16.8 LD | 3.6 | 16 |
2017 BY32 | 2023-Sep-02 | 16.4 LD | 3.5 | 19 |
2021 JA5 | 2023-Sep-06 | 13.3 LD | 10.9 | 19 |
2020 GE | 2023-Sep-08 | 14.9 LD | 1.4 | 8 |
2020 RT2 | 2023-Sep-12 | 11 LD | 10 | 8 |
2016 LY48 | 2023-Sep-16 | 5 LD | 10.8 | 99 |
2010 TE | 2023-Sep-16 | 6.8 LD | 6 | 22 |
523598 | 2023-Sep-20 | 19.8 LD | 25 | 239 |
2019 SF6 | 2023-Sep-26 | 16.7 LD | 8.6 | 20 |
2013 TG6 | 2023-Sep-28 | 3.6 LD | 4.1 | 17 |
2009 UG | 2023-Sep-30 | 6.1 LD | 9 | 78 |
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 |
| 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 |
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