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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 312.8 km/sec
density: 3.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
2046 UT Oct07
24-hr: C1
2046 UT Oct07
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2259 UT
Daily Sun: 07 Oct 12
A long-duration B-flare from the vicinity of AR1582 hurled a CME toward Earth on Oct. 5th. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 39
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 07 Oct 2012

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Update 07 Oct 2012


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 99 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 07 Oct 2012

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 8.8 nT
Bz: 4.6 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes: 07 Oct 12
solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Oct. 9-10. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2012 Oct 07 2200 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: 2012 Oct 07 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
30 %
35 %
MINOR
15 %
20 %
SEVERE
05 %
05 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
20 %
MINOR
20 %
25 %
SEVERE
20 %
35 %
 
Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012
What's up in space
 

Thirty-five new items have just been added to our Meteorite Jewelry collection. Browse the Space Weather Store for something out of this world.

 
Meteorite jewelry

ASTEROID FLYBY: Today, newly-discovered asteroid 2012 TV is flying through the Earth-Moon system about 2/3rd of the way between the Earth and the Moon. The 40m-wide space rock is glowing like a 13th-magnitude star, which makes it a good target for experienced amateur astronomers with mid-sized telescopes. [3D orbit] [details]

DRACONID METEOR SHOWER: The notoroiusly unpredictable Draconid meteor shower peaks this year on the night of Oct. 7-8. In most years, the Draconids come and go with a barely noticable peak of 10 or so meteors per hour. Occasionally, however, Earth passes through a dense clump of debris from parent comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner and a meteor storm erupts. Just last year, Europeans witnessed a faint but furious outburst of 600 per hour. There is no reason to believe that 2012 is a "storm year." Nevertheless, northern hemisphere sky watchers are encouraged to be alert for slow-moving Draconids on Sunday night. [sky map] [meteor radar]

EARTH-DIRECTED CME: A coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading for Earth. The cloud, pictured below in a coronagraph image from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, is expected to deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field on Oct. 8. NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% to 35% chance of strong polar geomagnetic storms on Oct. 8-9. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras, especially during the hours around local midnight. Aurora alerts: text, voice

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

AURORAS AND DINOFLAGELLATES: Last night, Frank Olsen went to the beach outside Sortland, Norway to photograph the colors of aurora borealis in the sky. He also found some colors at his feet. The beach was aglow with bioluminescent dinoflagellates:

"I was photographing the auroras when the Noctilucales washed up on the beach," says Olsen. "The moonlight was a nice bonus."

There is an interesting link between the auroras and the dinoflagellates. Both use oxygen to create their glow. In the case of the marine organism, a chemical pigment (luciferin) reacts with oxygen to create light. Meanwhile up in the sky, charged particles from the solar wind rain down on the atmosphere, colliding with oxygen molecules to create the telltale green hue of auroras.

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery

A RAINBOW AT NIGHT: Everyone has seen a rainbow during the day. Bright sunlight bounces off raindrops to produce a colorful arc of red, green and blue. But what about at night? Without sunlight, a rainbow would seem to be impossible. Nevertheless, Martin McKenna saw one on the night of Oct. 3rd over Ballintoy Harbour in Northern Ireland:

This is a type of rainbow called a "moonbow," formed by the light of the Moon instead of the sun.

"I was fortunate enough to catch these rare moonbows over the surreal moonlit Atlantic Ocean at Ballintoy Harbour," says McKenna. "The gibbous moon rising in the east produced enough light to illuminate the off-shore showers, which produced a near complete moonbow. I could see red, yellow, and white colours with the naked eye. The scene looked amazing over the ancient coastline."

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011]

  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 October 7, 2012 there were 1331 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2012 SJ58
Oct 3
5.9 LD
--
26 m
1998 UO1
Oct 4
60.1 LD
--
2.1 km
2012 TV
Oct 7
0.7 LD
--
40 m
2012 TC4
Oct 12
0.2 LD
--
22 m
2005 GQ21
Oct 12
77 LD
--
1.0 km
1998 ST49
Oct 18
28.7 LD
--
1.3 km
1991 VE
Oct 26
34 LD
--
1.1 km
2001 CV26
Oct 30
68 LD
--
2.4 km
2007 PA8
Nov 5
16.8 LD
--
2.4 km
2010 JK1
Nov 25
9.3 LD
--
56 m
2009 LS
Nov 28
55.2 LD
--
1.1 km
2009 BS5
Dec 11
8.4 LD
--
15 m
4179 Toutatis
Dec 12
18 LD
--
2.7 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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