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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: 407.2 km/sec
density: 0.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B7
2310 UT Mar20
24-hr: B7
2310 UT Mar20
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 20 Mar. 10
Sunspot 1056 has faded away. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 24
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 19 Mar 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 6 days (8%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 776 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 19 Mar 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 84 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 19 Mar 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.2 nT
Bz: 1.3 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Mar 20 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: 2010 Mar 20 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
March 20, 2010

NEW AND IMPROVED: Turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a field-tested global satellite tracker. The Satellite Flybys app now works in all countries.

 

EQUINOX SKY SHOW: Northern Spring begins on Saturday, March 20th. To celebrate the occasion, Nature is putting on an equinox sky show. Look west after sunset for a close encounter between the crescent Moon and the Pleiades star cluster. It's a beautiful view, especially through binoculars, and a nice way to experience the equal night.

FARSIDE EXPLOSION: This morning, March 20th, a coronal mass ejection (CME) billiowed over the sun's western limb. Click on the image to launch a movie of the expanding cloud recorded by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO):

Imagery from NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft suggests this was a backside event. Despite multiple views from SOHO and STEREO, however, the precise location of the blast site remains uncertain. It might be an active region which is passing through STEREO's narrow blind spot on the "anti-Earth" side of the sun. Stay tuned for updates.

DRIED CODFISH: Pictures of aurora borealis usually look best with a little something extra in the field of view. Some photographers chose mountains; others prefer the Moon and stars. Peter Van den Eijnde might be the first to select dead fish:

"On March 18th, during a trip to Laukvik in the Lofoten Islands of Norway, I took this picture of codfish drying in the open air," he explains. "The aurora seems to lend a hand in the process."

This has been an active week for Northern Lights around the Arctic Circle, but the show is subsiding. NOAA forecasters estimate only a 10% chance of geomagnetic activity during the next 24 hours. Until the next storm, browse the gallery:

March Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Marches: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003]

 
       
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 March 20, 2010 there were 1110 potentially hazardous asteroids.
March 2010 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2001 PT9
March 3
11.1 LD
15
305 m
4486 Mithra
March 12
73.5 LD
15
3.3 km
2001 FM129
March 13
44.1 LD
16
1.5 km
2010 EF43
March 18
5.0 LD
19
23 m
2002 TE66
March 28
48.0 LD
15
940 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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