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A SUNSPOT OF INTEREST: New sunspot AR3068 near the sun's southeastern limb is still small, but it is growing rapidly, tripling in size since yesterday. It merits watching as a possible source of near-future activity. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
SPACE TRAFFIC BOOSTS NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS: Never before have so many rockets been launched. In 2021, the space agencies of Earth broke the all-time record for global rocket launches with 133, and in 2022 it looks like the record will be broken again with more than 150. China and SpaceX are big contributors to this increase.
High above Earth, something else is increasing: Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs). It's no coincidence. A new paper just published in the AGU journal for Earth and Space Science confirms that "space traffic has a strong influence on the interannual variability of these bright mesospheric clouds."
Above: Noctilucent clouds over Anchorage AK on July 26, 2022. Credit: Todd Salat.
Noctilucent clouds are a natural phenomenon. During summer months, wisps of water vapor rise up to the mesosphere, 83 km high, and crystalize around specks of disintegrated meteoroids. Sky watchers at northern latitudes can easily see the clouds, which are filled with fine ripples and shine at night with an electric blue color.
Rocket launches are boosting NLCs. A team of researchers led by Michael Stevens of the Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC, looked at data from NASA's AIM spacecraft, which was launched in 2007 to study noctilucent clouds. They found a strong correlation between the number of rockets launched each July and the abundance of clouds in the mesosphere.
Above: July rocket launches (black) vs. the abundance of noctilucent clouds (red)
The link is simple: Rockets produce plumes of water vapor. Winds carry these plumes toward the polar mesosphere where they become raw material for NLCs. Rockets launched in the "morning" between 11 pm and 10 am local time are most effective. During those times, diurnal wind patterns push the plumes toward the noctilucent zone.
Researchers have long known that rockets can produce NLCs. Seminal studies led by Stevens in the early 2000s linked specific space shuttle launches to outbursts of the clouds over both of Earth's poles (refs: #1, #2). The shuttle program ended in 2011, but the "rocket effect" has continued and probably increased (researchers are still investigating the trends at mid-latitudes during the satellite era).
This is good news for sky watchers who love seeing "frosted meteor smoke" light up the night. Rockets make NLCs both brighter and more widespread. Researchers, on the other hand, may have mixed feelings. NLCs can be a sensitive indicator of changes to Earth's climate system--e.g., revealing long-range teleconnections and the abundance of greenhouse gases in the upper atmosphere. Rocket launches could swamp these delicate signals.
Either way, the launch schedule continues. Be alert for noctilucent clouds!
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MIDNIGHT BLACK SPACE PEARL: Space is black--and so is this pearl. On July 22nd, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched the Midnight Pearl to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $179.95--earrings included! Matching pearl earrings flew inside the payload among the cosmic ray sensors.
The students are selling space pearls to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Wrapped in a sterling silver infinity twist, each Midnight Pearl comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its trip to the edge of space.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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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 July 28, 2022, the network reported 32 fireballs.
(25 sporadics, 2 alpha Capricornids, 2 Perseids, 3 southern Delta Aquarids)
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 July 29, 2022 there were 2291 potentially hazardous asteroids.
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Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2022 OF2 | 2022-Jul-24 | 14.6 LD | 8.2 | 29 |
2017 RX2 | 2022-Jul-24 | 17.2 LD | 14.2 | 17 |
2022 NV1 | 2022-Jul-24 | 13 LD | 8.1 | 52 |
2022 ON | 2022-Jul-25 | 5.1 LD | 11.6 | 13 |
2022 OA | 2022-Jul-25 | 5 LD | 10.5 | 42 |
2022 OY | 2022-Jul-26 | 15.3 LD | 13.1 | 30 |
2022 OO1 | 2022-Jul-26 | 12.7 LD | 8.7 | 15 |
2022 ML3 | 2022-Jul-26 | 7.6 LD | 1.5 | 12 |
2022 OB2 | 2022-Jul-28 | 10.1 LD | 8.4 | 12 |
2022 NU1 | 2022-Jul-29 | 12.3 LD | 8.3 | 45 |
2022 OG1 | 2022-Jul-29 | 4.6 LD | 5 | 12 |
2016 CZ31 | 2022-Jul-29 | 7.3 LD | 15.5 | 129 |
531944 | 2022-Jul-30 | 18.2 LD | 5.9 | 192 |
2022 OU2 | 2022-Aug-01 | 3.6 LD | 8.5 | 38 |
2020 PP1 | 2022-Aug-01 | 13.1 LD | 3.7 | 17 |
2020 PN1 | 2022-Aug-03 | 9.7 LD | 4.6 | 29 |
2022 OE2 | 2022-Aug-04 | 13.6 LD | 32.2 | 228 |
2022 OH2 | 2022-Aug-07 | 4.4 LD | 4 | 12 |
2015 FF | 2022-Aug-12 | 11.2 LD | 9.2 | 17 |
2022 OT1 | 2022-Aug-13 | 12.4 LD | 5.8 | 35 |
2019 AV13 | 2022-Aug-22 | 19.1 LD | 8.8 | 135 |
2020 QW3 | 2022-Aug-22 | 14.1 LD | 18.1 | 30 |
2015 QH3 | 2022-Aug-22 | 5.6 LD | 7 | 14 |
2017 BU | 2022-Aug-29 | 15.8 LD | 7 | 32 |
2021 CQ5 | 2022-Sep-01 | 8.7 LD | 13.5 | 7 |
2020 PT4 | 2022-Sep-15 | 19.7 LD | 10.8 | 39 |
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 |
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 |
| 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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