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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: 352.6 km/sec
density: 6.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Aug12
24-hr: A0
2340 UT Aug12
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 07 Aug 09
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI

NOTE:
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory is passing through a telemetry keyhole. Daily sun images will be intermittently delayed until routine contact is established later this week.
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 11 Aug 2009

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 32 days
2009 total: 174 days (78%)
Since 2004: 685 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 11 Aug 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= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.7 nT
Bz: 2 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
There are no coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: Hinode X-ray Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2009 Aug 12 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 Aug 12 2201 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
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
August 12, 2009

AURORA ALERT: Did you miss the Northern Lights? In July they descended as far south as Nebraska. Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

 

SPACEWEATHER RADIO: The US Air Force Space Surveillance Radar is scanning the skies over North America. When a Perseid meteor passes overhead--"ping"--there is an echo. Tune into Spaceweather Radio for a live audio feed from the radar facility.

PERSEIDS UPDATE: If it's dark where you live, go outside and look for meteors. Earth is still inside the debris stream of Comet Swift-Tuttle and, as a result, the Perseid meteor shower is still active. Indeed, the show could be better tonight, Aug. 12th, than it was last night, Aug. 11th, when Jimmy Westlake caught this fireball flying over Steamboat Springs, Colorado:

"This is one of two Perseid fireballs that fell during a spike in activity between 1:30 and 2:30 o'clock MDT on August 12, 2009," says Westlake.

The "spike" was anticpated by forecasters. A filament of dust shed by Perseid parent Comet Swift-Tuttle in 1610 drifted across Earth's path and Earth ran into it around 0800 UT (1 am PDT, 2 am MDT) on August 12, 2009. Evidence is mounting that there might have been an uptick in Perseid meteor rates at that time. Stay tuned for updates.

UPDATED: 2009 Perseid Photo Gallery
[Previous Perseids: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2001]

TOP SECRET: Not every light that streaks across the night sky is a Perseid. Some of them are spy satellites. Here's one gliding over Maghaberry, Northern Ireland, on August 10th:

"I went out to look for Perseids and instead I saw Lacrosse 3," reports photographer John McConnell.

Lacrosse 3 is a US National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite. Although it is top-secret, it often attracts attention to itself when sunlight glints brightly from its solar panels, rumored to span 45 meters from tip to tip. The solar arrays power a synthetic aperture radar, which can image Earth's surface with meter-resolution even through clouds. Some web sites claim that the radar can also sense objects underground, but that's just speculation.

"I couldn't mistake Lacrosse 3 because it was so bright," says McConnell. "This is even better than Perseids!"

Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for spy-flybys of your hometown.


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


July 2009 Aurora Gallery
[previous Julys: 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 August 12, 2009 there were 1067 potentially hazardous asteroids.
August 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 MC9
Aug. 7
70.3 LD
16
1.2 km
2009 OF
Aug. 8
15.4 LD
18
220 m
2007 RQ17
Aug. 9
8.4 LD
17
130 m
2000 LC16
Aug. 17
75.6 LD
14
2.0 km
2006 SV19
Aug. 21
59.2 LD
16
1.3 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 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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