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FARSIDE SOLAR ACTIVITY: Two spectacular CMEs billowed away from the farside of the sun on Sept. 5th: movie. The source was farside sunspot AR3413, which has become hyperactive only days after turning away from Earth. The two CMEs appear to be heading in the direction of sundiving Comet Nishimura; see below! Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
THE SUN JUST RIPPED OFF A COMET'S TAIL: Comet Nishimura (C/2023 P1) is getting close to the sun--and it shows. On Sept. 2nd, a solar storm hit the comet at point blank range and ripped off its tail. Astrophotographer Michael Jaeger recorded the event from AZM Martinsberg, Austria:
Researchers call this a "disconnection event." It's caused by a CME (or fast solar wind stream) hitting the comet. One of the earliest recorded examples of this phenomenon occured in April 2007 when NASA’s STEREO-A spacecraft watched a CME strike Comet Encke and rip its tail completely off: movie.
Comet Nishimura is plunging toward the sun for a 0.22 AU close encounter on Sept. 17th. Right now, it is about halfway between the orbits of Mercury and Venus (0.48 AU) where CMEs are denser and stronger than they are when they reach Earth at 1.0 AU.
The CME that hit Comet Nishimura probably came from active sunspot AR3413, which is almost directly facing the comet. This CME, in particular, had the right timing and direction to cause the disconnection event Jaeger observed:
Nishimura's tail has since grown back--but it might not last for long. More CMEs are heading its way. SOHO recorded at least two moving in the right general direction on Sept. 5th. Experienced amateur astronomers who photograph Comet Nishimura in the early morning sky (observing tips, sky map) may be able to record their impact. Got a picture? Submit it here.
Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
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18K GOLD "ALWAYS AND FOREVER" PENDANT: Are you looking for an unforgettable gift? Consider the Always and Forever Space Pendent. On Aug. 29, 2023, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $199.95. Engraved with the words "I love you always and forever", this 18K gold-plated sterling silver pendant has a heart-shaped ruby crystal in the middle surrounded by a ring of glittering 5A cubic zirconia nuggets. It is a visually striking premium pendant that makes a once-in-a-lifetime anniversary or birthday gift.
The students are selling space pendants to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight 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
THINGS YOU SEE WHILE HOG HUNTING: The night sky is changing. How? Daryn Morran sends this report from West Texas: "On Sept. 3rd, we were out hog hunting using night vision optics. I just happened to look up at the stars thru the night scope, and I saw something bizarre." He held his cell phone to the scope and photographed a UFO-like spectacle:
"I saw a line of 18 dots, pretty evenly spaced in a near perfect line, moving slowly thru the sky," says Morran. "The entire strand of lights then suddenly disappeared in the middle of the sky."
Morran witnessed a train of Starlink satellites en route to their final orbit approximatrely 500 km above Earth. Because they were still in low-Earth orbit at the time Morran saw them, the satellites could easily enter our planet's shadow. Indeed, that's what happened, and they "suddenly disappeared."
Only 5 years ago, sightings like this never happened. Then SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites, the first batch of 60 leaving Earth in May 2019. Now there are more than 4700. SpaceX has single-handedly tripled the number of active satellites orbiting our planet.
In fact, only 15 minutes after Morran caught this train of Starlinks in his hog rifle, SpaceX launched 21 more Starlinks from Cape Canaveral. It was SpaceX's 62nd orbital mission of 2023, setting a new record for most flights in a year.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is deeply concerned about the increasing number of satellites circling Earth. Bright satellite trains disrupt astronomy, interfere with nocturnal wildlife, and threaten the dark-sky heritage of all humanity. Learn more about this issue from the IAU's Center for Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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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 Sep 06, 2023, the network reported 5 fireballs.
(5 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 September 6, 2023 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2023 RF | 2023-Sep-01 | 10.2 LD | 7.2 | 62 |
2023 QB2 | 2023-Sep-01 | 8.1 LD | 7.2 | 20 |
2023 QZ1 | 2023-Sep-01 | 18.2 LD | 18.6 | 52 |
2023 QU | 2023-Sep-02 | 13.6 LD | 9.8 | 34 |
2017 BY32 | 2023-Sep-02 | 16.4 LD | 3.5 | 19 |
2023 RD | 2023-Sep-02 | 1.1 LD | 18.3 | 16 |
2023 QG | 2023-Sep-03 | 11.6 LD | 13.7 | 75 |
2023 QH1 | 2023-Sep-03 | 13.1 LD | 6.4 | 23 |
2021 JA5 | 2023-Sep-06 | 13.3 LD | 10.9 | 19 |
2023 QC5 | 2023-Sep-08 | 10.6 LD | 7.6 | 27 |
2020 GE | 2023-Sep-08 | 14.9 LD | 1.4 | 8 |
2023 QE8 | 2023-Sep-10 | 4 LD | 14.5 | 55 |
2023 QF6 | 2023-Sep-10 | 7 LD | 10.5 | 22 |
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 |
349507 | 2023-Oct-03 | 16.5 LD | 21 | 696 |
2022 FX1 | 2023-Oct-04 | 20 LD | 9.9 | 25 |
2023 QC8 | 2023-Oct-05 | 15.8 LD | 6.3 | 41 |
2022 TD | 2023-Oct-07 | 8.9 LD | 9.4 | 10 |
2018 ER1 | 2023-Oct-08 | 12.5 LD | 5.3 | 27 |
2022 UX1 | 2023-Oct-11 | 3.1 LD | 8.6 | 9 |
2015 KW120 | 2023-Oct-12 | 18.2 LD | 13 | 22 |
2021 NT14 | 2023-Oct-13 | 18.6 LD | 8.6 | 254 |
2011 GA | 2023-Oct-15 | 6.8 LD | 16.6 | 230 |
2007 SQ6 | 2023-Oct-15 | 19.4 LD | 6.5 | 130 |
2019 UZ3 | 2023-Oct-16 | 9.6 LD | 8.3 | 14 |
1998 HH49 | 2023-Oct-17 | 3.1 LD | 14.8 | 193 |
2022 UO10 | 2023-Oct-19 | 7.8 LD | 9.8 | 16 |
2020 UR | 2023-Oct-20 | 5.8 LD | 12.9 | 9 |
2020 FM6 | 2023-Oct-23 | 15.5 LD | 15.9 | 149 |
2019 HH4 | 2023-Oct-24 | 13.3 LD | 20 | 365 |
2021 SZ4 | 2023-Oct-26 | 14 LD | 30 | 287 |
302169 | 2023-Oct-26 | 12.7 LD | 25.7 | 374 |
525229 | 2023-Oct-30 | 10.6 LD | 17.4 | 200 |
2013 UV3 | 2023-Nov-01 | 14.7 LD | 15.4 | 16 |
2016 WY | 2023-Nov-02 | 9.1 LD | 3.9 | 5 |
363505 | 2023-Nov-02 | 13.7 LD | 8 | 709 |
2022 JF | 2023-Nov-03 | 15.2 LD | 17.2 | 39 |
2023 QP8 | 2023-Nov-03 | 17.1 LD | 8.8 | 170 |
2016 VW2 | 2023-Nov-03 | 10.1 LD | 8.1 | 20 |
2019 UH7 | 2023-Nov-04 | 9.9 LD | 5.9 | 11 |
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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