On October 23rd there will be a partial eclipse of the Sun. Got clouds? No problem. The event will be broadcast live on the web by the Coca-Cola Science Center. | | | QUIET SUN: There are six sunspot groups on the face of the sun. None of them has the kind of unstable magnetic field that poses a threat for strong eruptions. NOAA forecasters estimate a scant 5% chance of M-class solar flares and a 1% chance of X-flares on Oct. 8th. Solar flare alerts: text, voice COLORFUL LUNAR ECLIPSE: Lunar eclipses are supposed to be red. This morning's eclipse had an extra dash of turquoise. "The colors on this eclipsed moon were more varied and vivid than any in memory -- maybe because it stayed so close to the edge of the shadow for the duration of the eclipse," reports astronomy professor Jimmy Westlake, who sends this picture from Stagecoach, COlorado: "Nearly every color of the rainbow appeared on the Moon just before the end of totality," he says. Atmospheric scientist Richard Keen of the University of Colorado explains the colors: "During a lunar eclipse, most of the light illuminating the Moon passes through Earth's stratosphere where it is reddened by scattering. However, light passing through the upper stratosphere penetrates the ozone layer, which absorbs red light and actually makes the passing light ray bluer." This can be seen, he says, as a soft blue fringe around the red core of Earth's shadow--colors which are reflected from the surface of the Moon. Visit the realtime photo gallery for more colorful snapshots of the Oct. 8th lunar eclipse. Realtime Eclipse Photo Gallery AURORAS AT THE BEACH: "Yesterday afternoon, I headed out to Andøya island," says Frank Olsen of northern Norway." I was hoping to catch a nice sunset, and maybe more." This is what he saw: "I was on a beach on the northwest corner of the island. Bright moonlight lighting up the waves made the photos quite nice," continues Olsen. "On my way back home, around midnight, there was a great outburst. I stopped the car and ran back down to the beach for another photo session." Waves in Norway could turn green again tonight. The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) around Earth is tipping south on Oct. 8th, an arrangement that opens a crack in Earth magnetosphere. Solar wind pouring through the gap will likely spark more auroras around the Arctic Circle. Aurora alerts: text, voice Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery Realtime Comet 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 Oct. 8, 2014, the network reported 43 fireballs. (43 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 October 8, 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 | |