You are viewing the page for Aug. 17, 2012
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 366.3 km/sec
density: 0.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: M1
1720 UT Aug17
24-hr: M2
1319 UT Aug17
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 17 Aug 12
Sunspot 1543 poses a slight threat for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 34
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 17 Aug 2012

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Update 17 Aug 2012


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 98 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 17 Aug 2012

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 4
unsettled
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.1 nT
Bz: 1.6 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes: 17 Aug 12
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on ~Aug. 20. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2012 Aug 17 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
10 %
15 %
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: 2012 Aug 17 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
20 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
20 %
MINOR
15 %
30 %
SEVERE
05 %
25 %
 
Friday, Aug. 17, 2012
What's up in space
 

Listen to radar echoes from satellites and meteors, live on listener-supported Space Weather Radio.

 
Spaceweather Radio is on the air

CRACKLING SUNSPOT: A sunspot located on the sun's northeastern limb is crackling with impulsive C- and M-class solar flares. This could herald an uptick in solar activity as the region turns toward Earth in the days ahead. Solar flare alerts: text, phone.

RETURN OF THE ARCTIC AURORAS: It has been a while since sky watchers around the Arctic Circle have enjoyed the Northern Lights. Auroras are hard to see through the glare of the midnight sun. As summer comes to an end, however, aurora season is beginning again. Last night, B.Art Braafhart spotted a splash of green over Salla in the Finnish Lapland:

"Finally, after three nights hunting for 'the green lights,' I made the first catch of the new season," says Braafhart. "The nice temperature (+12C) was accompanied by zooming mosquitos around midnight. The apparition was brief, the colors thin and light, but after an absence of 4 months exciting again!"

More auroras could be in the offing tonight. NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% to 20% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on August 17th in response to the possible impact of a minor CME. Aurora alerts: text, phone.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

METEOR SMOKE: Researchers using NASA's AIM spacecraft have recently discovered that meteor smoke is a key ingredient of Earth's mysterious noctilucent clouds. "Meteor smoke" is the fine ashen debris left over when a meteoroid burns up in the atmosphere. On August 12th, during the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, Petr Horálek photographed a dense plume of the material twisting and turning over Sumava, Czech republic:

"The fireball that produced this smoke was magnitude -9, [almost as bright as a quarter moon]," says Horálek. "This could be the brightest fireball of the 2012 Perseids." The smokey trail was visible for more than five minutes before it finally dispersed.

If the AIM science team is correct, this smoke will drift through the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere more than 80 km above the planet's surface. Up there, rare molecules of water will cling to the meteoritic particles, slowly gathering to form tiny crystals of ice until--voilà! A noctilucent cloud is born.

For more whiffs of meteor smoke, click on the link below:

Realtime Perseid Photo Gallery
[NASA video: The 2012 Perseid Meteor Shower]


Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
[previous years: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011]

  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 17, 2012 there were 1325 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
37655 Illapa
Aug 12
37 LD
--
1.2 km
2012 PZ17
Aug 12
3 LD
--
19 m
2012 PD20
Aug 18
9.6 LD
--
36 m
2000 ET70
Aug 21
58.5 LD
--
1.1 km
1998 TU3
Aug 25
49.2 LD
--
4.9 km
2009 AV
Aug 26
62.8 LD
--
1.1 km
1998 UO1
Oct 4
60.1 LD
--
2.1 km
2005 GQ21
Oct 12
77 LD
--
1.0 km
1998 ST49
Oct 18
28.7 LD
--
1.3 km
1991 VE
Oct 26
34 LD
--
1.1 km
2001 CV26
Oct 30
68 LD
--
2.4 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 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
Trade Show Displays
   
  more links...
©2010 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.