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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: 302.8 km/sec
density: 1.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Aug14
24-hr: A0
0720 UT Aug14
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 13 Aug 2009

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 34 days
2009 total: 176 days (78%)
Since 2004: 687 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 13 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: 2.4 nT
Bz: 1.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 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 14 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 14 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 14, 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.

GOOD SHOW: Veteran meteor watchers say the Perseids of 2009 were the best in years. One look at this photo shows why:

NASA astronomers Danielle Moser and Bill Cooke made the composite of 130+ Perseids that flew over the Marshall Space Flight Center on August 12th. "We recorded a bright meteor or fireball every 3 minutes--a fabulous rate," says Cooke. Their meteor detection system consists of two cameras separated by 100 miles--one in Alabama and one in Georgia. The wide baseline allows Cooke and his team to triangulate the trajectory of meteoroids with some accuracy. Here is a geographic map of the Perseids they saw. "The stars really did fall on Alabama!" he says.

Worldwide, observers counted as many as 200 Perseids per hour. Some of the prettiest may be found in the photo gallery.

UPDATED: 2009 Perseid Photo Gallery
[Science@NASA: The Perseids are Coming, Horse Flies and Meteors]

PERFECT NIGHT: Robert Postma of Fort Simpson, Canada, went outside on August 12th to see the Perseids and got more than he bargained for. "I was treated to a triple whammy," he says. "The auroras came out, noctilucent clouds lit up the horizon, and a meteor streaked across the sky. It was a perfect night."

And an unlikely one....

The Perseids and, to a lesser degree, the noctilucent clouds were expected. But where did the auroras come from? There was no solar flare or gust of solar wind to spark the display. It appears to have been an unprovoked spasm of geomagnetic activity, which appeared on its own schedule, in the middle of the best meteor shower in years.

Sometimes it just pays to be outside. Keep looking up!


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 14, 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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