 | | | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation  Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1.00 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3.00 quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.89 nT
Bz: 2.69 nT north
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 1146 UT Coronal Holes: 22 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. 22, 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 Aug22 SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2023 Aug 22 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 10 % | 10 % | CLASS X | 01 % | 01 % | 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 22 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 15 % | MINOR | 05 % | 05 % | SEVERE | 01 % | 01 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 15 % | MINOR | 20 % | 20 % | SEVERE | 20 % | 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. | | | TODAY'S FORECAST CALLS FOR QUIET, BUT... There are eight sunspot groups on the Earthside of the sun--a large number that would normally herald strong solar activity. In this case, however, the forecast calls for quiet. All eight sunspot groups have stable magnetic fields that pose no threat for strong flares. BUT! A large sunspot is emerging, which would change everything. Keep reading.... A LARGE SUNSPOT IS EMERGING: NASA's Perseverance Mars rover saw it first. Last week, the rover's MASTCAM spotted a large sunspot crossing the farside of the sun. Now it is emerging over the sun's eastern limb where we can see it from Earth. The new sunspot seems to be connected to another sunspot across the sun's equator. Watch this: 
Recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, the movie shows two horn-like plumes of plasma leaping up from the new sunspot and, simultaneously,. sunspot AR3413. A bridge of magnetism linking the two active regions could coordinate their explosions as they turn toward Earth this week, doubling their impact on our planet. Stay tuned! Aurora alerts: SMS Text Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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SOLAR ECLIPSE CRYSTAL PYRAMID: On Aug. 21, 2017, during the Great American Solar Eclipse, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched 11 space weather balloons from the path of totality. The armada soared into the stratosphere, touching the shadow of the Moon more than 100,000 feet above Earth's surface. This pyramid hitched a ride: 
You can have it for $159.95. With the sun, Earth, and Moon perfectly aligned, the faces of the 5-sided crystal caught the reflection of the eclipsed sun. Watch the video! The pyramid comes with a gift card showing the crystal floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere and passing through the Moon's shadow. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that this gift has been to the edge of space and back again. Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education A MAGNIFICENT SPIRAL: Spiral shapes are at the heart of many solar explosions. We'll explain why below, but first take a look at this magnificent spiral photographed Aug. 17th by German astrophotographer Harald Paleske: 
"I caught this C5-class solar flare at the edge of the sun using my new 300mm mirror Unigraph solar telescope," says Paleske. "I find the spiral structure beautiful." Why spiral? Imagine you are holding a thick rubber band, one end of the loop in each hand. Start twisting--twist, twist, twist--until you can't twist the rubber band any more. It is taut and laden with energy. Now let go. Crack! The rubber band untwists with a painful explosive snap. Physics teachers often liken magnetic fields to rubber bands, because they stretch and twist in the same way. When a sunspot's magnetic field becomes overtorqued (like that rubber band in the example) it can release its energy in the form of an explosively unfurling spiral--a.k.a., a "solar flare." NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the same spiraling flare in motion (movie). Paleske's high-resolution photo, however, is the more beautiful of the two. Realtime Space Weather 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 22, 2023, the network reported 21 fireballs.
(15 sporadics, 3 Perseids, 2 Northern Delta Aquariids, 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 22, 2023 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
| Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | | 2023 QD1 | 2023-Aug-17 | 3.3 LD | 7.2 | 13 | | 2022 CP1 | 2023-Aug-17 | 13.8 LD | 9.8 | 12 | | 2023 PZ | 2023-Aug-17 | 1.4 LD | 1.6 | 5 | | 2023 PD1 | 2023-Aug-18 | 15.3 LD | 7.5 | 30 | | 2023 QC | 2023-Aug-18 | 3.6 LD | 8 | 41 | | 2023 QY | 2023-Aug-18 | 0.2 LD | 13.2 | 7 | | 2023 QE2 | 2023-Aug-19 | 1.1 LD | 12.4 | 10 | | 2011 QJ21 | 2023-Aug-19 | 13 LD | 15.1 | 45 | | 2023 QS1 | 2023-Aug-19 | 0.3 LD | 15.7 | 7 | | 2023 QR | 2023-Aug-20 | 0.5 LD | 20.9 | 5 | | 2023 QE | 2023-Aug-21 | 8.7 LD | 6.5 | 12 | | 2023 PM1 | 2023-Aug-21 | 8.2 LD | 18.6 | 68 | | 2023 QB1 | 2023-Aug-21 | 1.8 LD | 11.3 | 6 | | 2023 PM | 2023-Aug-22 | 9.5 LD | 7 | 58 | | 2023 QZ | 2023-Aug-22 | 13.5 LD | 4.5 | 15 | | 2023 QU1 | 2023-Aug-22 | 16.4 LD | 5.7 | 21 | | 6037 | 2023-Aug-23 | 15.9 LD | 14.3 | 571 | | 2023 QW | 2023-Aug-23 | 4.2 LD | 16.3 | 23 | | 2023 QO | 2023-Aug-23 | 6.5 LD | 8.8 | 15 | | 2023 QF | 2023-Aug-23 | 1.9 LD | 5.4 | 13 | | 2023 QC2 | 2023-Aug-25 | 9.2 LD | 10.2 | 20 | | 2023 QT1 | 2023-Aug-26 | 11.5 LD | 10.6 | 30 | | 2023 QR1 | 2023-Aug-27 | 4.3 LD | 5 | 12 | | 2023 QQ | 2023-Aug-27 | 10.7 LD | 10.1 | 25 | | 2023 QD2 | 2023-Aug-29 | 3.3 LD | 7.8 | 15 | | 2012 PZ17 | 2023-Aug-30 | 16.8 LD | 3.6 | 16 | | 2023 QH | 2023-Aug-31 | 12 LD | 15.9 | 64 | | 2023 QB2 | 2023-Sep-01 | 8.1 LD | 7.2 | 21 | | 2023 QZ1 | 2023-Sep-01 | 18.2 LD | 18.6 | 50 | | 2023 QU | 2023-Sep-01 | 13.6 LD | 9.8 | 34 | | 2017 BY32 | 2023-Sep-02 | 16.4 LD | 3.5 | 19 | | 2023 QG | 2023-Sep-03 | 11.6 LD | 13.7 | 74 | | 2023 QH1 | 2023-Sep-03 | 13.1 LD | 6.4 | 24 | | 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 | | 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 | 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. | |
