| | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 5.00 storm 24-hr max: Kp= 5.00 storm explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 14.51 nT Bz: -4.48 nT south more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 1146 UT Coronal Holes: 26 Feb 23 Solar wind flowing from this equatorial coronal hole could reach Earth on Feb 27-28. Credit: SDO/AIA Noctilucent Clouds The southern hemisphere season for noctilucent clouds has begun. NASA's AIM spacecraft detected the first electric-blue puffs over Antarctica on Dec. 1st. Switch view:Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Polar Updated Feb26 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2023 Feb 26 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 65 % | 65 % | CLASS X | 15 % | 15 % | 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 Feb 26 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 30 % | MINOR | 35 % | 35 % | SEVERE | 50 % | 25 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 01 % | 05 % | MINOR | 10 % | 20 % | SEVERE | 90 % | 75 % | | | | | | | | | | | | Never miss another geomagnetic storm. Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and you'll receive a text message when magnetic storms erupt. Aurora tour guides and professional astronomers use this service. You can, too! | | | CME IMPACT: The first of two CMEs (#1, #2) expected to hit Earth on Feb. 27-28 has arrived hours earlier than expected. G1 to G2-class geomagnetic storms are possible in the hours ahead as Earth passes through the CME's strongly magnetized wake. Storm conditions could intensify to category G3 on Feb. 28th with the arrival of the second, more potent CME. Aurora alerts: SMS Text. ANOTHER "CHAIN REACTION" EXPLOSION ON THE SUN: On Friday, Feb. 24th, a chain reaction of events on the sun sparked a solar flare, two radio blackouts, and an Earth-directed CME. On Saturday, Feb. 25th, it happened again. A magnetic filament connected to sunspot AR3229 erupted, producing an M6-class solar flare and a shortwave radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean. Soon after, a lopsided halo CME emerged: The flank of this CME should strike Earth's magnetic field on Feb 28th, possibly sparking geomagnetic storms as strong as category G3. During such storms, auroras have been sighted in the USA as far south as Illinois and Oregon. Shock waves in the CME accelerated solar protons to nearly light speed, and the particles have already reached Earth. Right now, NOAA's GOES-16 satellite is detecting a surge of protons with energies greater than 10 MeV. Our planet's magnetic field is funneling these particles toward the poles where a second type of radio blackout is underway--a polar cap absorption (PCA) event: Airplanes flying over these regions may find that their shortwave radios won't work due to the ionizing effect of infalling protons. This PCA could persist for days. You can monitor its progress here. Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter NORTHERN LIGHTS SPACE PENDANT: Every time the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launch cosmic ray sensors to the stratosphere, they send a little something extra along for the ride. For example, this Northern Lights pendant: On Dec. 6th, it flew 107,612 feet above the rugged Sierra Nevada mountains of central California. You can have it for $129.95. The students are selling these pendants as a fund-raiser for their cosmic ray monitoring program. They make great anniversary, birthday and Mother's Day gifts. Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again. Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store All sales support hands-on STEM education Realtime Aurora 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 Feb 25 2023, the network reported 3 fireballs. (3 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 February 26, 2023 there were 2331 potentially hazardous asteroids. | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | 2023 DF | 2023-Feb-21 | 4.4 LD | 9.8 | 14 | 2023 DP | 2023-Feb-21 | 5.7 LD | 15 | 30 | 37638 | 2023-Feb-21 | 17 LD | 11.1 | 493 | 2023 AA2 | 2023-Feb-22 | 17.4 LD | 10.1 | 133 | 2023 CM2 | 2023-Feb-22 | 2.1 LD | 11.2 | 22 | 2023 DE | 2023-Feb-22 | 8.6 LD | 16.9 | 25 | 2023 CS1 | 2023-Feb-23 | 15.1 LD | 9.1 | 31 | 2023 DR | 2023-Feb-25 | 0.2 LD | 14 | 4 | 2023 DK | 2023-Feb-25 | 6.6 LD | 4 | 9 | 2023 CG1 | 2023-Feb-25 | 15.2 LD | 6.5 | 32 | 2023 DA | 2023-Feb-26 | 2.8 LD | 5.9 | 18 | 2023 CX2 | 2023-Feb-27 | 7.6 LD | 2.3 | 11 | 2023 CC2 | 2023-Feb-27 | 16.2 LD | 5.1 | 31 | 2012 DK31 | 2023-Feb-27 | 12.6 LD | 15.5 | 143 | 2006 BE55 | 2023-Feb-28 | 9.4 LD | 13.3 | 145 | 2021 QW | 2023-Mar-03 | 13.9 LD | 12.1 | 79 | 2017 BM123 | 2023-Mar-03 | 12.1 LD | 7.8 | 61 | 2007 ED125 | 2023-Mar-03 | 11.7 LD | 13.1 | 224 | 2015 EG | 2023-Mar-04 | 13.9 LD | 10.6 | 27 | 2023 BK5 | 2023-Mar-05 | 17.8 LD | 8.4 | 62 | 535844 | 2023-Mar-07 | 10.5 LD | 7.7 | 149 | 2023 DQ | 2023-Mar-08 | 6.2 LD | 22.8 | 174 | 2020 FQ | 2023-Mar-09 | 14 LD | 6.3 | 13 | 2020 FV4 | 2023-Mar-13 | 17.6 LD | 8.2 | 30 | 2023 CM | 2023-Mar-14 | 10.3 LD | 14 | 190 | 2023 DM | 2023-Mar-15 | 8.5 LD | 7.4 | 66 | 2018 UQ1 | 2023-Mar-17 | 10.7 LD | 11.7 | 143 | 2016 WH | 2023-Mar-19 | 18.1 LD | 11.8 | 14 | 2018 FE3 | 2023-Mar-21 | 10.1 LD | 5.4 | 13 | 2023 CE4 | 2023-Mar-29 | 20 LD | 10.1 | 93 | 2022 YK4 | 2023-Mar-29 | 11.9 LD | 2.3 | 25 | 2017 SE12 | 2023-Mar-30 | 5.2 LD | 8.4 | 15 | 2016 GH1 | 2023-Mar-30 | 7.7 LD | 5.8 | 11 | 2022 GO3 | 2023-Apr-02 | 17 LD | 11.6 | 15 | 2021 GN1 | 2023-Apr-02 | 17.7 LD | 14.2 | 18 | 2018 FD | 2023-Apr-07 | 17.9 LD | 8.2 | 47 | 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 | 2006 HV5 | 2023-Apr-26 | 6.3 LD | 17.4 | 400 | 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 | | BestCSGOGambling is the best site for everything related to CSGO gambling on the web | | To find reviews of new online casino sites in the UK try The Casino DB where there are hundreds of online casino reviews complete with bonuses and ratings. 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