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Solar wind
speed: 322.2 km/sec
density: 7.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C7
2256 UT Mar15
24-hr: C9
0213 UT Mar15
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 15 Mar 15
Sunspot AR2297 has a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 56
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 15 Mar 2015

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
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%)

Update 15 Mar 2015


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 116 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 15 Mar 2015

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 6.9 nT
Bz: 2.0 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 15 Mar 15

Solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal holes should reach Earth on March 19-20. Credit: SDO/AIA.
Noctilucent Clouds The southern season for NLCs has come to an end. The last clouds were observed by NASA's AIM spacecraft on Feb. 20, 2015. Now attention shifts to the northern hemisphere, where the first clouds of 2015 should appear in mid-May.
Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Penninsula, East Antarctica, Polar
Updated at: 02-28-2015 02:55:03
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2015 Mar 14 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
70 %
70 %
CLASS X
20 %
20 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2015 Mar 14 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
25 %
30 %
MINOR
05 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
30 %
30 %
SEVERE
30 %
40 %
 
Sunday, Mar. 15, 2015
What's up in space
 

Learn to photograph Northern Lights like a pro. Sign up for Peter Rosen's Aurora Photo Courses in Abisko National Park.

 
Lapland tours

SLIGHT CHANCE OF SUNDAY STORMS: The X-flare of March 11th might not be done affecting our planet. According to computer models, a CME propelled into space by the explosion will sideswipe Earth's magnetic field on Sunday, March 15th. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms if and when the CME arrives. Aurora alerts: text, voice

SOLAR FLARE AND CME: March 15th began with a bang. Between 00:45 UT and 02:00 UT, a magnetic filament erupted in concert with a slow C9-class solar flare from sunspot AR2297. This movie of the eruption comes from an extreme UV telescope onboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:

The combo blast hurled a CME into space: SOHO movie. Modeling by NOAA analysts suggests that the cloud will deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field during the late hours of March 17th. Will there be green skies on St. Patrick's Day? NOAA forecasters estimate a 50% chance of geomagnetic storms when the CME arrives.Solar flare alerts: text, voice

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

AURORA OUTBURST: Last night, March 14-15, sky watchers around the Arctic Circle witnessed a magnificent outburst of auroras. "It was utterly amazing," reports Oliver Wright of Abisko, Sweden. "Best I've seen in years of night photography." He took this picture just as the storm was getting started:

"Later, the auroras exploded and just filled the sky!" he said.

Chad Blakley, an aurora tour guide in Abisko National Park, says "I have seen some very impressive displays during all of the years that I have been living in Abisko, but this particular show was truly one of a kind." Using a high speed camera, he captured a must-see movie which Blakley says "closely represents what we saw with our own eyes."

Aurora outbursts are often caused by CMEs. In this case however, a CME was not responsible. Instead, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) around Earth tipped south. This opened a crack in Earth's magnetic field. Solar wind poured in to fuel the display. Aurora alerts: text, voice

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery

SOLAR RADIO BURST: For much of the past week, space weather news has focused on how sunspot AR2297 is causing radio blackouts on Earth. On March 12th the sunspot did the opposite. It unleashed a shortwave radio burst. "It was super intense--one of the strongest bursts of the current solar cycle," reports amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft. Click on the image below to play a recording of the sounds he heard issuing from the loudspeaker of his radio telescope in rural New Mexico:

"The recording starts a little rough for a few seconds in that there was a ham transmission in progress on one channel (22 MHz) and the other channel (23 MHz) had a tiny bit of buzz," says Ashcraft. "But then the solar burst hit and the ham voices were entirely drowned out. For the next 3 minutes, the airwaves were dominated by solar static."

These radio sounds are caused by beams of electrons--in this case, accelerated by an M4-flare. As the electrons slice through the sun's atmosphere, they generate a ripple of plasma waves and radio emissions detectable on Earth 93 million miles away. Astronomers classify solar radio bursts into five types; Ashcraft's recording captured a mixture of Type III and Type V.

More bursts are in the offing. AR2297 has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for 'radio-active' explosions. NOAA forecasters estimate a 70% chance of M-class flares and a 20% chance of X-flares on March 15th. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Comet Photo Gallery


  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 Mar. 15, 2015, the network reported 1 fireballs.
(1 sporadic)

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 March 15, 2015 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2015 EO6
Mar 12
0.3 LD
5 m
2015 EQ
Mar 12
3.4 LD
24 m
2015 EK
Mar 13
3.1 LD
24 m
2015 EP
Mar 13
7 LD
28 m
2015 EF
Mar 13
2.5 LD
19 m
2015 EO
Mar 15
2.8 LD
20 m
2063 Bacchus
Apr 7
76 LD
1.6 km
5381 Sekhmet
May 17
62.8 LD
2.1 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 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
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Space Weather Alerts
   
  more links...
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