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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 354.5 km/sec
density: 15.7 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2353 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B1
2223 UT Feb15
24-hr: B1
0314 UT Feb15
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 15 Feb 18
Sunspot AR2699 is in a state of rapid decay and no longer poses a threat for strong solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 18
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 15 Feb 2018

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2018 total: 18 days (39%)
2017 total: 104 days (28%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
2015 total: 0 days (0%)

2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)

Updated 15 Feb 2018


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 76 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 15 Feb 2018

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 4
unsettled
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 6.6 nT
Bz: -0.0 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2353 UT
Coronal Holes: 15 Feb 18

Solar wind flowing from this wide coronal hole is expected to reach Earth on Feb. 15th-16th, adding its effect to that of an incoming CME due to arrive around the same time. Credit: SDO/AIA
Noctilucent Clouds Our connection with NASA's AIM spacecraft has been restored! New images from AIM show that the southern season for noctilucent clouds (NLCs) is underway. Come back to this spot every day to see AIM's "daily daisy," which reveals the dance of electric-blue NLCs around the Antarctic Circle..
Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Polar
Updated at: 02-07-2018 17:55:05
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2018 Feb 15 2200 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: 2018 Feb 15 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
40 %
30 %
MINOR
25 %
15 %
SEVERE
05 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
15 %
MINOR
30 %
30 %
SEVERE
55 %
40 %
 
Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018
What's up in space
       
 

All-inclusive Northern Lights trips in Tromsø, Norway. Small groups, big experiences! Highly qualified guides ensure unique and unforgettable adventures with a personal touch. Visit Explore the Arctic

 

CME IMPACT SPARKS POLAR AURORAS: Earth's polar magnetic field is trembling following the apparent impact of a CME around 0800 UT on Feb. 15th. "We have enjoyed powerful auroras since the moment that the Sun went down - as a matter of fact we witnessed fast moving coronas before the sky was dark," reports Chad Blakley of Abisko, Sweden. The Lights over Lapland automated webcam snapped these pictures of the display:

So far, magnetic activity around the poles has not risen to the level of a full-fledged geomagnetic storm. This could change in the hours ahead as Earth moves into the turbulent wake of the CME. G1- or G2-class geomagnetic storms could spark auroras visible in northern-tier US states after darkness falls across North America later this evening. Stay tuned for updates as this space weather event unfolds. Free: Aurora Alerts 

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery 

A NEW DISTANCE RECORD FOR STARMAN: For the past week, astronomers around the world have been racing to set a very unlikely record: Who can take the most distant photo of a cherry red Tesla Roadster? At the moment, the record stands at 2.5 million km. Riccardo Furgoni and Giancarlo Favero set the mark on Feb. 15th when they used using a 0.8 m reflecting telescope at the Celado Astronomical Observatory in Italy to take these pictures:

"The object was only 16 degrees above our horizon shining feebly like a magnitude 19.3 star," they say.

Launched on Feb. 6, 2018, by a Falcon Heavy Rocket at Cape Canaveral, Elon Musk's Roadster is traveling around the sun on an elliptical orbit that will take it beyond the orbit of Mars. Every day it is getting farther from Earth. For comparison, 2.5 million km is about 6.5 times farther away than the Moon.

Other amateur astronomers around the world have also been photographing the distant electric car, piloted by a space-suited mannequin named "Starman." At the moment, Furgoni and Favero hold the distance record. But stay tuned, because records are meant to be broken!

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

VALENTINE'S DAY WAS ... YESTERDAY: Oops. Did you forget to buy a Valentine's gift? Your sweetheart might forgive you if she receives this:

Nothing says "I love you" like a space pendant, and you can have one for $199.95.

The students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew a payload-full of these heart-shaped Venus pendants to the stratosphere onboard a high-altitude helium balloon. The one pictured above is floating 110,550 ft above the Sierra of Centrl California.

With a sterling silver backface that says "I Love You to the Moon and Back," these blue jewels make great Valentine's, Mother's Day, and birthday gifts. Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again. Sales of this pendant support the Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray ballooning program and hands-on STEM research.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All proceeds support hands-on STEM education


  All Sky Fireball Network
Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.

On Feb. 15, 2018, the network reported 6 fireballs.
(6 sporadics)

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]

  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 February 15, 2018 there were 1882 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2018 CN2
2018-Feb-09
0.2 LD
20.2
10
2018 BL1
2018-Feb-09
16.5 LD
20.3
76
2018 CA
2018-Feb-09
19.9 LD
7.6
69
511684
2018-Feb-09
12.9 LD
17.7
257
2018 CB
2018-Feb-09
0.2 LD
7.3
23
2018 CB2
2018-Feb-11
6.5 LD
15.5
36
1991 VG
2018-Feb-11
18.4 LD
2.1
7
2018 CX
2018-Feb-11
5.7 LD
11
32
2014 WQ202
2018-Feb-11
15.1 LD
19.8
62
2018 CE3
2018-Feb-12
10.7 LD
7.2
11
2018 CH2
2018-Feb-12
2.1 LD
9.1
9
2018 CL2
2018-Feb-13
16.3 LD
13.9
25
2018 CW2
2018-Feb-13
18.6 LD
9.4
28
2018 CA2
2018-Feb-13
10.5 LD
7.4
23
2018 CR3
2018-Feb-13
6.8 LD
20.5
27
2018 CT3
2018-Feb-14
14.6 LD
14.8
98
2018 CF3
2018-Feb-14
11.1 LD
8.7
17
2018 CS2
2018-Feb-14
14.8 LD
5.8
28
2018 CY2
2018-Feb-14
18.7 LD
15
121
2018 CU2
2018-Feb-15
2.2 LD
8.9
9
2018 CB1
2018-Feb-15
9.7 LD
11.4
28
2018 CC1
2018-Feb-15
14.1 LD
15.4
70
2018 CD3
2018-Feb-15
0.9 LD
7.6
7
2018 CX2
2018-Feb-16
17.3 LD
13.9
28
2018 CP2
2018-Feb-19
6.1 LD
11.3
49
2018 CJ
2018-Feb-20
9.3 LD
15.3
67
2016 CO246
2018-Feb-22
15.3 LD
5.4
21
2017 DR109
2018-Feb-24
3.7 LD
7.4
11
2016 FU12
2018-Feb-26
13.2 LD
4.5
15
2014 EY24
2018-Feb-27
14.8 LD
8
54
2015 BF511
2018-Feb-28
11.7 LD
5.7
39
2003 EM1
2018-Mar-07
16.6 LD
8
45
2017 VR12
2018-Mar-07
3.8 LD
6.3
278
2018 BK7
2018-Mar-09
10.2 LD
8.7
69
2015 DK200
2018-Mar-10
6.9 LD
8
27
2016 SR2
2018-Mar-28
18.7 LD
7.3
20
2010 GD35
2018-Mar-31
15.5 LD
11.6
45
2004 FG29
2018-Apr-02
4 LD
14.9
22
363599
2018-Apr-12
19.3 LD
24.5
224
2014 UR
2018-Apr-14
9.3 LD
4.4
17
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.
  Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere

Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here:

This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California.

What is this all about? Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 13% since 2015:


Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

  Essential web 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 Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts
  fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.
Aurora 30 min forecast
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
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