 | | | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation  Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1.67 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3.33 quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 7.64 nT
Bz: 2.19 nT north
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 1147 UT Coronal Holes: 16 Aug 23 
There are no significant equatorial coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA  Noctilucent Clouds
The northern season for NLCs began on May 26th. The first clouds were detected inside the Arctic Circle by the NOAA 21 satellite. An instrument onboard NOAA 21 (OMPS LP) is able to detect NLCs (also known as "polar mesospheric clouds" or PMCs). For the rest of the season, daily maps from NOAA 21 will be presented here:
Updated: Aug. 14, 2023
Each dot is a detected cloud. As the season progresses, these dots will multiply in number and shift in hue from blue to red as the brightness of the clouds intensifies.
What happened to NASA's AIM spacecraft, which has been monitoring NLCs since 2007? Earlier this year, the spacecraft's battery failed. As a result AIM is offline, perhaps permanently. There may be some hope of a recovery as AIM's orbit precesses into full sunlight in 2024. Until then, we will maintain AIM's iconic "daily daisy," frozen at Feb. 28, 2023, as a show of thanks for years of service and hope for future daisies:  | | | Switch view:Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Polar Updated Aug16 SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2023 Aug 16 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 15 % | 15 % | CLASS X | 05 % | 05 % | Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm Updated at: 2023 Aug 16 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 35 % | 20 % | MINOR | 10 % | 05 % | SEVERE | 01 % | 01 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 15 % | MINOR | 20 % | 20 % | SEVERE | 30 % | 20 % | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | This is an AI Free Zone! Text created by ChatGPT and other Large Language Models is spreading rapidly across the Internet. It's well-written, artificial, frequently inaccurate. If you find a mistake on Spaceweather.com, rest assured it was made by a real human being. | | | QUIET WEDNESDAY: The sun is peppered with sunspots--usually a sign of high solar activity. In this case, however, all of the sunspots have stable magnetic fields that pose little threat for strong flares. NOAA forecasters say there is no more than a 1% chance of X-flares on Aug. 16th. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text NEW COMET NISHIMURA: Astronomers are monitoring a new comet that could become a naked eye-object next month. It is Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura), discovered just a few days ago by Japanese amateur astronomer Hideo Nishimura. This morning just before dawn in June Lake, California, Dan Bartlett photographed it rising in the constellation Gemini: 
Right now the comet is shining like a 10th magnitude star, a relatively easy target for backyard telescopes, and it could become more than 100 times brighter. Newly-discovered comets are famously unpredictable, so take this with a grain of salt: Forecasters believe the Comet Nishimura will brighten to 3rd magnitude in mid-September when it passes by the sun inside the orbit of Mercury. This would make it visible to the naked eye from rural areas. This might be a "hyperbolic comet." In other words, it appears to have a hyperbolic orbit (e>1) with too much energy to remain inside the solar system. The comet will only visit us once, with the sun acting as a gravitational slingshot, sending the comet hurtling out of the solar system after its flyby. However, this conclusion could be overturned by additional, more precise measurements of its orbit. Astronomers who wish to observe this comet may find an ephemeris here. Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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FANTASTIC DRAGON SPACE PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the Fantastic Dragon Space Pendant. This one hitched a ride onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon, reaching an altitude of 117,524 ft:
You can have it for $124.95. The pendant is hand-crafted with colorful enamel inlaid on a hypoallergenic dragon exoskeleton. It makes a great gift for anyone who loves fantasy and dragonlore. The students are selling space pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the pendant 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
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 Aug 16, 2023, the network reported 19 fireballs.
(12 sporadics, 6 Perseids, 1 kappa Cygnid)  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 16, 2023 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
| Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | | 2022 BS2 | 2023-Aug-11 | 17.3 LD | 8.2 | 30 | | 2023 PP1 | 2023-Aug-13 | 16.8 LD | 8.4 | 29 | | 2023 PB1 | 2023-Aug-13 | 4.1 LD | 15.5 | 19 | | 2023 OE5 | 2023-Aug-14 | 4 LD | 3.9 | 19 | | 2023 PA1 | 2023-Aug-14 | 6.6 LD | 20.2 | 31 | | 2023 PQ | 2023-Aug-14 | 2 LD | 14.8 | 36 | | 2023 PS | 2023-Aug-14 | 6.6 LD | 7.9 | 17 | | 2023 PC | 2023-Aug-14 | 13.3 LD | 5.3 | 43 | | 2023 PX | 2023-Aug-15 | 13 LD | 7.6 | 27 | | 2023 PH1 | 2023-Aug-16 | 5.2 LD | 6 | 10 | | 2022 CP1 | 2023-Aug-17 | 13.8 LD | 9.8 | 12 | | 2023 PZ | 2023-Aug-17 | 1.4 LD | 1.6 | 6 | | 2023 PD1 | 2023-Aug-18 | 15.3 LD | 7.5 | 30 | | 2011 QJ21 | 2023-Aug-19 | 13 LD | 15.1 | 45 | | 2023 PM1 | 2023-Aug-21 | 8.2 LD | 18.6 | 71 | | 2023 PM | 2023-Aug-22 | 9.5 LD | 7 | 64 | | 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 | | 349507 | 2023-Oct-03 | 16.5 LD | 21 | 696 | | 2022 FX1 | 2023-Oct-04 | 20 LD | 9.9 | 25 | | 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 | 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 |  | Getting YouTube comments is essential if you want to beat the algorithm! That’s why you need to buy YouTube comments from RealSocialz.com because they offer real USA comments you can customize. | | When looking for casinos to play online when the weather is bad, you can try casino online trucchi for Italian games. If you are not from Finland you can try the Swedish page Svenska casino online to find suitable games, check out svenskacasinoonline.net. Always check your local laws before playing with real money. | | BestCSGOGambling is the best site for everything related to CSGO gambling on the web | | | These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! | | | | | | | | |  | | |  | ©2021 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips. | |
