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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 341.0 km/sec
density: 2.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Feb02
24-hr: A0
1655 UT Feb02
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 02 Feb 09
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 01 Feb. 2009
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.1 nT
Bz: 0.1 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
A minor solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Feb. 4th or 5th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2009 Feb 02 2201 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: 2009 Feb 02 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
01 %
01 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
February 2, 2009

AURORA ALERT: Did you sleep through the Northern Lights? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

 

GROUNDHOG DAY: Did you know Punxsutawney Phil is an astronomer? He must be. Each year, the furry groundhog emerges from his burrow on a date of astronomical significance: a cross-quarter date, approximately mid-way between a solstice and an equinox. There are four cross-quarter dates throughout the year and each is a minor holiday: Groundhog Day (Feb. 2nd), May Day (May 1st), Lammas Day (Aug. 1st), and Halloween (Oct. 31st). Happy Groundhog Day!

COMET LULIN BRIGHTENS: Veteran sky watcher Mariano Ribas of Argentina has been monitoring Comet Lulin in the skies of Buenos Aires. "In the past ten days, the comet has brightened by almost 60% (half a magnitude) to magnitude +6.5," he reports. "Even with our heavy urban light pollution, the comet is an easy target for small telescopes and binoculars. Soon, I believe, it will become a naked-eye object for people in the country."

"My retired eyes still can't see it," says Jack Newton of Arizona, "but my 14-inch telescope picked it up quite nicely." He took this picture on Feb. 1st:

Comet Lulin is approaching Earth for a 38-millon-mile close encounter on Feb. 24th. Look for it before dawn in the constellation Libra. A date of note is Feb. 6th when the comet passes by double star Zubenelgenubli. Zubenelgenubi is not only fun to say (zuBEN-el-JA-newbee), but also it is a handy guide. You can see Zubenelgenubi with your unaided eye (it is about as bright as stars in the Big Dipper); binoculars pointed at the binary star reveal Comet Lulin in beautiful proximity: sky map.

Comet Lulin Photo Gallery
[Comet Hunter telescope] [sky map] [ephemeris]

ISS SKY SHOW: North Americans, be alert for spaceships after sunset. The International Space Station is making a series of bright flybys over the USA and Canada this week. Here, photographer Ken Scott points it out sailing over the frozen shores of Lake Michigan on Feb. 1st:

"I recorded the event as a series of still images and stitched them together to make a movie," says Scott. Click here to watch it on YouTube.

The ISS is about as bright as Venus and it is easy to see even before the twilight sky fades to black. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker to find out when to look.


Jan. 2009 Aurora Gallery
[Previous Januaries: 2008, 2007, 2005, 2004, 2001]


Explore the Sunspot Cycle

       
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 February 2, 2009 there were 1019 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Feb. 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 BK58
Feb. 2
1.7 LD
17
30 m
2009 BW2
Feb. 5
8.4 LD
20
40 m
2009 BE58
Feb. 10
8.6 LD
16
225 m
2006 AS2
Feb. 10
9.2 LD
15
370 m
2009 BL58
Feb. 11
4.8 LD
17
55 m
1999 AQ10
Feb. 18
4.4 LD
13
390 m
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 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 and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
Science Central
   
  more links...
   
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