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Solar wind
speed: 365.2 km/sec
density: 8.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2351 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B4
1745 UT Feb16
24-hr: B8
1600 UT Feb16
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 16 Feb 15
Sunspot AR2282 has a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 45
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 16 Feb 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 16 Feb 2015


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 120 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 16 Feb 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= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 13.6 nT
Bz: 11.5 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2352 UT
Coronal Holes: 15 Feb 15
A Solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Feb. 16-17.. Credit: SDO/AIA.
Noctilucent Clouds As of Nov. 22, 2014, the season for southern hemisphere noctilucent clouds is underway. The south polar "daisy" pictured below is a composite of near-realtime images from NASA's AIM spacecraft.
Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Penninsula, East Antarctica, Polar
Updated at: 02-16-2015 21:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2015 Feb 16 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
10 %
10 %
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: 2015 Feb 16 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
30 %
15 %
MINOR
05 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
20 %
MINOR
35 %
30 %
SEVERE
35 %
25 %
 
Monday, Feb. 16, 2015
What's up in space
 

Come to Tromsø and share Marianne's passion for rural photography: Chasethelighttours.co.uk invites you to experience "Heaven on Earth" with an aurora, fjord, fishing, whale watching, photography or sightseeing tour.

 
Chase the Light Tours

VERY QUIET SUN: For the 4th day in a row, solar activity remains very low. No sunspots are actively flaring, and the sun's X-ray output has flatlined. NOAA forecasters estimate a scant 1% chance of X-flares and a 5% chance of M-flares on Feb. 16th. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

CHANCE OF MAGNETIC STORMS: Flowing from a gap in the sun's atmosphere, a stream of solar wind is approaching Earth. ETA: Feb. 16-17. Last night, David Mayhew saw the first stirrings of auroras over Hofn, Iceland:

"The lights were weak," says Mayhew. "A 30 second exposure was required to capture them, along with their reflection from a shipwreck in the foreground."

Tonight's lights could be brighter. NOAA forecasters estimate a 45% chance of full-fledged geomagnetic storms on Feb. 16th when the solar wind arrives. Polar sky watchers should remain alert for auroras. Aurora alerts: text, voice

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery

MAGNETIC STORM ON COMET LOVEJOY: Around the world, observers of bright Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) are reporting activity in the comet's sinuous blue ion tail. On Feb. 13th, Michael Jäger of Dorfstetten Austriao used a backyard telescope to capture this 'plasma blob' billowing down the tail, away from the comet's core:

This could be a sign that a magnetic storm in underway. Observers of comets frequently witness plasma blobs and 'disconnection events' in response to CMEs and gusts of solar wind. In extreme cases, a comet's tail can be completely torn off.

The underlying physics is akin to terrestrial geomagnetic storms. When magnetic fields around a comet bump into oppositely-directed magnetic fields in a CME, those fields can link together or "reconnect." The resulting burst of magnetic energy can make waves, blobs, or even ruptures in the comet's tail. When CMEs hit Earth, a similar process takes place in the planet's magnetosphere powering, among other things, the aurora borealis.

Readers who wish to monitor the effects of space weather on Lovejoy should look toward the constellation Andromeda high in the northern sky after sunset: finder chart. The comet is shining like a 5th magnitude star, barely visible to the unaided eye from dark-sky locations, but an easy target for telescopes and binoculars. For pinpoint guidance of optics, use this ephemeris from the Minor Planet Center.

Realtime Comet Photo Gallery


Realtime Space Weather 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 Feb. 16, 2015, the network reported 3 fireballs.
(3 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 16, 2015 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2015 CT13
Feb 11
1.8 LD
29 m
2015 CG
Feb 11
7.1 LD
33 m
2015 CK13
Feb 15
7.2 LD
15 m
2015 CS
Feb 15
3.4 LD
23 m
2015 AZ43
Feb 15
7.7 LD
87 m
2015 CJ13
Feb 15
8.5 LD
66 m
2015 CL13
Feb 15
2 LD
31 m
2015 CQ13
Feb 18
6.7 LD
31 m
2000 EE14
Feb 27
72.5 LD
1.6 km
2063 Bacchus
Apr 7
76 LD
1.6 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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