You are viewing the page for Jan. 2, 2011
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 355.5 km/sec
density: 3.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B2
2012 UT Jan02
24-hr: B4
0910 UT Jan02
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 02 Jan 11
The labeled sunspots are producing a series of low-level B-class flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 65
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 01 Jan 2011

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2011 total: 0 days (0%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 819 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 01 Jan 2011


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 91 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 01 Jan 2011

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 0 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.9 nT
Bz: 0.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes: 02 Jan 10
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth around Jan. 4th or 5th--the first solar wind stream of the New Year. Credit: SOHO/EIT.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2011 Jan 02 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
05 %
05 %
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: 2011 Jan 02 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Sunday, Jan. 2, 2011
What's up in space
 

Turn your cell phone into a field-tested satellite tracker. Works for Android and iPhone.

 
Satellite flybys

A YEAR OF AURORAS: In 2010, the sun began to climb out of the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. This was good news for aurora watchers who saw some of the best displays since 2006. Browse the aurora gallery, month by month, for a year of resurgent auroras: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December 2010.

DAWN OF A NEW YEAR: As 2010 wound down, Veszprem, Hungary, was enveloped in thick fog, "but the sky cleared for the first dawn of 2011," reports photographer Monika Landy-Gyebnar. "Some people were just returning home (with not too straight steps) from New Year's Eve parties as I went outside for a photo-shoot. The beautiful crescent Moon was just emerging from the fog-cloud, and Venus was almost as bright as Moon. Mercury was also there, just above the horizon."

"This beautiful celestial scenery hovered above a landscape with hoarfrost on the bushes, which became pink as the dawn got closer. I used an LED lamp to write '2011' across one of the exposures. It was a wonderful beginning of a new year!"

SINUOUS AURORAS: US Department of Defense polar-orbiting satellites are observing bright bands of auroral light circling the North Pole. This display, recorded on Dec. 30th, was as bright as the city lights of Scandinavia below:

Paul McCrone of the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center in Monterey, CA, assembled the image using visual and infrared data from three satellites: DMSP F13, F17 and F18. "It shows the sinuous path of the energetic particles entering Earth's upper atmosphere," he says. These sinuous bands could descend south over Europe and parts of North America around Jan. 3rd when a solar wind stream is expected to hit Earth's magnetosphere. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

NEW: December 2010 Aurora Gallery
[previous Decembers: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2001, 2000]


Lunar Eclipse Photo Gallery
[NASA: "Solstice Lunar Eclipse"] [astronomy alerts]

  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 January 2, 2011 there were 1167 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2010 TQ19
Oct 8
9.6 LD
18
37 m
2010 TS19
Oct 10
3.7 LD
18
31 m
2010 TD54
Oct 12
0.1 LD
14
7 m
2010 TB54
Oct 13
6.1 LD
20
19 m
1999 VO6
Oct 14
34.3 LD
16
1.8 km
2010 TK
Oct 16
4.5 LD
18
37 m
1998 TU3
Oct 17
69.1 LD
13
5.2 km
2010 TG19
Oct 22
1.1 LD
15
70 m
1998 MQ
Oct 23
77.7 LD
15
1.9 km
2007 RU17
Oct 29
39.2 LD
15
1.1 km
2003 UV11
Oct 30
5 LD
12
595 m
3838 Epona
Nov 7
76.8 LD
14
3.4 km
2005 QY151
Nov 16
77.7 LD
17
1.3 km
2008 KT
Nov 23
5.6 LD
21
10 m
2002 EZ16
Nov 30
73.9 LD
16
1.0 km
2000 JH5
Dec 7
47 LD
-
1.5 km
2010 JL33
Dec 9
16.6 LD
13
1.3 km
2008 EA32
Jan 7
76.5 LD
-
2.1 km
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.
  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
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Science Central
   
  more links...
©2010 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
Spaceweather Text

©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.