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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: 458.1 km/sec
density: 5.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B6
2110 UT Jun02
24-hr: M2
0610 UT Jun02
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 02 Jun 07
New sunspot 960 is big and crackling with solar flares--stay tuned for solar activity. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 41
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 01 June 2007
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no large spots on the farside of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Updated: 2007 Jun 02 2129 UT
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 7.9 nT
Bz: 4.9 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated:Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on June 3rd or 4th. Credit: SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2007 Jun 02 2203 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
60 %
60 %
CLASS X
15 %
15 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2007 Jun 02 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
25 %
25 %
MINOR
10 %
10 %
SEVERE
05 %
05 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
30 %
30 %
MINOR
15 %
15 %
SEVERE
10 %
10 %
What's up in Space
June 2, 2007
Would you like to hear about solar flares--while they're flaring? Get instant alerts from SpaceWeather PHONE.

STRAIGHT LINE: Tonight, when the sun goes down and the sky fades to black, step outside and look west. Venus has moved into a straight line with Castor and Pollux, the twins of Gemini. Photographer Tunç Tezel of Ankara, Turkey, sends this picture of an identical alignment on June 2, 1999. It's eye-catching celestial geometry: sky map.

ACTIVE SUNSPOT: Sunspot 960, which emerged over the sun's eastern limb less than 24 hours ago, is big and crackling with solar flares. "This morning there was an M3-class flare and a nice magnetic loop coming out of the sunspot," reports Cai-Uso Wohler of Bispingen, Germany, who took this dramatic sequence of images using his Coronado SolarMax60:

A similar flare on June 1st (1450 UT) caused a shortwave radio fadeout over Europe. In the Czech Republic, Mirek Najman captured the event in this plot of a fading 3.5 MHz radio beacon.

Sunspot 960 shows no sign of quieting. Astronomers with solar telescopes should keep an eye on the active region, while shortwave radio listeners should remain alert for flare-triggered fadeouts and other propagation effects. Stay tuned for updates!

more images: from Franck Charlier of Marines, France; from Jean-Christophe Dalouzy of Normandy, France; from B. Morrissette, C. Miller and J. Stetson of South Portland, Maine; from John Nassr of Baguio, Philippines; from Joel Bavais of Cointe, Belgium; from Andreas Murner of Dortmund, Germany; from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Peter Paice of Belfast, Northern Ireland; from John C McConnell of Maghaberry Northern Ireland; from P-M Hedén of Vallentuna, Sweden;

COCCINELLA SEPTEMPUNCTATA: Yesterday, when Martin Wagner of Sonnenbuehl-Genkingen, Germany, looked at the viewscreen of his Canon EOS 300D and saw the sunspot pictured below, "I thought a mega-flare was about to erupt!" (continued below)


Photo details: Canon EOS 300D, 35-70mm Minolta lens, 400ASA, 1/200s

But wait, the sun was blank yesterday. Sunspot 960 hadn't yet appeared. Where did this spot come from? Wagner zoomed out and discovered the answer: Click here.

Clearly, there was no danger of a mega-flare. It is remarkable how the markings on a ladybug's back resemble sunspots, and the dappled texture of the shell looks like solar granulation. The species in Wagner's photo is Coccinella septempunctata, the 7-spotted ladybug, so now we know the sunspot number, too!

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 June 2, 2007 there were 863 potentially hazardous asteroids.
May 2007 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
1862 Apollo
May 8
72 LD
13
2.4 km
2007 JD
May 11
12 LD
18
100 m
2007 JZ2
May 14
7.0 LD
19
30 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 Environment Center
  The official U.S. government bureau for real-time monitoring of solar and geophysical events, research in solar-terrestrial physics, and forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances.
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.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  From the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
  more links...
©2007, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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