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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: 363.2 km/sec
density: 2.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2245 UT May10
24-hr: A0
0645 UT May10
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 10 May 08
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 10 May 2008
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the farside of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 0.2 nT
Bz: -0.0 nT
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
There are no coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the Sun. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2008 May 10 2203 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: 2008 May 10 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
May 10, 2008
MOTHER'S DAY: Give your mom a truly heavenly gift on May 11th--a subscription to Space Weather PHONE!  

SOLAR PROMINENCE: "Today, there is a huge prominence at the sun's northeastern limb," reports Cai-Uso Wohler, who sends this picture from Bispingen, Germany. Meanwhile in England, Les Cowley heard about the prominence, set up his SolarMax60 and was able to sketch the rapidly-changing structure right through a hazy layer of morning clouds. Readers, this is a good one.

DAYBREAK: Yesterday, May 9th, as the sun was rising over Gdansk, Poland, an exploding fireball split the sky. Eye-witness Krzysztof Polakowski of the Polish Fireball Network describes it as a "magnitude -8 meteor" or 40 times brighter than Venus. He caught it in flight using his Nikon D70s:


Photo details: Nikon D70s, 30s, 1600 ISO, Zenitar 2.8/16 f/3.5

Believe it or not, this shadow-casting fireball was ... nothing special. According to calculations done by Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, magnitude -8 fireballs appear somewhere on Earth around three times a day. That's almost one hundred a month! Lesser fireballs occur even more often: graph. They are caused mainly by random bits and pieces of asteroid and comet debris crashing into our atmosphere as Earth orbits the Sun.

The vast majority of these "random fireballs" are never noticed. About 70% streak over uninhabited ocean; half of the remainder appear during the day, invisible in sunny skies. A great number are missed, however, simply because no one bothers to look up. So keep looking up! You never know what may be flying over your head...

SUN HALO: ...or circling over your head. On May 1st, a luminous ring formed around the sun over Ontario, Canada. "It lasted more than 2 hours," reports photographer Gilbert Tennant. "Most people went on their merry way not even noticing what was taking place over their heads--that is, until I put my lens cap in front of the sun and let them see the superb circle!"


Photo details: Canon XTI, Sigma 15mm zoom lens, ISO 100

This 22o radius sun halo was caused by ice in the clouds. Tiny crystals of H2O floating in high cirrus catch the rays of the sun and bend them as shown. Sun halos are even more frequent than fireballs--another good reason to watch the sky.

more images: from Radek Grochowski of Swidnica, Poland; from George Boller of West Seneca, New York; from William McMullen of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada


April 2008 Aurora Gallery
[Aurora Alerts] [Night-sky Cameras]

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. [comment]
On May 10, 2008 there were 952 potentially hazardous asteroids.
May 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2008 HG
May 5
17 LD
18
90 m
2008 DE
May 9
17 LD
16
550 m
2008 HD2
May 9
6.5 LD
19
40 m
2008 HR3
May 11
3.1 LD
17
50 m
2008 HW1
May 14
72 LD
17
1.4 km
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 bureau for real-time monitoring of solar and geophysical events, research in solar-terrestrial physics, and forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances.
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.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  From the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
  more links...
©2008, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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