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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: 278.0 km/sec
density: 1.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT May19
24-hr: A0
0735 UT May19
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 19 May 09
Fading sunspot group 1017 is a member of new Solar Cycle 24. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 14
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 19 May 2009

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2009 total: 115 days (83%)
Since 2004: 626 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 19 May 2009

Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
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: 2.8 nT
Bz: 2.2 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 May 19 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 May 19 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
10 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
May 19, 2009

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

 

HUBBLE REPAIRED: Over the past five days, spacewalking astronauts have replaced a camera, reenergized a spectrograph, swapped batteries, installed new gyros and much more. Thanks to their efforts, the Hubble Space Telescope is in working order again. "Hubble isn't just a satellite--it's about humanity's quest for knowledge," said STS-125 mission specialist John Grunsfeld when he had finished the final spacewalk. "On this mission, we tried some things that people said were impossible. We achieved [those things], and we wish Hubble the very best." [more]

MORNING PLANETS: This is a good week to wake up early. Venus, Mars and the Moon are gathering in the east for a beautiful sunrise sky show. Liz Gleason took this picture of Venus and Mars already in position on May 17th over Magnetic Island in Queensland Australia:

The two planets were waiting for the Moon. On Wednesday, May 20th, the crescent Moon will join them to form a crooked line in the dawn sky. On Thursday morning, May 21st, the trio will shift positions to become the vertices of a lovely celestial triangle. So set your alarm! It's a nice way to begin the day. Sky maps: May 20, 21.

OFF CENTER: Averted vision is a trick commonly used by astronomers to see the faint beauty of the night sky. It appears to work in broad daylight, too. Yesterday, May 18th, in Ontario, Canada, Leslie Marczi pointed his solar telescope not directly at the sun, but off to one side, and this is what he saw:

"There were a couple of nice prominences dancing along the limb of the sun," says Marczi. "Here's another one. I photographed them using an Astro-Physics 105mm (4-inch) telescope and a Solar Scope H-alpha filter."

With the sun stuck in the pits of a century-class solar minimum, the face of the sun is mostly blank. Solar photographers should look off center. That's where the action is.

more images: from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Erika Rix of Zanesville, Ohio; from Marco Vidovic of Stojnci, Slovenia; from Mike Borman of Evansville, Indiana; from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory in space;


April 2009 Aurora Gallery
[previous Aprils: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002]


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 May 19, 2009 there were 1054 potentially hazardous asteroids.
May 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 JA
May 4
7.5 LD
18
37 m
2006 FG3
May 6
60.7 LD
17
1.1 km
2001 SG286
May 17
11.5 LD
16
280 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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