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Solar wind
speed: 366.5 km/sec
density: 1.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C4
1701 UT Aug08
24-hr: C4
1701 UT Aug08
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 08 Aug 14
Solar activity is low. Not one of these sunspots has the kind of complex magnetic field that poses a threat for strong solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 158
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 08 Aug 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
08 Aug 2014

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 136 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 08 Aug 2014

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.6 nT
Bz: 0.3 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 08 Aug 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: 08-08-2014 10:55:06
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2014 Aug 08 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
20 %
20 %
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: 2014 Aug 08 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
15 %
MINOR
01 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
15 %
25 %
SEVERE
10 %
25 %
 
Friday, Aug. 8, 2014
What's up in space
 

When is the best time to see auroras? Where is the best place to go? And how do you photograph them? These questions and more are answered in a new book, Northern Lights - a Guide, by Pal Brekke & Fredrik Broms.

 
Northern Lights - a Guide

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON LAUNCH: This Friday, Aug. 8th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus will continue their ongoing campaign of high-altitude research with the launch of another Space Weather Radiation Buoy. The purpose of the research is to discover how solar activity affects the ozone layer and alters levels of radiation at altitudes of interest to aviation and space tourism. Stay tuned for launch photos @spaceweatherman.

PERSEID FIREBALLS: The full Moon of August 10th is no ordinary full Moon--it's a supermoon, the biggest and brightest of 2014. This has raised concerns that bright moonlight will outshine the Perseid meteor shower, underway now as Earth moves into the debris stream of parent Comet Swift-Tuttle. So far the Perseids are holding their own. In recent nights, observers have reported dozens of Perseid fireballs cutting through the glare. This one, photographed by Thomas Ashcraft in New Mexico, came with sound effects:

Play it again. The ghostly warbling sound you just heard was a terrestrial radio signal bouncing off the ionized trail of the fireball. This method of detecting meteors is called "forward scatter radar." Ashcraft, who is an amateur radio astronomer, routinely uses this method to monitor meteor activity over his observatory not far from Santa Fe. Lately, he has been recording lots of echoes.

"My radio fireball array and all-sky camera caught this Perseid earthgrazer at 11:30 pm here in New Mexico as the constellation Perseus was coming up over the northern horizon," says Ashcraft. "It caused a dynamic dopplering forward scatter reflection in stereo on two of my radios."

"Even though there is a bright moon at the moment, there will still be some beautiful Perseids over the next few nights," he predicts.

Got clouds? You can listen to more meteor echoes, live, on Space Weather Radio.

Realtime Meteor Photo Gallery

HISTORIC COMET RENDEZVOUS: For the first time ever, a spacecraft from Earth is traveling alongside a comet. Yesterday, at the end of a 10 year and 6 billion km journey, the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe reached 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. On approach, Rosetta's OSIRIS camera took this stunning picture of the comet's nucleus only 130 km away:

The image clearly shows a range of features including boulders, craters and steep cliffs. As the ESA science team noted this morning, "choosing a landing site will not be easy." More close-up shots may be found here.

Rosetta has reached the comet, but it is not in orbit yet. As this video shows, the spacecraft will spend the next month maneuvering closer and closer to the comet's core. When Rosetta dscends to within about 30 km of the surface in early September, the comet's weak gravity will be able to capture the spacecraft into a final orbit.

A full replay of Rosetta's arrival at 67P is now available here: http://www.livestream.com/eurospaceagency

Realtime Comet Photo Gallery


Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime NLC 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 Aug. 8, 2014, the network reported 83 fireballs.
(63 sporadics, 17 Perseids, 1 , 1 Southern delta Aquariid, 1 alpha Capricornid)

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 August 8, 2014 there were 1499 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2002 JN97
Aug 2
61.4 LD
2.0 km
2014 OV299
Aug 6
9.5 LD
23 m
2014 OF300
Aug 7
3.8 LD
23 m
2001 RZ11
Aug 17
34.2 LD
2.2 km
2013 WT67
Aug 17
16.1 LD
1.1 km
2013 RZ53
Sep 9
1.9 LD
3 m
2002 CE26
Sep 9
47.9 LD
1.8 km
2009 RR
Sep 16
2 LD
34 m
2006 GQ2
Sep 19
65.9 LD
1.1 km
2009 FG19
Sep 26
34.6 LD
1.1 km
2014 NE52
Sep 30
61.2 LD
1.0 km
2001 EA16
Oct 7
35.5 LD
1.9 km
2011 TB4
Oct 9
5.8 LD
34 m
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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