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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 660.4 km/sec
density: 2.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2350 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B6
1748 UT May09
24-hr: B9
0523 UT May09
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 09 May 16
Solar activity is low. None of these sunspots pose a threat for strong flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 42
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 09 May 2016

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2016 total: 0 days (0%)
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%)

Updated 09 May 2016


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 84 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 09 May 2016

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 4 unsettled
24-hr max: Kp= 7
strong
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.4 nT
Bz: 0.6 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2350 UT
Coronal Holes: 09 May 16
Erth is inside a stream of solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: SDO/AIA.
Noctilucent Clouds The southern season for noctilucent clouds has ended and we are now waiting for the first northern NLCs to appear--probably in mid-to late-May.
Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Polar
Updated at: 02-12-2016 16:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2016 May 09 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: 2016 May 09 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
35 %
35 %
MINOR
25 %
15 %
SEVERE
05 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
15 %
MINOR
25 %
30 %
SEVERE
55 %
45 %
 
Monday, May. 9, 2016
What's up in space
       
 

On May 9th, the planet Mercury will pass in front of the sun, producing an inky-black spot on the solar disk. Catch it live on the Internet, courtesy of the Coca-Cola Space Science Center in Columbus, Georgia.

 

TRANSIT OF MERCURY: Today, May 9th, Mercury passed directly between Earth and the sun, producing a rare transit of Mercury's inky-black disk across the solar surface. Images of the event are pouring into our image gallery from around the world. Browse and enjoy!

STRONG GEOMAGNETIC STORM: For the past 24+ hours, Earth's magnetic field has been reverberating with geomagnetic storms. At their most intense on May 8th, G3-class storms sparked bright auroras around both poles, parts of four continents, and more than a half a dozen US states. In Antarctica, everything turned green:

"The auroras were beautiful at Argentina's Belgrano II base in Antarctica," reports photographer Gabriel Saiquita, who has witnessed bright Southern Lights for two days in a row.

In the United States, auroras were sighted in Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Michigan, Montana, Minnesota, and even Arkansas.

The "Mother's Day Storms" of May 8th began when Earth crossed a fold in the heliospheric current sheet, entering a region of space filled with negative-polarity magnetic fields. Such fields easily link to Earth's magnetic field, opening a crack in our planet's magnetosphere. Solar wind pours in to fuel spectacular auroras.

Overall, this was the strongest episode of geomagnetic activity so far in 2016. The storms are subsiding now. NOAA forecasters estimate a 65% chance of minor G1-class storms on May 9th as Earth's magnetic environment returns to normal. Aurora alerts: text, voice.

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery

DOUBLE SPACE WEATHER BALLOON LAUNCH: Yesterday, May 8th, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus conducted a double-launch of space weather balloons. The two balloons, one released from Oregon and the other from California, flew into the strongest geomagnetic storm of 2016.

Each of the balloons carried a cosmic ray payload to the stratosphere, measuring atmospheric radiation from ground level to the edge of space during the G3-class storm. What effect does such a strong geomagnetic storm have on the upper atmosphere? And does Oregon receive more space radiation because of its higher magnetic latitude? These are just two of the questions we hope to answer.

The payloads have since parachuted back to Earth--one landing in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, and the other on the east side of the Cascade mountains near Bend, Oregon. Recovery teams will enter the wilderness on May 9th and bring back the data. Stay tuned!

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Sprite Photo Gallery


Realtime Comet 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 May. 9, 2016, the network reported 9 fireballs.
(5 sporadics, 3 eta Lyrids, 1 eta Aquariid)

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 May 9, 2016 there were 1701 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2016 JS5
May 5
0.5 LD
4 m
2016 JX11
May 7
8.7 LD
46 m
2014 JG55
May 8
7.6 LD
7 m
2016 JP17
May 8
12.1 LD
109 m
2016 JC6
May 8
12.8 LD
240 m
2016 JQ5
May 9
1.6 LD
10 m
2016 JE18
May 11
9.4 LD
24 m
2016 JD18
May 16
1.6 LD
48 m
2016 JH18
May 17
13.6 LD
26 m
2016 GS2
May 18
3.4 LD
108 m
2016 HF3
May 18
8.5 LD
56 m
2009 DL46
May 24
6.2 LD
215 m
1997 XF11
Jun 10
70 LD
1.8 km
2015 XZ378
Jun 13
9.7 LD
16 m
2009 CV
Jun 20
12.4 LD
60 m
2010 NY65
Jun 24
10.7 LD
215 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.
  Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere
Situation Report -- Oct. 30, 2015 Stratospheric Radiation (+37o N)
Cosmic ray levels are elevated (+6.1% above the Space Age median). The trend is flat. Cosmic ray levels have increased +0% in the past month.
Sept. 06: 4.14 uSv/hr (414 uRad/hr)
Sept. 12: 4.09 uSv/hr (409 uRad/hr)
Sept. 23: 4.12 uSv/hr (412 uRad/hr)
Sept. 25: 4.16 uSv/hr (416 uRad/hr)
Sept. 27: 4.13 uSv/hr (413 uRad/hr)
Oct. 11: 4.02 uSv/hr (402 uRad/hr)
Oct. 22: 4.11 uSv/hr (411 uRad/hr)
These measurements are based on regular space weather balloon flights: learn more.

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. Our measurements show that someone flying back and forth across the continental USA, just once, can absorb as much ionizing radiation as 2 to 5 dental X-rays. For example, here is the data from a flight on Oct. 22, 2015:

Radiation levels peak at the entrance to the stratosphere in a broad region called the "Pfotzer Maximum." This peak is named after physicist George Pfotzer who discovered it using balloons and Geiger tubes in the 1930s. Radiation levels there are more than 80x sea level.

Note that the bottom of the Pfotzer Maximim is near 55,000 ft. This means that some high-flying aircraft are not far from the zone of maximum radiation. Indeed, according to the Oct 22th measurements, a plane flying at 45,000 feet is exposed to 2.79 uSv/hr. At that rate, a passenger would absorb about one dental X-ray's worth of radiation in about 5 hours.

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.

  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
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