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INTENSIFYING FLARE ACTIVITY: Flare activity from big sunspot AR3435 is intensifying. A few hours ago, it almost crossed the X-threshold with this M8-class explosion:

A flash of extreme UV radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout over the Atlantic ocean: map. Mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal for as much as 30 minutes after 1419 UT. More flares are in the offing as this active sunspot turns toward Earth. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
CME SPARKS STRONG GEOMAGNETIC STORM: Earth's magnetic field is still reverberating from a fast-moving CME strike on Sept. 18th. The CME's arrival (a day earlier than expected) sparked a strong G3-class geomagnetic storm with auroras stretching from France to the West Coast of the USA.
Jeroen Daniels photographed the display from Edmonton, Alberta:

"As soon as the sun set I could see auroras dancing in the twilight sky," says Daniels. "The colours were unlike any that I have seen before--greens mixed with blues mixed with reds, orange, pink. It was amazing!"
At the apex of the storm, red atomic-oxygen auroras spread into the United States as far south as Colorado (+40.4N), Missouri (+40.1N), and Nebraska (+41.9N). It was a true mid-latitude event.
Not all the lights in the sky were auroras. Many observers also spotted STEVE--a glowing ribbon of purple light caused by currents of hot plasma flowing through Earth's magnetosphere. Michele Sadauskas photographed the phenomenon from Glidden, Wisconsin:

"When I stepped out of the truck, STEVE appeared vividly across the sky," says Sadauskas. "I quickly set up my pano rig and was pretty happy with the capture. This is the first time I've caught STEVE crossing all the way from east to west!"
Other notable sightings of STEVE were made in Montana, Michigan, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Did you miss the storm? Although the CME arrived a full day earlier than expected, subscribers to our Space Weather Alert Service were not taken by surprise. All subscribers received instant text messages when the CME hit Earth's magnetic field. Try it!
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
SOLAR ECLIPSE PENDANT: The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are about to try something never done before--to photograph the shadow of an annular solar eclipse from the stratosphere. On Oct. 14th, they'll launch a cosmic ray research balloon equipped with cameras to photograph the shadow zone of an eclipse over Nevada. You can support the flight by buying a Solar Eclipse Pendant:

It's yours for $99.95. The students launched this pendant on July 17th. Floating at an altitude 105,000 feet above Earth’s surface, it made contact with space, experiencing temperatures as low as -63 C.
Buy the pendent now and for no additional charge we will fly it back to the stratosphere during the annular eclipse. Just make a note in the COMMENTS BOX of your shopping cart: "Fly my pendant again!"
Note: We have photographed the shadow of an eclipse before. Here's what the total eclipse of Aug. 21, 2017, looked like from the stratosphere over the Nebraska-Wyoming border:

Total eclipses make deep black shadows, in this case blacking out more than 70 miles of terrain. What does the shadow of an *annular* eclipse look like? We hope to find out. It should be fuzzier around the edges, and not nearly as dark in the middle. An overview from the stratosphere could provide a unique picture.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
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 20, 2023, the network reported 8 fireballs.
(8 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 20, 2023 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 |
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2023 RZ9 | 2023-Sep-15 | 13.1 LD | 5.8 | 15 |
2023 SF | 2023-Sep-15 | 14.9 LD | 7.9 | 26 |
2023 SB | 2023-Sep-15 | 6.8 LD | 6.3 | 15 |
2023 RO2 | 2023-Sep-15 | 7 LD | 6 | 10 |
2016 LY48 | 2023-Sep-16 | 5 LD | 10.8 | 99 |
2023 RY7 | 2023-Sep-16 | 13.7 LD | 11.2 | 28 |
2023 SX | 2023-Sep-16 | 12.2 LD | 7.7 | 18 |
2023 RM5 | 2023-Sep-16 | 11.5 LD | 9.5 | 19 |
2023 RA15 | 2023-Sep-16 | 20 LD | 20.9 | 31 |
2023 RB15 | 2023-Sep-16 | 14.6 LD | 8.3 | 23 |
2023 RG13 | 2023-Sep-16 | 12.7 LD | 7 | 46 |
2023 RQ9 | 2023-Sep-16 | 10.5 LD | 7.7 | 26 |
2023 SA | 2023-Sep-17 | 8.2 LD | 14.7 | 15 |
2023 RD13 | 2023-Sep-17 | 9.1 LD | 4.9 | 17 |
2023 RH11 | 2023-Sep-17 | 3.6 LD | 14.3 | 17 |
2023 SY | 2023-Sep-17 | 13.2 LD | 11.2 | 32 |
2023 RJ11 | 2023-Sep-17 | 14.9 LD | 6.8 | 21 |
2023 RO9 | 2023-Sep-17 | 13.2 LD | 12.3 | 24 |
2023 SQ | 2023-Sep-18 | 2.2 LD | 6.1 | 35 |
2010 TE | 2023-Sep-18 | 9.8 LD | 5.6 | 22 |
2023 RV7 | 2023-Sep-18 | 10.7 LD | 19.9 | 34 |
2023 RV9 | 2023-Sep-18 | 10.1 LD | 7.2 | 39 |
2023 SC2 | 2023-Sep-18 | 0.5 LD | 18.5 | 5 |
2023 SU1 | 2023-Sep-18 | 17 LD | 6.8 | 25 |
2023 RE15 | 2023-Sep-18 | 16 LD | 3.1 | 24 |
2023 RG16 | 2023-Sep-18 | 3.6 LD | 11.8 | 17 |
2023 SB1 | 2023-Sep-19 | 1.2 LD | 15.9 | 8 |
2023 RF13 | 2023-Sep-19 | 10.5 LD | 7.2 | 33 |
2023 RK3 | 2023-Sep-19 | 18.8 LD | 9.6 | 41 |
2023 RV15 | 2023-Sep-20 | 12.9 LD | 14.5 | 34 |
2023 RV12 | 2023-Sep-20 | 8.9 LD | 6.6 | 21 |
2023 SN1 | 2023-Sep-20 | 0.9 LD | 16.2 | 5 |
2023 RP9 | 2023-Sep-20 | 2.3 LD | 13.2 | 30 |
2023 RA8 | 2023-Sep-20 | 15.5 LD | 6.6 | 26 |
523598 | 2023-Sep-20 | 19.8 LD | 25 | 239 |
2023 ST | 2023-Sep-21 | 2.1 LD | 23 | 22 |
2023 SW | 2023-Sep-21 | 2 LD | 12.3 | 15 |
2023 SJ | 2023-Sep-21 | 16.9 LD | 16.5 | 48 |
2023 RR6 | 2023-Sep-21 | 15.6 LD | 7.5 | 14 |
2023 RQ6 | 2023-Sep-22 | 15.8 LD | 9.4 | 24 |
2023 RU3 | 2023-Sep-23 | 19.8 LD | 11.6 | 34 |
2023 RD15 | 2023-Sep-24 | 6 LD | 5 | 15 |
2023 SQ1 | 2023-Sep-24 | 5.4 LD | 20.5 | 18 |
2023 SB2 | 2023-Sep-24 | 6.9 LD | 8 | 10 |
2023 SZ | 2023-Sep-25 | 5.6 LD | 4.3 | 24 |
2019 SF6 | 2023-Sep-26 | 16.7 LD | 8.6 | 20 |
2023 SE2 | 2023-Sep-27 | 7.7 LD | 23.9 | 24 |
2023 SY1 | 2023-Sep-28 | 7.2 LD | 10.1 | 12 |
2023 RF3 | 2023-Sep-28 | 15.4 LD | 7.7 | 39 |
2013 TG6 | 2023-Sep-28 | 3.6 LD | 4.1 | 17 |
2023 RF9 | 2023-Sep-29 | 10.6 LD | 9.2 | 25 |
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 |
2019 QO5 | 2023-Oct-05 | 19.9 LD | 9.4 | 61 |
2023 RF10 | 2023-Oct-05 | 15.8 LD | 5.8 | 27 |
2023 QC8 | 2023-Oct-05 | 15.8 LD | 6.3 | 43 |
2022 TD | 2023-Oct-07 | 8.9 LD | 9.4 | 10 |
2023 SA1 | 2023-Oct-08 | 17.9 LD | 5.9 | 26 |
2018 ER1 | 2023-Oct-08 | 12.5 LD | 5.3 | 27 |
2022 UX1 | 2023-Oct-11 | 3.1 LD | 8.6 | 9 |
2023 RD11 | 2023-Oct-11 | 12.8 LD | 9.6 | 39 |
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 |
2023 RA4 | 2023-Oct-24 | 8.4 LD | 3.9 | 49 |
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 | 174 |
2016 VW2 | 2023-Nov-03 | 10.1 LD | 8.1 | 20 |
2019 UH7 | 2023-Nov-04 | 9.9 LD | 5.9 | 11 |
2014 BA3 | 2023-Nov-13 | 15.7 LD | 2.7 | 8 |
2021 TN3 | 2023-Nov-15 | 17 LD | 6.3 | 31 |
2019 VL5 | 2023-Nov-16 | 8.5 LD | 8.2 | 24 |
2019 LB1 | 2023-Nov-18 | 15.8 LD | 4.2 | 14 |
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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