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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: 420.6 km/sec
density: 1.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A4
1905 UT Apr22
24-hr: A4
1730 UT Apr22
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 22 Apr. 10
A sunspot may be forming inside the circled region. Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor the situation. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 21 Apr 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 7 days
2010 total: 14 days (13%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 784 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 21 Apr 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 75 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 21 Apr 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.0 nT
Bz: 3.5 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole is gently buffeting Earth's magnetic field. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Apr 22 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 Apr 22 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
05 %
MINOR
05 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
00 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
25 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
April 22, 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.

 

LYRID METEOR SHOWER: The Lyrid meteor shower peaks on April 22nd when Earth passes through a stream of debris from Comet Thatcher (C/1861 G1). The best time to look is during the hours before dawn on Thursday morning. Forecasters expect as many as 20 meteors per hour. [full story] [fireball movie]

STUNNING IMAGES OF THE SUN: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is beaming back stunning new images of the sun, revealing our own star as never seen before. Even veteran solar physicists say they are amazed by the data. Click on the prominence, below, to see what everyone is so excited about:


Must-see movies and images

Related links:

SHUTTLE FLARE: On April 20th, just hours before space shuttle Discovery landed in Florida, the orbiter soared over Germany. From the darkness of his backyard observatory, Dirk Ewers watched the shuttle's last pass and was amazed when Discovery suddenly and dazzlingly flared. Here are three frames from a video he recorded through his 5-inch refracting telescope:


Click to make the shuttle flare!

There was no explosion. The flare is sunlight reflecting from shiny surfaces in the shuttle's payload bay. The bay doors were open at the time of the overpass, and the bay contained the big, glistening Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. "At the beginning of the flare, I think Leonardo can be seen as a bright point in a partially dark open payload bay," says Ewers.

Leonardo is a cargo container. It was used this month by the crew of Discovery to ferry supplies and laboratory equipment to the International Space Station (ISS). Later this year, Leonardo will be pressurized and permanently attached to the ISS as a roomy new module. Then the ISS will have the same "flare capability" just demonstrated by the shuttle.


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

 
       
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 April 22, 2010 there were 1116 potentially hazardous asteroids.
April 2010 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2010 GV23
April 5
2.1 LD
19
12 m
2010 GF7
April 8
2.8 LD
18
30 m
2010 GA6
April 9
1.1 LD
16
27 m
2010 GM23
April 13
3.4 LD
17
47 m
2005 YU55
April 19
5.9 LD
15
185 m
2009 UY19
April 23
8.8 LD
18
87 m
2002 JR100
April 29
8.0 LD
19
65 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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