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Solar wind
speed: 410.2 km/sec
density: 9.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
2257 UT Nov04
24-hr: M2
0838 UT Nov04
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 04 Nov 14
A new and active sunspot is emerging in the circled area. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 93
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 04 Nov 2014

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)

Update 04 Nov
2014

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 125 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 04 Nov 2014

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 4 unsettled
24-hr max: Kp= 4
unsettled
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 8.7 nT
Bz: 0.3 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 04 Nov 14
There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.

Spaceweather.com posts daily satellite images of noctilucent clouds (NLCs), which hover over Earth's poles at the edge of space. The data come from NASA's AIM spacecraft. The north polar "daisy" pictured below is a composite of near-realtime images from AIM assembled by researchers at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
Noctilucent Clouds
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 09-02-2014 12:55:12
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2014 Nov 04 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
55 %
55 %
CLASS X
10 %
10 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2014 Nov 04 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
30 %
20 %
MINOR
10 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
30 %
30 %
SEVERE
40 %
30 %
 
Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014
What's up in space
 

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SpaceweatherPhone

HUMAN MISSIONS TO VENUS? Venus is hellishly hot and has a crushing atmosphere 90 times denser than Earth's. So why would anyone want to go there? A new blog post from Astrobiology Magazine suggests it might be possible, and maybe even desirable, for humans to visit the second planet from the sun. Hint: It's done using balloons. Read it!

SOMETHING FLARE-Y THIS WAY COMES: Arriving only a little late for Halloween, a flare-y sunspot is emerging over the sun's northeastern limb. In the past 24 hours AR2205 has unleashed at least four M-class flares including this M6-flare recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on Nov. 3rd at 22:40 UT:

The explosions have hurled multiple CMEs into space. Not one of the clouds is heading our way. Earth is outside the line of fire. This could change in the days ahead, however, as the sun's rotation turns the active region toward our planet.

NOAA forecasters estimate a 25% chance of M-flares during the next 24 hours. Those odds seem low considering the ongoing activity. In fact, another M-flare is almost certain and an X-flare could be in the offing, too. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

EUROPE PREPARES TO LAND ON A COMET: On Nov. 12th, the European Space Agency will attempt something "ridiculously difficult"--that is, landing on a comet. The ESA's Rosetta spacecraft will drop a probe named Philae on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. "The comet will be moving 40 times faster than a speeding bullet, spinning, shooting out gas and welcoming Rosetta on the surface with boulders, cracks, scarps and possibly meters of dust," says Art Chmielewski, the US Rosetta Project Manager at JPL. A video from NASA previews the landing.

What would you do if you landed on a comet? For his answer, Spaceweather.com reader Luca Savorani created this graphic:

"I added some ski tracks to the dusty slopes of the comet's neck," explains Savorani. "The underlying image was taken by Rosetta's NAVCAM on Oct. 28th."

Skiing on a comet? The idea's not so crazy. Astronauts have seriously discussed the possibility of skiing on the Moon, where thick layers of moondust resemble the powder that coats parts of 67P. All you need are teflon skis.

Realtime Comet Photo Gallery

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Eclipse Photo Gallery



  All Sky Fireball Network

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 Nov. 4, 2014, the network reported 25 fireballs.
(18 sporadics, 5 Northern Taurids, 1 omicron Eridanid, 1 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]

  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 November 4, 2014 there were 1510 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2003 UC20
Oct 31
52.4 LD
1.0 km
2014 UA176
Nov 6
4.8 LD
18 m
2014 UX57
Nov 6
3.6 LD
23 m
2014 UD192
Nov 9
3.1 LD
29 m
2004 JN13
Nov 18
52.4 LD
4.1 km
1998 SS49
Nov 18
73.9 LD
3.1 km
2005 UH3
Nov 22
44.4 LD
1.3 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
Space Weather Alerts
   
  more links...
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