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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: 322.8 km/sec
density: 3.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2343 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C2
1800 UT Jul17
24-hr: C2
1800 UT Jul17
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 17 Jul 10
Decaying sunspot 1087 poses a declining threat for C-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 17
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 16 July 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 35 days (17%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 803 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days
explanation | more info
Updated 16 July 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 77 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 16 July 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 0 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.2 nT
Bz: 0.3 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on or about July 22nd. Credit: SDO/AIA
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Jul 17 2201 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
05 %
05 %
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: 2010 Jul 17 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
July 17, 2010

ANDROID FLYBYS: Our field-tested satellite tracker is now available for Android phones. Features: Global predictions and flyby alarms! Learn more.

 

PUZZLING COLLAPSE OF THE THERMOSPHERE: Researchers are puzzling over a sharper-than-expected collapse of Earth's upper atmosphere during the deep solar minimum of 2008-09. "Something is going on that we do not understand," says John Emmert of the Naval Research Lab, lead author of a paper announcing the finding. Get the full story from Science@NASA.

MIDNIGHT RAINBOWS: For the past couple of months, sky watchers above the Arctic Circle say they've had trouble seeing the Northern Lights. What's the problem? Apparently, rainbows are getting in the way:

"This bright and beautiful rainbow appeared last night around 00:15 am," says photographer Therese van Nieuwenhoven of Laukvik, Norway. "It was caused by the midnight sun shining into a rain shower."

Normally, midnight is the time for the aurora borealis, but with the Arctic summer sun on one side of the sky and rainbows on the other, Northern Lights don't stand a chance. This is how it will be until the sun sets in August.

Next week, on July 22nd, a solar wind stream is due to hit Earth and possibly spark a geomagnetic storm. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras ... somewhere over the rainbow.

VENUS AT VENUS POINT: On July 11th, Canadian astronomer Alan Dyer was in Tahiti to witness a total eclipse of the sun. If only that cloud hadn't moved in at precisely the moment of totality...! He didn't leave the South Pacific empty-handed, however. "On the evening of the eclipse," he says, "I was able to photograph Venus from Venus Point."

"Venus Point is where Capt. James Cook made his famous observations of the transit of Venus in 1769, so it is a historic spot for astronomy," explains Dyer. "This vertical shot shows all four evening planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn; together they define the plane of the solar system, which in the tropics rises almost perpendicular from the horizon. It was a beautiful scene."

Apparently, missing an eclipse isn't so bad ... when you miss it in the South Pacific. Browse the gallery for more views.

Solar Eclipse Photo Gallery
[NASA: South Pacific Eclipse] [animated map] [details]

 
       
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 July 17, 2010 there were 1138 potentially hazardous asteroids.
July-Oct 2010 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
1999 JD6
Jul 27
53.9 LD
17
1.8 km
6239 Minos
Aug 10
38.3 LD
18
1.1 km
2005 NZ6
Aug 14
60.5 LD
18
1.3 km
2002 CY46
Sep 2
63.8 LD
16
2.4 km
2010 LY63
Sep 7
55.8 LD
18
1.3 km
2009 SH2
Sep 30
7.1 LD
25
45 m
1998 UO1
Oct 1
32.1 LD
17
2.1 km
2005 GE59
Oct 1
77 LD
18
1.1 km
2001 WN5
Oct 10
41.8 LD
18
1.0 km
1999 VO6
Oct 14
34.3 LD
17
1.8 km
1998 TU3
Oct 17
69.1 LD
15
5.3 km
1998 MQ
Oct 23
77.7 LD
17
2.0 km
2007 RU17
Oct 29
40.6 LD
18
1.0 km
2003 UV11
Oct 30
5 LD
19
595 m
3838 Epona
Nov 7
76.8 LD
16
3.4 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
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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