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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: 457.2 km/sec
density: 0.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
1900 UT Jun21
24-hr: A0
1900 UT Jun21
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 21 Jun 08
Sunspot 999 poses no threat for strong solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI

more images: from Larry Alvarez of Flower Mound, Texas; from Eric Roel of Valle de Bravo, Mexico
Sunspot number: 11
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 20 June 2008
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals one small spot 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
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.5 nT
Bz: 1.5 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 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: 2008 Jun 21 2203 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: 2008 Jun 21 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
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
June 21, 2008
AURORA ALERTS: Did you miss the Northern Lights of June 14th? Next time get a wake-up call from Space Weather PHONE.  

PROMINENCE ALERT: Resembling a gigantic "wall of flame," a huge prominence is spreading along the sun's eastern limb today, reports Pete Lawrence of Selsey, UK. He snapped this picture through a break in clouds. "If you get a chance, go out and look at this impressive prominence before it fades," he urges. [solar telescopes]

more images: from C. Miller and J. Stetson of South Portland, Maine; from Mike Borman of Evansville, Indiana

INTENSE NLCs: Summer is the season for noctilucent clouds. Right on cue, the summer solstice brought a wave of bright NLCs to the British Isles. "The clouds appeared quite suddenly ... probably the brightest I've ever seen," reports Paul Evans of Larne, Northern Ireland on June 20th. Nearby Maghaberry resident John C McConnell snapped this picture of the display:

"The clouds were so bright, they would have been spotted by members of the public with even a casual glance," says Martin McKenna who watched the show from Maghera, Northern Ireland. "Glowing tendrils seemed to change size and shape by the minute with subtle colours such as electric blue, orange, and even green. I couldn't take my eyes away from it."

As regular readers know, these glow-in-the-dark clouds are a 100+ year old mystery under investigation by NASA's AIM spacecraft. Once confined to arctic latitudes, noctilucent clouds have been spreading with recent sightings in the USA as far south as Utah, Colorado and possibly even Virginia. Check the photo gallery for observing tips and be alert for noctilucent clouds!

2008 Noctilucent Cloud Gallery
["Noctilucent Clouds"--the song] [NLC Basics]

SOLSTICE SHADOWS: Northern summer has just begun and for residents of Earth's northern hemisphere today's noontime sun is as high as it ever gets. This can produce some unusual shadows. Inspect the picture below and see if you can guess what's strange about it.

Photographer Quanzhi Ye of Xiaoguwei, Guangzhou, China explains: "There is a shallow texture (depth ~1mm) on the bricks on our domitory. Because of the 89.8o altitude of the sun, the shallow texture casts long shadows on the wall, which is quite an unique scene."

Readers, at noon today, look down at your feet, up along walls, beneath trees. You may find a unique scene of your own.

more images: from Mark D. Marquette of Gray, Tennessee


May 2008 Aurora Gallery
[Aurora Alerts] [Night-sky Cameras]

       
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. [comment]
On June 21, 2008, there were 959 potentially hazardous asteroids.
June-July 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2008 KO
June 1
4.4 LD
18
60 m
2008 KT
June 3
3.3 LD
20
9 m
2008 LB
June 9
3.3 LD
17
26 m
2008 LG2
June 13
9.2 LD
19
36 m
2008 LC
June 17
9.8 LD
18
55 m
2008 KN11
June 22
9.0 LD
18
110 m
2000 AD205
June 26
54 LD
17
800 m
1999 VU
June 29
65 LD
16
1.6 km
2008 BT18
July 14
5.9 LD
13
1.0 km
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 bureau for real-time monitoring of solar and geophysical events, research in solar-terrestrial physics, and forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances.
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.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  From the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
  more links...
©2008, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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