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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: 329.1 km/sec
density: 1.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2245 UT May14
24-hr: A0
0015 UT May14
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 14 May 08
The sun appears blank in today's SOHO white-light image of the sun, but there is a small sunspot at the location of the "?" as shown in these photos from Andreas Murner of Lake Chiemsee, Germany. This unremarkable spot was the source of some extraordinary eruptions on May 12th. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 13 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= 1
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: 3.2 nT
Bz: 0.5 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the Sun. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2008 May 14 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 14 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
10 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
May 14, 2008
FLYBY ALERT! Space shuttle Discovery launches on May 31st. Get your flyby alerts from Space Weather PHONE  

MARS LANDING: NASA's Phoenix Lander is approaching Mars and preparing to touch down on May 25th. If successful, the landing will kick off an unprecedented 3-month investigation of the Red Planet's arctic realm. Get the full story from Science@NASA.

IS THAT AN ASTRONAUT? On the night of May 11th, the ISS flew over Sonnenbuehl-Genkingen, Germany, where Martin Wagner was waiting with his 10-inch telescope and a Canon 400D. He snapped this picture, and wants to know, "is that an astronaut?"

The disembodied point of light denoted by the flashing circle is, in fact, not a body. There were no spacewalks in progress on May 11th; all the astronauts were indoors. Barring unauthorized EVAs, the answer probably lies in the shadows--the increasingly complicated shadows of a growing space station. The ISS is bristling with sun-tracking solar arrays, zig-zagging thermal radiators, a bewildering assortment of modules and habitats--and don't forget there are two other spacecraft (Jules Verne and Soyuz 16) currently parked at station docking ports. This assembly casts shadows across itself, occasionally creating the appearance of disconnected pieces.

Our best guess for the spot in Wagner's photo: The sun-exposed tip of a thermal radiator. Better ideas are welcomed.

3D BONUS: Put on your 3D glasses and check out the space station's shadows in stereo. Patrick Vantuyne of Belgium assembled the red-blue anaglyph from recent NASA photos.

POLLEN CORONAS: It begins with a sneeze. Pollen floating through the air tickles your nose, and your body responds by expelling the allergen. Gesundheit!

That's German for "look at the sun." Not really, but look anyway. The same pollen that makes you sneeze can also make beautiful coronas around the sun, like this one photographed on May 11th by Reinhard Nitze of Barsinghausen, Germany:

"Coronas are produced when light waves scatter from the outsides of small particles," says atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley. "Tiny droplets of water in clouds make most coronas, but opaque equal-sized pollen grains do even better. They make small but very colorful multi-ringed coronas."

"Unlike water droplets, pollens are non-spherical--and this adds to their magic," he continues. "Many have air sacs to help carry them in the wind. These align the grains to give beautiful elliptical coronas with bright spots." This is why Nitze's pollen corona looks the way it does.

"So, the next time you sneeze..." Gesundheit! "...look for coronas near the sun."

more images: from Eva Seidenfaden of Trier, Germany


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 14, 2008 there were 953 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
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  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
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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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