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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: 266.2 km/sec
density: 2.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2245 UT Oct10
24-hr: A0
2245 UT Oct10
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 10 Oct 07
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 08 Oct 2007
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no large sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 0 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:

Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Updated: 2007 Oct 10 2128 UT
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 1.2 nT
Bz: -0.0 nT
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Oct. 11th or 12th. Credit: Hinode X-ray Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2007 Oct 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: 2007 Oct 10 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %

What's up in Space
October 10, 2007
Where's Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name of that star? Get the answers from mySKY--a fun new astronomy helper from Meade. .

CELESTIAL TRIANGLE: Set your alarm. For the next five mornings, just before dawn banishes the night, you can see a fantastic celestial triangle rising in the eastern sky. The corners are Venus, Saturn and the bright star Regulus. This is worth waking up for! Sky maps: Oct. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

BLUE CLOUD ON MARS: The north of Mars is getting cold. It's winter and that brings temperatures as low as -140o C. The most flamboyant sign of the season is a giant icy cloud hanging over the martian north pole--the North Polar Hood:

Amateur astronomer Dan Petersen of Racine, Wisconsin, took the picture on Oct. 7th using his 10-inch backyard telescope. The electric blue color of the Hood is a sign that many ice crystals in the cloud are tiny--smaller than the wavelength of light. Sunlight scattered from sub-wavelength particles looks blue; local examples include cigarette smoke, noctilucent clouds and a New England sky.

Recent photos hint that the Hood is in motion possibly in response to warm dusty air wafting up from temperate latitudes. To monitor developments, point your telescope at the bright red star--make that red planet--high in the eastern sky at dawn: sky map.

more images: from Joel Warren of Amarillo, Texas; from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK.

COUNT THE STARS: Readers, now is the time to go outside and count the stars: the Great Worldwide Star Count is underway. Organizers hope to map the global spread of light pollution and in the process get people outside to enjoy the heavens. Last night in Iran, amateur astronomer Amir Hossein Abolfath photographed a friend participating in the study:


Photo details: Canon EOS 5D, 85mm EF, ISO 800, 11 sec, F/2

The orange glow is "the city lights of distant Tehran," says Abolfath.

"This is a great way to learn astronomy and the constellations," he adds. The study began Oct. 1st and ends on Oct. 15th. There's still time to make a contribution, "so do it, and tell your friends!"

Great Worldwide Star Count
[Activity Guide] [International Dark Sky Association]

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 October 10, 2007 there were 889 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Oct.-Nov. 2007 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2340 Hathor
Oct. 22
23 LD
16
620 m
2005 GL
Nov. 8
8.0 LD
16
280 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 Environment 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...
©2007, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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