| | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 1 quiet 24-hr max: Kp= 3 quiet explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 1.5 nT Bz: 0.6 nT north more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 2349 UT Coronal Holes: 19 Nov 17 A stream of solar wind flowing from this southern coronal hole should reach Earth on Nov. 20-21. Credit: SDO/AIA Noctilucent Clouds Latest images from NASA's AIM spacecraft show that the 2017 northern summer season for noctilucent clouds has finished. Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar Updated at: 09-03-2017 01:55:03 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2017 Nov 19 2200 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: 2017 Nov 19 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 40 % | 40 % | MINOR | 20 % | 20 % | SEVERE | 01 % | 01 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 15 % | MINOR | 30 % | 30 % | SEVERE | 40 % | 40 % | | | | | | | | | | | | Lights Over Lapland is excited to announce that our Customizable Aurora Adventures are available for immediate booking! Reserve your adventure of a lifetime in Abisko National Park, Sweden today! | | | SOLAR WIND, INCOMING: NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of polar geomagnetic activity on Nov. 20th and 21st when a stream of solar wind is expected to make contact with our planet. The gaseous material is flowing from a hole in the sun's atmosphere: This is a coronal hole, a region where the sun's magnetic field peels back and allows solar wind to escape. Flowing faster than 600 km/s (1.3 million mph), the emerging gas could cause G1-class geomagnetic storms when it reaches Earth. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras in the nights ahead. Free: Aurora Alerts. Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery NEW ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION DATA: Last week's double launch of space weather balloons over Mexico and California was a success. The goal of our experiment was to measure cosmic rays in the atmosphere above both countries and compare the results. A first look at the data reveal big differences. These curves show dose rate vs. altitude. They diverge rapidly above 15,000 feet, with radiation levels over central California typically 1.5 times higher than over Mexico. This means air travelers over California can expect to receive significantly greater doses of cosmic radiation compared to their counterparts flying south of the border. In both places, radiation levels reached a peak in the stratosphere. At those altitudes, dose rates were 60 times greater than sea level for Mexico, 90 times greater than sea level for California. The reason for these differences is Earth's magnetic field which, generally speaking, provides greater shielding against cosmic rays near the equator (Mexico) than at mid-latitudes (California) The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners. They trace secondary cosmic rays, the spray of debris created when primary cosmic rays from deep space hit the top of Earth's atmosphere. Our payloads also carried neutron sensors. Stay tuned for updates next week as we continue our analysis of data from those detectors. Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery CHRISTMAS GIFTS FROM SPACE: On Aug. 21st during the Great American Solar Eclipse, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched 11 space weather balloons from the path of totality. They aimed to photograph the Moon's shadow from the stratosphere--and they succeeded. As a fundraiser, some of the balloons carried jewelry, like this rose quartz pendant shown entering the Moon's shadow more than 90,000 feet above Oregon: During the 2.5 hour flight, the pendants were wrapped in the Moon's shadow for more than two minutes, experiencing a spooky darkness colder than -50 C. You can have one for $169.95. Each crystal pendant comes with a unique gift card showing the jewelry passing through the Moon's shadow and floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that this gift has been to the edge of space and back again. Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store All proceeds support hands-on STEM education Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com. On Nov. 19, 2017, the network reported 35 fireballs. (21 sporadics, 11 Leonids, 2 Northern Taurids, 1 November omega Orionid) In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies] 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 November 19, 2017 there were 1853 potentially hazardous asteroids. | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | 2017 WD | 2017-Nov-13 | 1.9 LD | 10.7 | 9 | 2017 VM13 | 2017-Nov-13 | 17.6 LD | 8 | 56 | 2017 VF14 | 2017-Nov-13 | 0.8 LD | 11.9 | 7 | 2017 VA14 | 2017-Nov-14 | 18.1 LD | 7.5 | 27 | 2017 VB13 | 2017-Nov-14 | 11.2 LD | 11.4 | 29 | 2017 VV12 | 2017-Nov-15 | 1.9 LD | 6.5 | 9 | 2017 VM2 | 2017-Nov-15 | 17.9 LD | 8.9 | 96 | 2017 WB | 2017-Nov-15 | 7.4 LD | 8.8 | 33 | 2017 VN13 | 2017-Nov-15 | 3 LD | 8.9 | 9 | 444584 | 2017-Nov-17 | 8.7 LD | 14.8 | 324 | 2017 VC14 | 2017-Nov-18 | 1.3 LD | 11.2 | 7 | 2017 UC52 | 2017-Nov-18 | 19.5 LD | 14.7 | 50 | 2017 VN2 | 2017-Nov-18 | 6.2 LD | 4.9 | 12 | 2017 WE | 2017-Nov-19 | 11.7 LD | 15.9 | 16 | 2017 WC | 2017-Nov-20 | 3 LD | 7.6 | 23 | 2017 VD13 | 2017-Nov-22 | 13.1 LD | 16.3 | 37 | 2017 VA15 | 2017-Nov-22 | 8.1 LD | 6.4 | 37 | 2017 VZ14 | 2017-Nov-24 | 3.2 LD | 8.4 | 38 | 2017 VY13 | 2017-Nov-25 | 2 LD | 10.5 | 18 | 2008 WM61 | 2017-Dec-03 | 3.8 LD | 4.7 | 16 | 2017 VS14 | 2017-Dec-12 | 15.9 LD | 2.8 | 15 | 2015 XX169 | 2017-Dec-14 | 9.7 LD | 6.3 | 11 | 2017 VT14 | 2017-Dec-17 | 3.8 LD | 10.3 | 115 | 2011 YD29 | 2017-Dec-19 | 17.6 LD | 7.7 | 20 | 2006 XY | 2017-Dec-20 | 6.5 LD | 5 | 56 | 2017 TS3 | 2017-Dec-22 | 18.1 LD | 10.2 | 136 | 418849 | 2017-Dec-22 | 15.3 LD | 17.4 | 257 | 2015 YQ1 | 2017-Dec-22 | 17.3 LD | 11.1 | 9 | 2017 QL33 | 2017-Dec-30 | 13.3 LD | 8.2 | 191 | 2015 RT1 | 2018-Jan-02 | 19.7 LD | 9 | 30 | 2004 FH | 2018-Jan-10 | 20 LD | 8.5 | 26 | 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. | Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere | Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here: This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California. What is this all about? Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 13% since 2015: Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation. The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners. The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today. | The official U.S. government space weather bureau | | The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. | | Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. | | 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory | | Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | the underlying science of space weather | | Reviews here can help you to pick up best memory foam mattresses. | | These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! | | | | | | | | | | | | ©2017 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips. | |