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NO CMEs ARE HEADING FOR EARTH: Geomagnetic storms are unlikely this week. One CME just missed Earth and no others are heading our way. The best chance for an aurora-producing storm lies in sunspot AR3270, which has an unstable magnetic field that poses a threat for strong flares. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
CRYOVOLCANIC COMET GOES QUIET, THEN ERUPTS: The British Astronomical Association (BAA) is reporting a strong eruption on cryovolcanic comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann. "The new outburst on April 2nd was so intense] it now reflects more than 10 times the light reflected by the nucleus alone," writes Dr. Richard Miles of the BAA. Astronomers Maria Eleftheriou and Jose Manuel Perez Redondo used the 2.0-m Faulkes Telescope South and its twin robotic scope on Haleakala, Hawaii, to photograph the expanding cloud:
Cryovolcanos on 29P erupt unpredictably all the time. This eruption was unusual because researchers suspected it was coming. They predicted it.
"We have been watching 29P especially closely in recent days because the pseudo-nucleus had become very faint indicative of the crust sealing and preventing outgassing," says Miles. "In fact, photometry indicated the nucleus, and the region within a few hundred kilometres of it, was the faintest we had ever seen it."
The deep fading turned out to be the calm before the storm, just as Miles and colleagues suspected. Amateur astronomers who wish to help monitor this eruption can find 29P in the constellation Gemini, right here.
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ADD NEVADA TO THE LIST: We've been keeping track of all the US states where auroras were sighted during the severe geomagnetic storm of March 23-24--a tally based on pictures submitted to Spaceweather.com. Photographer Heidi Pinkerton just added Nevada to the list. "I was passing through Beatty NV when the sky started to glow," she says. A 10 second exposure with her Canon R5 caught the deep red-purple glow:
"They weren't easy to see with the naked eye, but the camera easily picked up the color," says Pinkerton, who also photographed the display across the California border in Death Valley National Park.
Adding Nevada to the list brings the total number of states to 33. This map shows the distribution of aurora photos color coded by their dominant hue:
By now many readers know why the colors are separated, north vs. south. Auroras are like a layer cake with red on top and green on the bottom. Green is usually brighter, so green dominates most photos taken in the north where the full display can be seen. People in the south, however, can't see the full display. Their northern horizon blocks the view of low-hanging greens, leaving only red to color the sky.
Is your state missing from this map? Send us an aurora photo and we will add it to the list. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
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"I LOVE YOU FOREVER" MOONSTONE PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the "I Love You Forever" Moonstone. This one hitched a ride to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $162.95. The moonstone's sterling silver infinity wrap is inscribed with the words "I love you forever." It makes a great anniversary or birthday gift. The moonstone comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight, telling the story of its trip to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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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 Apr 05 2023, the network reported 2 fireballs.
(2 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 5, 2023 there were 2325 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2023 FO3 | 2023-Mar-31 | 6.6 LD | 10.2 | 17 |
2023 FF7 | 2023-Apr-01 | 8.7 LD | 10.8 | 15 |
2023 GF | 2023-Apr-01 | 8.3 LD | 8.4 | 42 |
2023 FZ10 | 2023-Apr-01 | 2.7 LD | 2.8 | 7 |
2023 FY6 | 2023-Apr-02 | 10 LD | 22.5 | 32 |
2022 GO3 | 2023-Apr-02 | 17 LD | 11.6 | 15 |
2021 GN1 | 2023-Apr-02 | 17.7 LD | 14.2 | 18 |
2023 FU6 | 2023-Apr-03 | 4.9 LD | 10.2 | 14 |
2023 FS11 | 2023-Apr-03 | 17.3 LD | 11.7 | 26 |
2023 FA7 | 2023-Apr-04 | 5.9 LD | 24 | 31 |
2023 GE | 2023-Apr-05 | 2.4 LD | 11 | 11 |
2023 FQ7 | 2023-Apr-05 | 15 LD | 8.4 | 21 |
2023 FZ3 | 2023-Apr-06 | 11 LD | 18.8 | 47 |
2018 FD | 2023-Apr-06 | 16.2 LD | 7.8 | 47 |
2023 FE4 | 2023-Apr-06 | 9.6 LD | 2.6 | 32 |
2023 FM | 2023-Apr-06 | 7.8 LD | 15.8 | 155 |
2020 FL4 | 2023-Apr-06 | 14.1 LD | 5 | 14 |
2023 FX13 | 2023-Apr-09 | 8.2 LD | 13.3 | 27 |
2023 FY13 | 2023-Apr-09 | 18.5 LD | 11.9 | 55 |
2023 FP5 | 2023-Apr-09 | 10.7 LD | 14.1 | 40 |
2023 FC4 | 2023-Apr-09 | 19.6 LD | 10.1 | 56 |
2023 FG5 | 2023-Apr-10 | 9.5 LD | 9.4 | 24 |
2023 FT1 | 2023-Apr-10 | 19.5 LD | 6.6 | 33 |
2023 FE5 | 2023-Apr-11 | 11.6 LD | 5.8 | 28 |
2023 FS10 | 2023-Apr-12 | 3.2 LD | 7.6 | 21 |
2019 GK21 | 2023-Apr-13 | 15.2 LD | 8.1 | 27 |
2022 YK9 | 2023-Apr-13 | 19.9 LD | 9.9 | 175 |
436774 | 2023-Apr-13 | 12.5 LD | 17.6 | 719 |
2023 FN13 | 2023-Apr-15 | 2.6 LD | 4.5 | 12 |
2020 BV14 | 2023-Apr-16 | 17.8 LD | 8.2 | 81 |
2006 HV5 | 2023-Apr-26 | 6.3 LD | 17.4 | 400 |
2021 JF2 | 2023-Apr-28 | 16.6 LD | 8 | 19 |
2018 VS6 | 2023-May-01 | 5.2 LD | 11.6 | 14 |
2011 KY15 | 2023-May-18 | 19.9 LD | 14.3 | 54 |
2021 JK7 | 2023-May-22 | 16.7 LD | 22.9 | 48 |
2019 UJ3 | 2023-May-23 | 15.5 LD | 9.8 | 21 |
2023 CL3 | 2023-May-24 | 18.9 LD | 7.3 | 121 |
2021 KO2 | 2023-May-29 | 15.8 LD | 13.9 | 9 |
2012 KP24 | 2023-May-31 | 10.3 LD | 12.4 | 19 |
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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