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GEOMAGNETIC STORM PREDICTED (G2-CLASS): A high-speed stream of solar wind is approaching Earth, and NOAA forecasters say there is a 75% chance of polar geomagnetic storms when it arrives on Dec. 4th and 5th. Periods of moderately-strong G2-class storming could send Northern Lights spilling across the Canadian border into upper-tier US states; interfere with HF radio propagation at high latitudes; and confuse wildlife that use magnetic cues for navigation. Free: Aurora Alerts.
HERE COMES THE SUPERMOON: The biggest and brightest full Moon of 2017 is coming tonight. It's a perigee "supermoon," almost 8% wider and 16% brighter than an average full Moon. Miguel Claro photographed the waxing orb (98% full) rising over lake Monsaraz in Portugal's Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve on Dec. 2nd:
Full moons vary in size because the Moon's orbit is not a circle, it's an ellipse: diagram. One side of the Moon's orbit, called "perigee," is 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other side, "apogee." This Sunday's Moon becomes full only 16 hours away from perigee, closer than any other full Moon of 2017.
Some people say you can't tell the difference between a supermoon and a regular Moon. A 16% difference in brightness can easily be masked by clouds or the glare of urban lights. Also, there are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters. Hanging high overhead with no reference points to provide a sense of scale, one full Moon looks much like any other. There is no doubt, however, that supermoons are genuinely bigger than their ordinary cousins.
To get the most out of Sunday's apparition, try to catch the Moon just as it is rising or setting. This will activate the Moon Illusion and make the perigee Moon of Dec. 3rd look super, indeed.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
RARE WINTER SPRITES: Red sprites tend to be a summertime phenomenon. They shoot up from the tops of intense thunderstorms, reaching toward the edge of space, while their cousins, normal lightning bolts, lance down to the ground below. Summer is the season for sprites. So it came as a surprise, on the night of Dec. 2nd, when Martin Popek photographed a phalanx of winter sprites leaping above the snowy landscape of the Czech republic:
"This is a very rare thing," says Popek. "I've been monitoring sprites from my private observatory since 2011. This is only the second storm with red sprites I have ever seen in December."
Sprites are a true space weather phenomenon. Some researchers believe they are linked to cosmic rays: subatomic particles from deep space striking the top of Earth's atmosphere produce secondary electrons that, in turn, provide the spark that triggers sprites. If this is true, then sprites could multiply in the years ahead as cosmic rays intensify due to the decline of the solar cycle. Indeed, increasing levels of cosmic rays might explain by the strange red forms are spilling over into the "off-season."
Although sprites have been seen for at least a century, most scientists did not believe they existed until after 1989 when sprites were photographed by cameras onboard the space shuttle. Now "sprite chasers" routinely photograph sprites from their own homes. "I used up a Watec 910HX security camera with UFOCapture software to catch my sprites," says Popek. Give it a try! Diagram: How to Look for Sprites
Realtime Sprite Photo Gallery
CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS FROM SPACE: On Nov. 2, 2017, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a space weather balloon to the stratosphere. These kids do science, and the payload of their balloon carried an array of cosmic ray sensors to measure radiation coming from deep space. A basket of Christmas ornaments went along for the ride. Watch the video to see what happened:
The ornaments were created by student artist Dana Wilcher, a longtime member of Earth to Sky Calculus. Each year she creates a limited batch of "space ornaments" to raise money for our balloon program.
You can have one for $99.95. Each ornament comes with a unique gift card showing the work of art floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that the ornament has been to the edge of space and back again. It *also* comes with a hanging mini-photo of the ornament in the stratosphere. Hang it on your tree to impress holiday visitors!
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All proceeds support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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 Dec. 3, 2017, the network reported 18 fireballs.
(14 sporadics, 3 sigma Hydrids, 1 November omega Orionid)
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 December 3, 2017 there were 1869 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2017 WC14 | 2017-Nov-27 | 7.3 LD | 11.1 | 26 |
2017 WK15 | 2017-Nov-27 | 8.8 LD | 5.6 | 16 |
2017 WF15 | 2017-Nov-27 | 20.1 LD | 9.6 | 18 |
2017 WK1 | 2017-Nov-28 | 7.8 LD | 8 | 14 |
2017 WD28 | 2017-Nov-28 | 4.5 LD | 13.3 | 26 |
2017 WF16 | 2017-Nov-29 | 3.7 LD | 4.2 | 6 |
2017 WN15 | 2017-Nov-29 | 7.4 LD | 19.4 | 38 |
2017 WH28 | 2017-Nov-30 | 19.7 LD | 14.7 | 45 |
2017 WH2 | 2017-Nov-30 | 6.4 LD | 16.8 | 48 |
2008 WM61 | 2017-Dec-02 | 3.7 LD | 4.7 | 16 |
2017 WH16 | 2017-Dec-03 | 17.4 LD | 15.2 | 26 |
2017 WZ27 | 2017-Dec-03 | 13.6 LD | 4.2 | 11 |
2017 WS13 | 2017-Dec-05 | 9.5 LD | 11.3 | 42 |
2017 WF28 | 2017-Dec-06 | 17.6 LD | 7.6 | 21 |
2017 WV12 | 2017-Dec-09 | 3.5 LD | 10.6 | 25 |
2017 WE13 | 2017-Dec-12 | 16.4 LD | 5.4 | 26 |
2017 VS14 | 2017-Dec-12 | 15.9 LD | 2.8 | 15 |
2017 WJ28 | 2017-Dec-13 | 12.9 LD | 6.1 | 21 |
2015 XX169 | 2017-Dec-14 | 9.7 LD | 6.3 | 11 |
2006 XY | 2017-Dec-14 | 3.4 LD | 4.9 | 56 |
2017 VT14 | 2017-Dec-17 | 3.8 LD | 10.4 | 105 |
2011 YD29 | 2017-Dec-19 | 17.6 LD | 7.7 | 20 |
2017 WX12 | 2017-Dec-21 | 10.1 LD | 11.4 | 126 |
2017 TS3 | 2017-Dec-22 | 18.1 LD | 10.2 | 136 |
418849 | 2017-Dec-22 | 15.3 LD | 17.4 | 257 |
2015 YQ1 | 2017-Dec-22 | 17.3 LD | 11.1 | 9 |
2017 WZ14 | 2017-Dec-24 | 7.6 LD | 4.9 | 32 |
2017 QL33 | 2017-Dec-30 | 13.3 LD | 8.2 | 191 |
2015 RT1 | 2018-Jan-02 | 19.7 LD | 9 | 30 |
2004 FH | 2018-Jan-10 | 20 LD | 8.5 | 26 |
306383 | 2018-Jan-22 | 14.4 LD | 17.4 | 178 |
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 |
Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here:
This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California.
What is this all about? Approximately 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 radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 13% since 2015:
Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.
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.
The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-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 Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.
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