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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 415.7 km/sec
density: 5.1 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A2
2004 UT Aug08
24-hr: A2
1138 UT Aug08
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 08 Aug 18
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 08 Aug 2018

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 5 days
2018 total: 126 days (57%)
2017 total: 104 days (28%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
2015 total: 0 days (0%)

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%)
2008 total: 268 days (73%)
2007 total: 152 days (42%)
2006 total: 70 days (19%)

Updated 08 Aug 2018


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 69 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 07 Aug 2018

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 1.0 nT
Bz: -0.8 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 08 Aug 18

Solar wind flowing from this coronal hole could reach Earth on Aug.11th. Credit: SDO/AIA
Noctilucent Clouds The season for noctilucent clouds in he northern hemisphere is underway. Check here daily for the latest images from NASA's AIM spacecraft.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 08-08-2018 12:55:05
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2018 Aug 08 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
01 %
01 %
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: 2018 Aug 08 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
20 %
MINOR
01 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
20 %
25 %
SEVERE
20 %
25 %
 
Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018
What's up in space
       
 

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SOLAR MINIMUM CONDITIONS ARE IN EFFECT: The sun has been without sunspots for 39 of the past 42 days. To find a similar stretch of blank suns, you have to go back to 2009 when the sun was experiencing the deepest solar minimum in a century. Solar minimum has returned, bringing extra cosmic rays, long-lasting holes in the sun's atmosphere, and strangely pink auroras. Free: Aurora alerts.

'COMMON' RED SPRITES: In the Czech Republic, photographer  Daniel Ščerba has spent much of the summer training his cameras on passing thunderstorms, hoping to catch strange forms of upward-directed lightning. On August 7th he recorded a huge cluster of red sprites:

"They sprang up from a mesoscale convective system (MCS) that was passing through southern Austria," says Ščerba. "I observed 7 groups like these over a 35 minute period."

The instigating thunderstorm was located about 380 km from Ščerba's camera, denoted by a white star in this regional lightning map:

380 km may sound like a great distance, but a bit of separation helps when it comes to observing sprites over the tops of towering thunderheads. Here's why.

As spectacular as the display was, Ščerba says he has seen many like it this summer. "This is a common occurrence," he remarks. "I have taken many pictures of sprites like these."

Solar minimum (happening now) may be boosting sprites. During this phase of the solar cycle, cosmic rays from deep space penetrate the sun's weakening magnetic defenses and enter Earth's atmosphere in greater numbers than usual. Some researchers believe that cosmic rays may provide the ionizing "spark" that triggers many sprites. If so, stay tuned for more as solar minimum deepens.

Realtime Sprite Photo Gallery

FAR-OUT OPTICS EXPERIMENT: Last week, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere. A crystal globe went along for the ride. The young scientists wanted to see what Earth looked like when viewed through the spherical lens ... of Earth. Answer: very cool. Play the video to see for yourself:

You can have this globe for $149.95. The students are selling them to support their high-altitude balloon program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the crystal sphere in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. All sales support the Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray ballooning program and hands-on STEM research.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education

DON'T FORGET ABOUT MARS: More than a week after its 15-year close approach to Earth, Mars is now receding from our planet. Don't let that fool you, though. Mars is still the brightest object in the midnight sky, almost twice as bright as Jupiter and three times as bright as Sirius. Yesterday, Patricio Leon of Santiago, Chile, photographed the Red Planet in broad daylight:

"The sun was 7° above the horizon on August 7th when I took this picture," says Leon. "It was surprisingly easy to spot rising above the snowy mountains near Santiago."

Nighttime sightings are still recommended. Mars glares like a burnt-orange beacon in the constellation Capricornus visible in the east after sunset: sky map. A global dust storm that has blanketed Mars since June is now starting to subside, so telescopic observers are beginning to see fresh detail on the planet's surface. Browse the Martian photo gallery for the latest shots.

Realtime Mars Photo Gallery


Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Noctilucent Cloud 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, 2018, the network reported 83 fireballs.
(57 sporadics, 20 Perseids, 2 Southern delta Aquariids, 2 alpha Capricornids, 1 , 1 Piscis Austrinid)

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, 2018 there were 1912 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2018 PY7
2018-Aug-03
1.1 LD
10
17
2018 PR7
2018-Aug-06
1.4 LD
4.3
7
2018 OZ
2018-Aug-06
7 LD
9.6
37
2018 PC
2018-Aug-06
12.1 LD
9.3
54
2018 PW7
2018-Aug-23
11.4 LD
10.6
44
2018 LQ2
2018-Aug-27
9.4 LD
1.5
39
2016 GK135
2018-Aug-28
16.8 LD
2.8
9
2016 NF23
2018-Aug-29
13.3 LD
9
93
1998 SD9
2018-Aug-29
4.2 LD
10.7
51
2018 DE1
2018-Aug-30
15.2 LD
6.5
28
2001 RQ17
2018-Sep-02
19.3 LD
8.3
107
2015 FP118
2018-Sep-03
12.3 LD
9.8
490
2017 SL16
2018-Sep-20
8.5 LD
6.4
25
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.
  Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere

Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here:

This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California.

What is this all about? Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 13% since 2015:


Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

  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
NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts
  fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.
Aurora 30 min forecast
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
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