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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 653.4 km/sec
density: 1.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B7
2300 UT Apr02
24-hr: B7
2300 UT Apr02
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 02 Apr 11
Decaying sunspots 1183 and 1176 pose a threat for C-class flares. Overall, solar activity remains low. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 62
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 01 Apr 2011

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2011 total: 1 day (1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 820 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 01 Apr 2011


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 109 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 01 Apr 2011

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 4
unsettled
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 9.1 nT
Bz: 6.1 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT
Coronal Holes: 02 Apr 11
There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-side of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2011 Apr 02 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
25 %
25 %
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 Apr 02 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
15 %
MINOR
10 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Saturday, Apr. 2, 2011
What's up in space
 

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

 
Satellite flybys

SECRET SPACE PLANE FLARES: The US Air Force's X-37B space plane is circling Earth and, although it is on a classified mission with an officially unpublished orbit, sky watchers have spotted it. "I saw the X-37B from my home in Pasadena, California, around sunrise on March 31st," reports Anthony Cook of the Griffith Observatory. "The spacecraft's appearance was remarkable. When overhead it was a little brighter than a 2nd magnitude star with a slight yellow hue. Then it flared. As the X-37B moved toward the horizon it became silvery and brightened to around magnitude -6, far outshining Venus below it." The flare was presumably caused by sunlight glinting from some flat surface on the shuttle-shaped spacecraft, but no one can say for sure because it is a classified mission. Ready for a secret flare of your own? Space plane flyby preditions may be found on the Simple Satellite Tracker or on your cell phone.

SATURN'S RINGS SURGE IN BRIGHTNESS: This Sunday, April 3rd, Saturn will be "at opposition"--that is, opposite the sun in the skies of Earth. Whenever this happens, Saturn's rings surge in brightness. Why? Scroll down for the explanation; on the way, inspect this photo taken by Paul Haese of South Australia on March 30th:

"This is how Saturn looked through my 14-inch telescope," says Haese. "With opposition so close, the Seeliger effect is really starting to show itself. The rings are much more spectacular than in previous years."

The Seeliger effect, also known as the opposition effect, is what brightens the rings. Saturn's rings are made of frozen chunks ranging in size from dust to houses. Sunlight directly backscattered from those ice particles causes the ring system to shine even more than usual for a few days around opposition. The exact mechanism involves shadow-hiding and possibly coherent backscattering.

To find Saturn, go outside at midnight and look for a conspicuous yellow "star" in the constellation Virgo. Even a small telescope will show Saturn's brightening rings. [sky map]

more images: from Efrain Morales Rivera of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; from Christopher Go of Cebu City, Philippines

APRIL AURORAS: According to the space weather forecast, geomagnetic storms were unlikely on April 1st. It would've been foolish to go out looking for Northern Lights. Warren Gammel of Fairbanks, Alaska, decided to check the skies anyway, and this is what he saw:

"I didn't expect to see too much when I went out at 2 a.m. on April 1st, but the auroras were fairly strong," he says. "I took these pictures using a Canon T1i with a Pelang 8mm fisheye lens."

The display was caused by a minor but effective solar wind stream that arrived during the early hours of April 1st. The impact sparked bright lights across the Arctic realm of North America. No joke: It pays to be alert for auroras.

more images: from Karl Kowalski of Fairbanks, Alaska; from Beate Kiil Karlsen of Ibestad, northern Norway; from Steve Milner near Prophet River, British Columbia, Canada;

  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 April 2, 2011 there were 1215 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2011 FA23
Apr 1
2.1 LD
--
7 m
2011 FT9
Apr 1
7.5 LD
--
25 m
2011 FT29
Apr 7
6.2 LD
--
36 m
2011 GE
Apr 12
4.7 LD
--
28 m
2002 DB4
Apr 15
62.5 LD
--
2.2 km
2008 UC202
Apr 27
8.9 LD
--
10 m
2009 UK20
May 2
8.6 LD
--
23 m
2008 FU6
May 5
75.5 LD
--
1.2 km
2003 YT1
May 5
65.3 LD
--
2.5 km
2002 JC
Jun 1
57.5 LD
--
1.6 km
2009 BD
Jun 2
0.9 LD
--
9 m
2002 JB9
Jun 11
71.5 LD
--
3.2 km
2001 VH75
Jun 12
42.2 LD
--
1.1 km
2004 LO2
Jun 15
9.9 LD
--
48 m
2001 QP181
Jul 2
35.1 LD
--
1.1 km
2003 YS117
Jul 14
73.9 LD
--
1.0 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
Conquest Graphics
  for out-of-this-world printing and graphics
Science Central
   
  more links...
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