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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: 671.2 km/s
density:
1.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2243 UT

X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
C6 1855 UT Mar19
24-hr: M3 0950 UT Mar19
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 19 Mar '03
Sunspot 314 has a delta-class magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

The Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals no substantial sunspot groups on the far side of the Sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 64
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 18 Mar 2003

Coronal Holes:

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

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 9.2 nT
Bz:
8.7 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT


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 2003 Mar 19 2200 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 75 % 50 %
CLASS X 10 % 05 %

Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at 2003 Mar 19 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 50 % 30 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 05 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 60 % 50 %
MINOR 20 % 15 %
SEVERE 10 % 05 %

What's Up in Space -- 19 Mar 2003
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AURORA ALERT: Two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are expected to sweep past Earth during the next 24 hours. Sky watchers should therefore remain alert for auroras. The best viewing sites will be at high-latitudes: e.g., New Zealand, southern Australia, Canada, northern Europe, Alaska and northern continental US states like Michigan and Wisconsin. NOAA forecasters estimate a 5% chance of severe geomagnetic activity at middle latitudes, too.

Right: "I actually saw the already moonlit landscape brighten a bit when these intense auroras appeared [on March 18th]" says photographer John Russell of Nome, Alaska. [gallery]

SUNSPOT WATCH: Sunspot 314 has a tangled "delta-class" magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. The active region has already unleashed two such eruptions this week: one at 1905 UT on March 17th and another at 1205 UT on March 18th. Both hurled coronal mass ejections into space. Although neither CME was squarely Earth-directed, the expanding clouds could deliver glancing blows to our planet's magnetic field on March 19th and 20th. CME movies: #1, #2

MOON DOG: It looks like a bright comet streaking across the sky, but it's just a Moon dog--a rainbow-tinged splash of moonlight refracted by ice crystals in high-altitude clouds. (continued below)

Dennis Mammana spotted this Moon dog on March 17th "under the parking lot lights of the Super 8 Motel in Fairbanks. The bright star (on the left) from which the glow seems to be emanating is Arcturus. I've never seen a Moon dog quite so bright and elongated," marveled Mammana. The technical term for the phenomenon is paraselene--the lunar equivalent of a solar parhelion or sundog.

WEB LINKS: NOAA FORECAST | GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL | BECOME A SUBSCRIBER | SpaceWeather PHONE



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 19 Mar 2003 there were 498 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

March 2003 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
2003 DW10

 Mar. 3

1.4 LD

 18
2003 ED50

 Mar. 19

26 LD

 17
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.

  • LEONIDS 2002: The Leonids have come and gone, but our meteor gallery keeps growing. Check out the latest additions, which include a stunning image of 44 meteors emerging from the radiant in Leo.
  • DAWN PLANETS: Just before dawn on Sunday, Dec. 1st, the planets Venus and Mars converged and formed a lovely triangle with the slender crescent Moon. [gallery]
  • SUMMER AURORAS: August was a good month for auroras. Visit our gallery and see what happened in the skies of Europe and North America.
  • NEARBY ASTEROID: Asteroid 2002 NY40 came so close to Earth on August 18th that people could see it through binoculars or small telescopes. [gallery]
  • PERSEIDS 2002: Sky watchers spotted plenty of bright shooting stars--including some colorful earthgrazers--during the 2002 Perseid meteor shower. [gallery]
  • AURORA SURPRISE: An unexpected geomagnetic storm began on August 1st as night fell across North America. Sky watchers spotted vivid auroras over both the United States and Canada.
  • CRESCENT SUN: See strange shadows, weird sunsets, eclipse dogs, crescent-eyed turkeys and extraordinary rings of fire photographed during the June 10th solar eclipse. [gallery]
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.

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.

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.

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?

Vandenberg AFB missile launch schedule.

What is an Astronomical Unit, or AU?

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; Jan-Mar., 2002; Apr-Jun., 2002; Jul-Sep., 2002; Oct-Dec., 2002;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

 

 

 




 

 
Editor's Note: Space weather forecasts that appear on this site are formulated by Dr. Tony Phillips. They are not official statements of any government organ (including NASA) or guarantees of space weather activity. In fact, nothing that appears on spaceweather.com should be construed as an official government statement. Blame the webmaster instead!

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Dr. Tony Phillips
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