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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 373.5 km/sec
density: 19.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
1930 UT Jul09
24-hr: A0
1320 UT Jul09
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 09 July 09
Sunspot 1024 is a member of new Solar Cycle 24. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 18
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 08 July 2009

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2009 total: 142 days (76%)
Since 2004: 653 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 08 July 2009

Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 8.0 nT
Bz: 1.6 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on or about July 12th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2009 Jul 09 2201 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: 2009 Jul 09 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
15 %
MINOR
05 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
July 9, 2009

AURORA ALERT: Did you sleep through the Northern Lights? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

 

WHAT'S FOLLOWING THE ISS? So you just saw the International Space Station? Wait a minute. There's another spacecraft following it. It's Progress 33, a Russian supply ship trailing the ISS by 60 seconds. On July 12th, Progress 33 will close the gap to test a new automated docking system. The maneuver should be visible to the naked eye. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for flyby times and get two spaceships for the price of one.

images and videos: from Pawel Warchal of Cracow, Poland; from Ralf Vandebergh of Wittem, the Netherlands; from Kevin Fetter of Brockville, Ontario (Fetter's video shows Progress 33 passing by the 3rd magnitude star Sulafat in the constellation Lyra).

SUNSPOTS FOR BREAKFAST: "Today, when I looked at sunspot 1024 through my Coronado H-alpha filter, the active region reminded me of two enormous breaking egg yokes," reports Larry Alvarez of Flower Mound, Texas. "There were long snakelike arms reaching from one yoke to the next in an egg-citing tug of war." He calls this snapshot Sunspots for Breakfast:

Breakfast is almost over. Sunspot 1024 is approaching the sun's western limb where it will disappear in 24 hours. That will bring an end to the best display of sunspots in nearly two years. Fortunately for astrophotographers, sunspot 1024 is a member of new Solar Cycle 24 and it probably heralds more to come. Solar activity is not eggs-tinct, after all.

more images: from David B.V. Tyler of Buckinghamshire UK; from K.Greene, G. Harmon and J.Stetson of South Portland, Maine; from Juan Miguel González Polo of Cáceres, Spain; from Jan Timmermans of Valkenswaard, The Netherlands; from Marco Vidovic of Stojnci, Slovenia; from Steve Boyce of Sidmouth Devon, UK; from Paul Haese of Blackwood, South Australia; from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Fulvio Mete of Rome, Italy; from Stefano Sello of Pisa, Italy; from Andy Yeung of Hong Kong; from John Nassr of Baguio, Philippines; from Ehsan Rostamizadeh of Kerman, Iran;

BLUE MOON OVER IRAN: A severe dust storm so large that it is visible from space is blowing across Iran. Government officials have closed schools, cancelled flights, and warned the elderly and children to stay indoors. The only good thing about the storm is that it is turning the Moon a pleasing shade of blue:

Amir H. Abolfath took the picture from Tehran on July 7th. "I thought blue moons were a myth," he says, "but there it was."

Yes, blue moons are real. They appear when the air is filled with fine particles of dust (or other aerosols) about 1 micron in diameter. This is just the right size to make dusty air act as a blue color filter. Because the dust storm is so large, blue moons could be a regular fixture in the Persian sky for some nights to come.

more images: from Farzad Zamanfar of Tehran, Iran;


2009 Sarychev Sunset Gallery
[See also: 2008 Kasatochi Sunset Photo Gallery]


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


Explore the Sunspot Cycle

       
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 July 9, 2009 there were 1065 potentially hazardous asteroids.
July 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 MM8
July 13
11.4 LD
18
53 m
2008 NP3
July 18
11.8 LD
18
87 m
2006 TU7
July 20
14.2 LD
17
175 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 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 and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
Science Central
   
  more links...
   
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