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Solar wind
speed: 445.1 km/sec
density: 2.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C2
1841 UT Apr22
24-hr: C8
1137 UT Apr22
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 22 Apr 14
Approaching the western limb, sunspots AR2034, AR2035 and AR2036 have 'beta-gamma' magnetic fields that harbor energy for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 168
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 22 Apr 2014

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2014 total: 0 days (0%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)

Update
22 Apr 2014

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 159 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 22 Apr 2014

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 0 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.2 nT
Bz: 1.7 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 22 Apr 14
There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.

Spaceweather.com posts daily satellite images of noctilucent clouds (NLCs), which hover over Earth's poles at the edge of space. The data come from NASA's AIM spacecraft. The north polar "daisy" pictured below is a composite of near-realtime images from AIM assembled by researchers at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
Noctilucent Clouds
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 02-28-2014 16:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2014 Apr 22 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
50 %
40 %
CLASS X
05 %
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: 2014 Apr 22 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
20 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
20 %
MINOR
30 %
30 %
SEVERE
30 %
30 %
 
Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2014
What's up in space
 

Did you miss the lunar eclipse? No problem. The Coca-Cola Science Center recorded it for you. Click here to play the movie.

 
2014 Lunar Eclipse Live

WANING CHANCE OF STORMS: NOAA forecasters have downgraded the chance of geomagnetic storms today to 35% as Earth exits a stream of high-speed solar wind. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for fading auroras. Aurora alerts: text, voice

EARTH DAY METEOR SHOWER: Earth is passing through a stream of debris from ancient Comet Thatcher, source of the annual Lyrid meteor shower. Prof. Peter Brown of the Universiy of Western Ontario reports that "the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR) just finished processing orbital data from last night and the Lyrids are showing up quite nicely. The meteor rate is near 15 per hour so visual observers should have had a good view early this morning and should be able to easily detect the shower tonight."

Click to view an all-sky map of CMOR meteor radar echoes on April 22nd:

The bright pink blob pinpoints the Lyrid radiant in the constellation Lyra. Other lesser showers are active, too, but they are much weaker. If you see a meteor tonight, it is probably a Lyrid.

Usually the Lyrid meteor shower is mild (10-20 meteors per hour), but unmapped filaments of dust in the comet's tail sometimes trigger outbursts ten times stronger. So far this year's shower is trending toward the usual. "The shower is comparable in strength to what was seen last year - so far no surprises," says Brown.

Forecasters espect the shower to peak on April 22nd between the hours of 10:00 UT and 21:00 UT. Got clouds? Listen for Lyrid radar echoes on Space Weather Radio.

Realtime Meteor Photo Gallery

PEEP-O-NAUTS TAKE RISKY TRIP TO THE EDGE OF SPACE: On April 20th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a pair of suborbital helium balloons to the stratosphere. One payload carried a radiation sensor to measure the effects of the Easter geomagnetic storm on Earth's upper atmosphere. The other payload carried a colony of halobacteria in an experiment to find out if the extremophiles could live at the edge of space. In honor of the holiday, the students launched some peeps as halobacteria companions. As this movie shows, it's risky being a peep-o-naut:

The near-miss only 2000 ft. above the launch site almost brought an explosive end to the mission. Fortunately, the two balloons carried on to the stratosphere, gathering data on the solar storm in progress during the flight. Here is what peeps look like at the edge of space. Later, the peeps and halobacteria parachuted to Earth, landing in a tree in the Inyo Mountains of central California. Student adventurers recovered the payload and they are studying the data now.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Mars Photo Gallery


Realtime Comet Photo Gallery


  All Sky Fireball Network

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 Apr. 22, 2014, the network reported 25 fireballs.
(19 sporadics, 6 April Lyrids)

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 Apr. 21, 2014, the network reported 15 fireballs.
(14 sporadics, 1 April Lyrid)

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]

  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, 2014 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2007 TV18
Apr 18
7.4 LD
88 m
2014 GG49
Apr 19
3.9 LD
31 m
2014 HW
Apr 27
2.1 LD
9 m
2007 HB15
Apr 28
6.7 LD
12 m
2010 JO33
May 17
4 LD
43 m
2005 UK1
May 20
36.7 LD
1.1 km
1997 WS22
May 21
47.1 LD
1.5 km
2002 JC
May 24
48.7 LD
1.4 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 web 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 Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Space Weather Alerts
   
  more links...
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