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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 621.2 km/s
density:
1.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
B1 1745 UT Aug18
24-hr: B4 1145 UT Aug18
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 18 Aug '05

Sunspot 797 does not pose a threat for strong solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 42
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 17 Aug 2005

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals no large sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.5 nT
Bz:
1 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

Coronal Holes:

Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Image credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope.


SPACE WEATHER
NOAA
Forecasts

Solar Flares: Probabilities for a medium-sized (M-class) or a major (X-class) solar flare during the next 24/48 hours are tabulated below.
Updated at 2005 Aug 18 2204 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 2005 Aug 18 2204 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 15 %
MINOR 10 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 25 % 20 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 18 Aug 2005
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Venus and Jupiter are converging in the western sky. Would you like a call when they meet? Sign up for SpaceWeather PHONE.

STURGEON MOON: Have you ever looked into the eyes of a sturgeon? Some people say it produces a strange sensation of great age, of primeval forests and terrifying dinosaurs. And why not? Sturgeon are ancient creatures that have changed little for hundreds of millions of years.

If you don't have a sturgeon handy, try looking at tonight's full Moon. According to folklore, it's the Sturgeon Moon. Rising in the east at sunset, it's big, beautiful and ancient--without the fishy smell.

AURORA WATCH: For the second day in a row, a high-speed solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field. Sky watchers in Alaska and Canada should remain alert for auroras.

In Manitoba, Canada, on August 6th, Chris Gray was amazed when an early-morning fog turned green: (continued below)

"A mild display of auroras had been active for about 40 minutes when the temperature dropped and the meadow I was in filled with mist and fog," explains Gray. "The fog picked up the colour from the aurora. It turned out to be a very good morning!"

LIGHTNING STRIKE: Every 10 milliseconds somewhere on our planet a bolt of lightning plunges down from the clouds and strikes Earth. A few nights ago in the Mojave Desert, JPL astronomer James W. Young photographed a magnificent strike:

If this lightning bolt was like most, it heated the air around it to ~20,000o C or three times hotter than the surface of the sun. (No wonder lightning starts so many wildfires.) The bolt itself was lit by a thousand billion (1012) watts of electrical power. If you see such a display, take the picture, then take cover!



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 are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On 18 Aug 2005 there were 710 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

August 2005 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE (UT)

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
1992 UY4

August 8

16 LD

 12
Notes: LD is a "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 Environment Center -- The official U.S. government bureau for real-time monitoring of solar and geophysical events, research in solar-terrestrial physics, and forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances.

Atmospheric Optics -- the first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. See also Snow Crystals.

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory -- Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. (European Mirror Site)

Daily Sunspot Summaries -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Current Solar Images --a gallery of up-to-date solar pictures from the National Solar Data Analysis Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center. See also the GOES-12 Solar X-ray Imager.

Recent Solar Events -- a nice summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

SOHO Farside Images of the Sun from SWAN and MDI.

The Latest SOHO Coronagraph Images -- from the Naval Research Lab

The Sun from Earth -- daily images of our star from the Big Bear Solar Observatory

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

What is the Interplanetary Magnetic Field? -- A lucid answer from the University of Michigan. See also the Anatomy of Earth's Magnetosphere.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft. How powerful are solar wind gusts? Read this story from Science@NASA.

More Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Proton Monitor.

Aurora Forecast --from the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute

Daily Solar Flare and Sunspot Data -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

What is an Iridium flare? See also Photographing Satellites by Brian Webb.

What is an Astronomical Unit, or AU?

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; Jan-Mar., 2005;

Space Audio Streams: (University of Florida) 20 MHz radio emissions from Jupiter: #1, #2, #3, #4; (NASA/Marshall) INSPIRE: #1; (Stan Nelson of Roswell, New Mexico) meteor radar: #1, #2;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips: email

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