Listen to radar echoes from satellites and meteors, live on listener-supported Space Weather Radio. | | | STORMY SPACE WEATHER: For the past two days, space weather around Earth has been stormy, a situation that might continue through the weekend. CMEs struck Earth's magnetic field on Feb. 19th and 20th, producing G2-class geomagnetic storms and auroras over more than half a dozen US States. Another CME is due on Feb. 21st followed by another on Feb. 22nd. The incoming CMEs are minor, but their combined impacts could add up to something more. NOAA forecasters estimate a 50% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Feb. 21st. Aurora alerts: text, voice ARCTIC WILDLIFE UNDER THE LIGHTS: During a geomagnetic storm, both of Earth's poles light up with auroras. But how can you tell aurora borealis (north) from aurora australis (south)? Hint: The Northern Lights are the ones with the reindeer in front: "On Feb. 20th, the sky exploded over northern Norway!" says photographer Ole Salomonsen. "In this shot I am laying on the frozen ground really close to the reindeer. He held still for a 1.6 second exposure." Northern wildlife came out en masse to see the display. Other photographers caught a fox in Russia and an owl in Minnesota. Southerners may wish to try similar compositions as auroras have been sighted in New Zealand and Australia as well. Tasmanian Devil anyone? Aurora alerts: text, voice Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery RAINBOW, TWISTED: On Feb. 18th, a heavy rain shower passed through the Thames Valley in the South East of England. When the clouds parted, local resident Christine Palmer wasn't surprised to see a rainbow appear--but something about this rainbow was a bit odd: Many rainbows are double, but "this one was twisted as well," says Palmer. The phenomenon is called a "reflection bow." Sunlight reflected from the wet ground was refracted by raindrops, forming a rainbow at odd angles from the primary rainbow arcing across the sky. "Floods in the area are extensive at the moment, so we have plenty of wet surfaces to form such reflections," she says. Rain + sunlight = a rainbow. Rain + floods + sunlight = a reflection bow. When it's very wet, be alert for both! Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery Realtime Comet Photo Gallery 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. Note: Sometimes, because of cloud cover and other factors, a fireball is detected by only a single camera. Multiple cameras are required to triangulate an orbit. Single-camera detections in winter weather are the most common reason for mismatches between the total number of fireballs detected and the number of orbits displayed. Feb 21st is a good example: On Feb. 21, 2014, the network reported 24 fireballs. (24 sporadics)
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] On Feb. 20, 2014, the network reported 3 fireballs. (3 sporadics)
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 February 21, 2014 there were potentially hazardous asteroids. 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. | 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 | | the underlying science of space weather | |