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WEEKEND STORM WARNING: Polar geomagnetic storms are possible on Saturday, Feb. 8th, when a solar wind stream and a minor CME are expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. This will not be a major storm, but the double-impact could spark high-latitude auroras. Aurora alerts: text, voice
BIG SUNSPOTS, POISED TO ERUPT? All week long, big sunspot AR1967 has has been crackling with activity, seemingly on the edge of producing an X-class solar flare. That hasn't happened. However, a new sunspot growing alongside AR1967 could push things over the edge. Emerging active region AR1968 has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field. If it erupts, there could be a double-sunspot chain reaction. NOAA forecasters estimate an 60% chance of M-class solar flares and a 20% chance of X-class solar flares on Feb. 7th. Solar flare alerts: text, voice
The two big sunspots were easy to see this evening when the sun set over Quezon City in the Philippines. Raymund Sarmiento photographed the gigantic duo:
"AR1697 is so huge and prominent that you would not miss it asa large dark spot just right below the sun's disk on a clear sunset afternoon," says Sarmiento.
Caution: Even when the sun is dimmed by low-hanging clouds or haze, looking directly at the sun can damage your eyes. Looking through unfiltered optics is even worse. If you chose to photograph the low sun without filters, use the camera's LCD screen for viewfinding.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
UNDER THE AURORAL OVAL: There is a place on Earth where you can see auroras almost every clear night even when there is no geomagnetic storm. It is under the auroral oval. The auroral oval is a donut of light around the poles which never goes completely dark because it is excited by energetic particles raining down from Earth's magnetosphere. Feb. 3rd was a very good night to be under the oval:
"What an amazing night this was!" says Alan Dyer of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. "On the night of Feb 3-4, despite all indicators showing quiet levels of activity, the sky exploded with a stunning all-sky display of rippling curtains across the sky. Churchill is under the prime auroral oval, so we see Northern Lights almost every clear night, even when official indicators are reading low or no geomagnetic storms."
"These images are from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, a non-profit research institute for Arctic science and that also offers aurora-watching and other Arctic tours through the year, including polar bear viewing in the autumn," he continues. "No words can describe the view of rapidly waving curtains of light rippling from horizon to horizon. All the tour group members left satisfied they had seen the celestial experience of a lifetime."
According to NOAA forecasters there is only a 5% chance of geomagnetic storms on Feb. 6th. That's more than enough, however, under the oval.
Aurora alerts: text,
voice Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
NOT EVERYTHING IS SPACE WEATHER: Snowflake photographer Ivo Dinsbergs of Riga, Latvia has something to report. "Its not exactly space weather, but still interesting," he says. "The temperature on Feb. 5th was only -3°C, too warm for good snowflakes, but I went outside anyway." When he looked through his lens, this warm snowflake gave him a rueful smile:
"Since 2010, I have taken hundreds of snowflake photos, but this is one of the most unique," says Dinsbergs. "All other my snowflakes can be found here."
Realtime Not-Space Weather Photo Gallery
Realtime Supernova 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 Feb. 5, 2014, the network reported 2 fireballs.
(2 sporadics)
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]
On Feb. 4, 2014, the network reported 6 fireballs.
(6 sporadics)
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 February 6, 2014 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
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. | The official U.S. government space weather bureau |
| The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. |
| Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. |
| 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory |
| Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. |
| from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
| the underlying science of space weather |