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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

SpaceWeather.com
Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 474.4 km/s
density: 5.6 protons/cm³
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2254 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B3 1650 UT Oct13
24-hr: B8 1630 UT Oct13
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 13 Oct '03
The face of the sun is almost blank today. Solar flares are unlikely. Image credit: SOHO MDI

The Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals no large sunspots on the far side of the Sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 35
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 12 Oct 2003

Coronal Holes:

Solar wind gusts from the indicated coronal hole could spark auroras in the days ahead. Image credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
More about coronal holes

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 9.3 nT
B_z: 4.5 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2257 UT

SPACE WEATHER
NOAA
Forecasts
Solar Flares: Probabilities for a medium-sized (M-class) or a major (X-class) solar flare during the next 24/48 hours are tabulated below.
Updated at 2003 Oct 13 2200 UTC

FLARE	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
CLASS M	05 %	05 %
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 2003 Oct 13 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes

	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
ACTIVE	25 %	30 %
MINOR	10 %	15 %
SEVERE	05 %	10 %

High latitudes

	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
ACTIVE	35 %	45 %
MINOR	15 %	25 %
SEVERE	10 %	15 %

What's Up in Space -- 13 Oct 2003
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BRIGHT PLANETS: For months, Mars has been the brightest planet in the night sky. Not anymore. While Mars has been receding from Earth, Jupiter has been approaching, and as of today Jupiter is the brighter. Look east at 6 o'clock in the morning and you'll see giant Jupiter shining like a -1.8^th magnitude star. Even a small telescope will reveal the planet's cloud belts and its four largest satellites: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. [sky map]

DOUBLE LEONIDS: Most years we have just one Leonid meteor shower. This year we're going to have two. Forecasters say a flurry of Leonid meteors will appear over parts of Asia on Nov. 13th, followed by a second flurry over eastern North America on Nov. 19th. Sky watchers can expect to see as many as one or two meteors per minute during the shower's peaks. Get the full story from Science@NASA.

AURORA OUTLOOK: Earth is entering a solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the sun. Because the interplanetary magnetic field near Earth is tilting south, solar wind gusts could spark a geomagnetic storm. Sky watchers at high latitudes--e.g., Canada, Alaska and northern border states such as Wisconsin and Michigan--should be alert for auroras during the nights ahead.

Would you like a phone call when auroras appear over your home town? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE.

SUNSET RAINBOW: The sun was setting on Oct. 7th when Victor Bobbett stepped outside and saw this remarkably tall rainbow over Phoenix, Arizona. What makes it so? Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley explains below.

"High in the sky rainbows like these occur close to sunset or sunrise when the sun is low," says Cowley. "Rainbows are always centered on the anti-solar point exactly opposite the sun and this point gets higher as the sun sinks. The bow colors are those of sunsets, reds and orange with almost no blue. Blue light is preferentially scattered out of sunset rays during their long low passage through the earth's atmosphere."

Spaceweather PHONE | Upcoming Events | Archives

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 are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On 13 Oct 2003 there were 535 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

October 2003 Earth-asteroid encounters

ASTEROID

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

2003 SS84

Oct. 11

8 LD

1998 FG2

Oct. 21

15 LD

2001 KZ66

Oct. 30

31 LD

Notes: LD is a "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 Web 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. (European Mirror Site)

Daily Sunspot Summaries -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Current Solar Images --a gallery of up-to-date solar pictures from the National Solar Data Analysis Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center. See also the GOES-12 Soft X-ray Imager.

Recent Solar Events -- a nice summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

SOHO Farside Images of the Sun from SWAN and MDI.

The Latest SOHO Coronagraph Images -- from the Naval Research Lab

The Sun from Earth -- daily images of our star from the Big Bear Solar Observatory

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

What is the Interplanetary Magnetic Field? -- A lucid answer from the University of Michigan. See also the Anatomy of Earth's Magnetosphere.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft. How powerful are solar wind gusts? Read this story from Science@NASA.

More Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Proton Monitor.

Aurora Forecast --from the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute

Daily Solar Flare and Sunspot Data -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

What is an Iridium flare? See also Photographing Satellites by Brian Webb.

Vandenberg AFB missile launch schedule.

What is an Astronomical Unit, or AU ?

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; Jan-Mar., 2003; Apr-Jun., 2003;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

Editor's Note: Space weather and other forecasts that appear on this site are formulated by Dr. Tony Phillips. They are not official statements of any government agency (including NASA) nor should they be construed as guarantees of space weather or other celestial activity.