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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: 386.0 km/sec
density: 0.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Sep18
24-hr: A0
1535 UT Sep18
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 18 Sept. 09
The Earth-facing side of the sun is blank--no sunspots.. Photo credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 17 Sept 2009

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 16 days
2009 total: 209 days (81%)
Since 2004: 720 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 17 Sept 2009

Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals an active region on the far side of the sun. It is located at latitude 30-deg south, making it a probable member of Solar Cycle 24. Image credit: Global Oscillation Network Group
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.0 nT
Bz: 2.0 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
There are no coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2009 Sep 18 2201 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
01 %
01 %
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: 2009 Sep 18 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
September 18, 2009

AURORA ALERT: Did you miss the Northern Lights? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

 

SPACE SHUTTLE PIGGY-BACK: Right now in California, space shuttle Discovery is being hoisted atop a specially modified 747 aircraft for a piggy-back ride back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA managers are checking weather forecasts to determine the best cross-country route and time of departure. Sky watchers across the southern United States may be able to see the pair in flight--probably early next week. Check nasa.gov for updates.

RENDEZVOUS IN SPACE: Japan's new HTV-1 cargo carrier arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, Sept. 17th, and was attached at 6:26 p.m. EDT by the station’s robotic arm. Just before docking, the two spacecraft flew over the Netherlands where Ralf Vandebergh recorded their convergence:

"What luck," he says. "The weather was clear and the HTV-1 was only 100 meters from the ISS. They were perfectly-spaced to fit in the field of view of my 10-inch telescope."

Launched Sept. 10th from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan, the HTV is carrying about five tons of supplies to the station on its maiden voyage.

more images: from Janusz Krysiak of Koluszki, Poland; from Michał Nyklewicz of Poland; from Dirk Ewers of Hombressen, Germany

AUTUMN SUNRISE: Morning fog is a sign of autumn. The weeks of late September and early October often bring banks of fog to the countryside, where moist ground has spent the lengthening night cooling under a cloudless, starry sky. The combination of cool air and low fog can produce some interesting vistas:

Mike Hollingshead of Blair, Nebraska, took the picture at daybreak on Sept. 16th. "A few mornings ago, I noticed how red the sun appeared when it rose through the fog," he says. "I wanted more--and yesterday I got it." The sun was not only reddened but also miraged by a temperature inversion in the air above the chilly field.

"These foggy mornings produce some nice photo-ops," he says. "You just need a bit of a hill to shoot from to see the mirage, but not too high because you want to shoot through the fog to get the vibrant red stuff."

Photographers, set your alarm for sunrise. And hurry. The fog won't wait forever.


UPDATED: Sept. 2009 Aurora Gallery
[previous Septembers: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001]


Explore the Sunspot Cycle

       
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 September 18, 2009 there were 1072 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Sept. 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 QC35
Sept. 2
2.9 LD
17
35 m
2009 RY3
Sept. 11
1.9 LD
15
50 m
2009 RR
Sept. 16
2.8 LD
18
33 m
2009 RG2
Sept. 21
9.1 LD
19
31 m
2009 HD21
Sept. 29
22.9 LD
15
1.0 km
1998 FW4
Sept. 29
8.6 LD
14
550 m
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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