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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 391.7 km/s
density:
3.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
A8 1725 UT Nov05
24-hr: C3 1225 UT Nov05
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 05 Nov '06

Sunspot 921 has a "beta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Credit:
SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 52
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 04 Nov 2006

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals a large sunspot on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.6 nT
Bz:
0.6 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on or about Nov. 9th. Credit: NOAA GOES-13.


SPACE WEATHER
NOAA
Forecasts

Solar Flares: Probabilities for a medium-sized (M-class) or a major (X-class) solar flare during the next 24/48 hours are tabulated below.
Updated at 2006 Nov 05 2203 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 05 % 05 %
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 2006 Nov 05 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 10 % 10 %
MINOR 05 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 20 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 05 % 05 %

What's Up in Space -- 5 Nov 2006
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Autumn is here, and it's a wonderful time for stargazing. Find out what's up from Spaceweather PHONE.

DEATH PLUNGE: Yesterday, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) caught a comet plunging toward the sun. It went in--but not out again. The sungrazing comet disintegrated like an ice cube in an oven. See the movie: large, small.

FULL MOON RINGS: Sometimes the best thing about a bright full Moon is what goes on around it. Last night in Northern Ireland, Conor McDonald photographed this beautiful moon-ring:

The correct name is "lunar aureole," cousin to the better-known lunar corona. Aureoles and coronas are caused by water droplets in clouds. When the droplets are a jumble of different sizes, they produce a straw-colored ring--an aureole. When the droplets are all of the same size they produce a rainbow-colored ring--a corona. Look for both tonight.

TRANSIT OF MERCURY: On Wednesday, Nov. 8th, Mercury will transit the sun, crossing from one side of the star to the other in just five hours. En route, it might eclipse sunspot 921. Greg Piepol of Rockville, Maryland, prepared this animation showing the path of Mercury and the expected position of the sunspot on Nov. 8th:

In Greg's simulation, the background image is real. He took it on Nov. 3rd using his Coronado SolarMax90. The photo was rotated just as the sun spins to move the sunspot into position for the transit. Bulls-eye! 921 is going to provide a pleasing backdrop for Mercury's journey across the sun.



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 5 Nov 2006 there were 821 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Oct-Nov 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2006 UC185

Oct. 23

6.3 LD

17

95 m
2006 UZ215

Oct. 27

7.6 LD

19

35 m
2006 UJ185

Oct. 30

0.7 LD

17

10 m
2006 UA216

Oct. 31

6.0 LD

16

90 m
Notes: LD is a "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 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. (European Mirror Site)

Daily Sunspot Summaries -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Current Solar Images --a gallery of up-to-date solar pictures from the National Solar Data Analysis Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center. See also the GOES-12 Solar X-ray Imager.

Recent Solar Events -- a nice summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

What is the Interplanetary Magnetic Field? -- A lucid answer from the University of Michigan. See also the Anatomy of Earth's Magnetosphere.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft. How powerful are solar wind gusts? Read this story from Science@NASA.

More Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Proton Monitor.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; Jan-Mar 2006;

Space Audio Streams: (University of Florida) 20 MHz radio emissions from Jupiter: #1, #2, #3, #4; (NASA/Marshall) INSPIRE: #1; (Stan Nelson of Roswell, New Mexico) meteor radar: #1, #2;

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips: email


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