You are viewing the page for Jan. 23, 2015
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids Internet Shopping Sites high quality binoculars excellent weather stations all-metal reflector telescopes rotatable microscopes
 
Solar wind
speed: 441.3 km/sec
density: 5.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2350 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
1746 UT Jan23
24-hr: C4
0253 UT Jan23
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 23 Jan 15
Sunspot AR2268 poses a slight threat for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 63
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 23 Jan 2015

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2015 total: 0 days (0%)

2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
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 23 Jan 2015


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 120 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 23 Jan 2015

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.1 nT
Bz: 1.7 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2350 UT
Coronal Holes: 23 Jan 15
A Solar wind flowing from these polar coronal holes could brush past Earth's magnetic field on Jan. 23-25. Credit: SDO/AIA.
Noctilucent Clouds As of Nov. 22, 2014, the season for southern hemisphere noctilucent clouds is underway. The south polar "daisy" pictured below is a composite of near-realtime images from NASA's AIM spacecraft.
Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Penninsula, East Antarctica, Polar
Updated at: 01-23-2015 02:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2015 Jan 23 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
40 %
40 %
CLASS X
05 %
05 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2015 Jan 23 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
40 %
MINOR
05 %
20 %
SEVERE
01 %
05 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
10 %
MINOR
25 %
25 %
SEVERE
20 %
60 %
 
Friday, Jan. 23, 2015
What's up in space
 

Learn to photograph Northern Lights like a pro. Sign up for Peter Rosen's Aurora Photo Courses in Abisko National Park.

 
Lapland tours

NEGATIVE POLARITY SOLAR WIND: In the solar wind flowing past Earth, magnetic fields are tilting south. This is the kind of "negative polarity solar wind stream" that can produce intense polar auroras. Sky watchers around the Arctic Circle should be alert for bright lights in the night sky on Jan. 23rd. Aurora alerts: text, voice

TRIPLE SHADOW TRANSIT OF JUPITER--TONIGHT! Something rare and beautiful is happening on Jupiter tonight. Between 11:30 pm EST on Friday, Jan. 23rd, and 3:00 am on Saturday, Jan. 24th, three of Jupiter's moons will cast their inky-black shadows on the cloudtops of the giant planet. Anyone in North America with clear skies and a backyard telescope can see the show. It'll look like this--times three:

"This is my shot of a single shadow transit from the night of January 8th," reports amateur astronomer John Chumack of Dayton, Ohio. "Call it my practice run!"

Chumack's photo shows the shadow of Io on the disk of Jupiter. On Jan. 23-24, that shadow will be joined by two others, cast by Callisto and Europa.

"The event is perfectly positioned for North America with all three shadows visible around 1:30 am EST," continues Chumack. "You will need a telescope at powers above 75x to see the shadows transiting visually, but when all 3 shadows are on the disk, you may be able to notice the dark spots in binoculars mounted on a tripod. After Friday night it won't happen again until 2032!"

How do you find Jupiter? You can't miss it. Located in the constellation Leo, the giant planet rises in the east just after sunset, and soars almost overhead at midnight, the brightest thing by far in its patch of sky. Enjoy the show!

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

A GREEN FLASH FROM VENUS: You've probably heard of the green flash--an emerald ray that briefly caps the sun as the solar disk sinks into the waves of a clear ocean horizon. Green flashes from the sun are so rare, they were once thought to be mythological. Now consider the following: a green flash from Venus. "I saw one," says photographer Kouji Ohnishi who sends this picture from Nagano, Japan:

"Venus was setting behind Mt.Hodaka (3190m) on Jan. 13th when the green flash appeared," he says.

Can it be real? "Yes, indeed," says atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley, who explains the phenomenon: "Venus flashes green as it touches the mountain -- but surely the mountain is above the normal horizon where flashes occur? We see these mountainside green flashes because the normal temperature gradients in the air are compressed and strengthened when wind blows across the mountain ridges. The strengthening can mimic conditions over the sea surface and sometimes be enough to produce mirages - the stuff of green flashes."

Astonishingly, Ohnishi also recorded a green flash from Mercury. "What a way to end the day!"

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

BRIGHT ASTEROID FLYBY: A large asteroid is about to fly past Earth. On the night of Jan. 26-27, mountain-sized space rock 2004 BL86 will be only 3 times farther from us than the Moon. There's no danger of a collision, but the flyby will be easy to observe. Sunlight reflected from the surface of 2004 BL86 will make it glow like a 9th magnitude star. Amateur astronomers with even small backyard telescopes will be able to see it zipping among the stars of the constellation Cancer. Check out this video, prepared by the Sociedad de Astronomia del Caribe, for detailed observing tips:

NASA radars will be observing, too. As the asteroid passes by, astronomers will use the Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, and the giant Arecibo radar in Puerto Rico to "ping" 2004 BL86, pinpointing the asteroid's location and tracing its shape.

"When we get our radar data back the day after the flyby, we will have the first detailed images," said radar astronomer Lance Benner of JPL, the principal investigator for the Goldstone radar observations of the asteroid.  "At present, we know almost nothing about this asteroid, so there are bound to be surprises."  

At the moment, astronomers think the asteroid is about a third of a mile (0.5 kilometers) in diameter. The flyby of 2004 BL86 will be the closest by any known space rock this large until asteroid 1999 AN10 flies past Earth in 2027.  


Realtime Comet Photo Gallery


Realtime Aurora 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 Jan. 23, 2015, the network reported 14 fireballs.
(14 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]

  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 January 23, 2015 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2015 AK1
Jan 18
5.6 LD
50 m
2015 BC
Jan 20
1.6 LD
63 m
2015 BP
Jan 20
1.8 LD
10 m
2015 BK4
Jan 25
5.3 LD
44 m
2015 BF
Jan 25
9.3 LD
22 m
2004 BL86
Jan 26
3.1 LD
680 m
2015 AK45
Jan 26
4.7 LD
23 m
2015 BE92
Jan 29
3.2 LD
13 m
2008 CQ
Jan 31
4.8 LD
36 m
2015 BF92
Feb 7
8.6 LD
64 m
2015 AZ43
Feb 15
7.7 LD
87 m
2000 EE14
Feb 27
72.5 LD
1.6 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...
©2010 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.