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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 346.3 km/sec
density: 4.8 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A3
2341 UT Jul29
24-hr: A4
0504 UT Jul29
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2350 UT
Daily Sun: 29 Jul 20
New sunspot AR2768 is a member of Solar Cycle 25. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 22
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 29 Jul 2020

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2020 total: 153 days (73%)
2019 total: 281 days (77%)
2018 total: 221 days (61%)
2017 total: 104 days (28%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
2015 total: 0 days (0%)
2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
2008 total: 268 days (73%)
2007 total: 152 days (42%)
2006 total: 70 days (19%)

Updated 29 Jul 2020


Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 2.67
x1010 W Cold
Max: 49.4
x1010 W Hot (10/1957)
Min: 2.05
x1010 W Cold (02/2009)
explanation | more data: gfx, txt
Updated 29 Jul 2020

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 72 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 29 Jul 2020

Cosmic Rays Solar minimum is underway. The sun's magnetic field is weak, allowing extra cosmic rays into the solar system. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth in 2020 are near a Space Age peak.

Oulu Neutron Counts

Percentages of the Space Age average:
today: +9.3% High
48-hr change: -0.5%
Max: +11.7% Very High
(12/2009)
Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991)
explanation | more data
Updated 29 Jul 2020 @ 0600 UT

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.2 nT
Bz: -0.1 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 29 Jul 20

Solar wind flowing from this northern coronal hole could reach Earth on Aug. 2-3.
Credit: SDO/AIA

Noctilucent Clouds NLC season is underway. NASA's AIM spacecraft detected a blue cloud over the north pole on May 17th--one of the earliest starts in the spacecraft's14 year history. Check here for daily images from AIM.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at:
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2020 Jul 29 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
01 %
01 %
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: 2020 Jul 29 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
20 %
MINOR
20 %
20 %
SEVERE
10 %
10 %
 
Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2020
What's up in space
       
 

Never miss another geomagnetic storm. Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and you'll receive a text message when auroras appear in your area. Aurora tour guides and professional astronomers use this service. Now you can, too!

 

NEW-CYCLE SUNSPOT ACTIVITY: Solar Cycle 25 is gaining strength. Today there are two new-cycle sunspots on the solar disk: AR2767 and AR2768. Both have magnetic polarities that identify them as members of Solar Cycle 25. Neither appears to pose a threat for strong solar flares, though, so the quiet of Solar Minimum continues. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.

FAREWELL, COMET NEOWISE: Comet NEOWISE has faded dramatically since its close approach to Earth on July 23rd, dimming more than 10-fold. It's no longer visible to the naked eye and won't swing around the sun again for another 6,800 years. To say "farewell," Dennis Mammana of Borrego Springs, California, created this montage of the comet gliding across the evening sky:


"I hope everyone got to see Comet NEOWISE during its recent visit," says Mammana. "It became bright enough to see easily with the unaided eye from dark rural locations but now, unfortunately, has faded into the realm of large binoculars and telescopes. I photographed it each night from July 18th to 27th. In this sequence you can see the comet changing its size and brightness as it first approaches Earth and then recedes back into the depths of our solar system, not to return to our neighborhood for nearly 68 centuries."

Despite its fade, NEOWISE remains a good target for photographers with telescopes and/or sensitive digital cameras. Here's an example of what can still be seen. For more parting shots, many of them wonderful, browse the NEOWISE photo gallery:

Realtime Comet NEOWISE Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS, GOING STRONG: In a typical year, noctilucent clouds begin to fade in late July. But 2020 is not typical. "The season is still going strong," reports Robbin Gälliner, who sends this picture from Frösön, Sweden:

"Last night (July 28th) we had a great display," says Gälliner. "I could even see the clouds reflecting in the shallow water."

"My camera also picked up some faint greens and red in the northern twilight--maybe a faint aurora or just airglow," adds Gälliner. "I'm looking forward to the skies finally getting darker so aurora season can begin as well."

If 2020 continues apace, Arctic sky watchers will soon be seeing auroras and NLCs side by side. Stay tuned for green mixed with electric blue--and maybe a dash of red!

Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

THE INFINITY BLACK PEARL: It came from Tahiti--and now it's been to the edge of space. On April 15, 2020, this genuine Black Tahitian South Sea Cultured Pearl flew to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon, soaring 107,611 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:

You can have it for $249.95. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are selling these exotic space pearls to fund their cosmic ray monitoring program.

Measuring 9 mm in diameter, the pearl is mounted on a 925 sterling silver infinity twist and suspended on a matching 17 inch long sterling silver chain. Each pearl comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education


Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

  All Sky Fireball Network
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 July 29, 2020, the network reported 31 fireballs.
(17 sporadics, 8 Southern Delta Aquariids, 4 Perseids, 2 alpha Capricornids)

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]

  Near Earth Asteroids
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 July 29, 2020 there were 2037 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2020 ND
2020-Jul-24
14.5 LD
13.6
178
2020 NN
2020-Jul-25
16.3 LD
10.1
42
2020 OA5
2020-Jul-27
16.8 LD
10.2
15
2020 OO1
2020-Jul-27
1.7 LD
7.3
18
2020 NZ
2020-Jul-28
8.2 LD
7.8
31
2020 OE2
2020-Jul-28
4.5 LD
2.9
14
2020 OY4
2020-Jul-28
0.1 LD
12.4
3
2020 OR4
2020-Jul-28
1.2 LD
22.9
27
2020 MX3
2020-Jul-29
9.4 LD
8.5
63
2020 OM4
2020-Jul-30
8 LD
15.3
71
2018 PY7
2020-Jul-31
8.9 LD
9.5
16
2007 RF1
2020-Jul-31
10.7 LD
5
21
2020 OC1
2020-Jul-31
9.6 LD
4
18
2020 OT4
2020-Jul-31
12.1 LD
4.3
18
2020 OO2
2020-Aug-01
14.9 LD
7.8
29
2018 BD
2020-Aug-03
7.6 LD
9.4
3
2020 OG3
2020-Aug-04
7.1 LD
6
17
2009 PQ1
2020-Aug-05
10.8 LD
13.5
112
2020 OL4
2020-Aug-08
9.5 LD
10.8
37
2020 FA1
2020-Aug-23
18.4 LD
1.9
20
2016 AH164
2020-Aug-26
15.7 LD
5.6
4
2011 ES4
2020-Sep-01
0.3 LD
8.2
30
465824
2020-Sep-06
19.4 LD
14
162
2012 RM15
2020-Sep-12
14.9 LD
9.8
45
2017 US
2020-Sep-13
17.3 LD
5.9
21
2014 QJ33
2020-Sep-18
11.5 LD
8.3
65
2017 SL16
2020-Sep-20
8.9 LD
6.4
25
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.
  Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere

SOMETHING NEW! We have developed a new predictive model of aviation radiation. It's called E-RAD--short for Empirical RADiation model. We are constantly flying radiation sensors onboard airplanes over the US and and around the world, so far collecting more than 22,000 gps-tagged radiation measurements. Using this unique dataset, we can predict the dosage on any flight over the USA with an error no worse than 15%.

E-RAD lets us do something new: Every day we monitor approximately 1400 flights criss-crossing the 10 busiest routes in the continental USA. Typically, this includes more than 80,000 passengers per day. E-RAD calculates the radiation exposure for every single flight.

The Hot Flights Table is a daily summary of these calculations. It shows the 5 charter flights with the highest dose rates; the 5 commercial flights with the highest dose rates; 5 commercial flights with near-average dose rates; and the 5 commercial flights with the lowest dose rates. Passengers typically experience dose rates that are 20 to 70 times higher than natural radiation at sea level.

To measure radiation on airplanes, we use the same sensors we fly to the stratosphere onboard Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloons: neutron bubble chambers and X-ray/gamma-ray Geiger tubes sensitive to energies between 10 keV and 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

Column definitions: (1) The flight number; (2) The maximum dose rate during the flight, expressed in units of natural radiation at sea level; (3) The maximum altitude of the plane in feet above sea level; (4) Departure city; (5) Arrival city; (6) Duration of the flight.

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Approximately 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 radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 18% since 2015:

The data points in the graph above 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 Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes:

In this plot, dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x.

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.

Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

  Essential web links
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
  The official U.S. government space weather bureau
Atmospheric Optics
  The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.
Solar Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts
  fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.
Aurora 30 min forecast
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather

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