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Solar wind
speed: 309.3 km/sec
density: 3.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
2103 UT Jun24
24-hr: C2
0029 UT Jun24
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 24 Jun 14
None of these sunspots poses a threat for strong flares. Solar activity is low. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 64
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 24 Jun2014

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
24 Jun 2014

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 93 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 24 Jun 2014

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.6 nT
Bz: 0.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1315 UT
Coronal Holes: 24 Jun 14
There are no large equatorial 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: 06-24-2014 11:55:03
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2014 Jun 24 2200 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: 2014 Jun 24 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
10 %
10 %
SEVERE
05 %
05 %
 
Tuesday, Jun. 24, 2014
What's up in space
 

Listen to radar echoes from satellites and meteors, live on listener-supported Space Weather Radio.

 
Spaceweather Radio is on the air

CME IMPACT, MORE TO COME: Arriving about a day later than expected, a CME hit Earth's magnetic field on June 23rd at 2300 UT. The impact did not spark a geomagnetic storm. A second CME following close behind could, however, push the geomagnetic field over the threshold into storm conditions. A glancing blow is expected during the early hours of June 24th. Aurora alerts: text, voice

AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS PHOTOGRAPH A DAMOCLOID: If you've never heard of a "damocloid", don't feel bad; even many professional astronomers don't know what they are. However, there are at least 50 of them moving through the Solar System. Named after protoptype object 5335 Damocles, a damocloid is an asteroid that follows a comet-like orbit. In fact, many damacloids turn out to be comets when, without warning, they suddenly sprout a tail. The latest to make this transformation is damacloid 2013 UQ4. Michael Jäger photographed it on June 23rd from his backyard observatory in Stixendorf, Austria:

Discovered in the fall of 2013 by Catalina Sky Survey, 2013 UQ4 at first appeared to be a dark asteroid. On May 7, 2014, however, astronomers noticed a fuzzy atmosphere surrounding object's formerly-inert core. Barely two months later, it has sprouted a tail and is undeniably a comet. 2013 UQ4 swung by the sun in early June, a warm encounter that boosted the activity of its apparently icy nucleus. 2013 UQ4 is expected to brighten to binocular visibility (7th magnitude) by July 10th when it flies by Earth approximately 29 million miles (0.3 AU) away.

Want to see a damacloid with your own eyes? Sky maps and observing tips may be found in this article by David Dickinson.

Realtime Comet Photo Gallery

TRIPLE RING AROUND THE SUN: Regular sky watchers are accustomed to seeing rings of light around the sun. Called "ice halos," they form when sunlight shines through ice crystals in high clouds. Usually these rings appear one at a time. On June 21st, Jun Lao of Mason, Ohio, saw three at once:

"It was about 4 p.m. EDT in the greater Cincinnati area when I imaged what I first thought was a regular halo, but was surprised to see three concentric halos!" says Lao. "The sky had a light cloud layer, and I suspect these multiple halos were caused by pyramidal ice crystals."

Indeed, they were. Ordinary sun halos are produced by crystals shaped like pencils and flat plates. On rare occasions, however, the sky fills with pyramidal crystals. They look like two pyramids glued together, base-to-base. The pyramid-tips are sometimes truncated, and sometimes the two pyramids are separated by an intervening prism section, creating 18 different variations with up to 20 sides. Such a complicated crystalline form can produce multiple halos during the same display.

These multiple halos are sometimes called "odd-radius halos." However, as atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley points out, "Odd radius halos are perhaps not so 'odd' or rare as usually thought. Make a point of routinely searching for them."

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

ELECTRIC-BLUE SUMMER CLOUDS: Noctulicent clouds (NLCs) are a phenomenon of summer. Ironically, that is when the top of Earth's atmosphere is cold enough to form ice crystals around meteor smoke--the "stuff" of NLCs. So, you know the summer solstice has arrived when the evening sky starts to look like this:

"This fine display of NLCs lasted a number of hours and was visible all across Northern Ireland," says photographer Andy McCrea of Bangor in County Down. "These pictures were taken around 3am on June 20th."

Mark McKenna of Maghera, Northern Ireland, also saw the clouds' signature electric-blue ripples. "This absolutely spectacular noctilucent cloud display was one of the best I have seen in years," he says. "The NLCs were beautiful, glowing vivid white then blue. Of note were the graceful whirls, herringbone, sharp bands and lacunosus holes, the NLCs were even casting shadows onto other NLC forms."

Long ago, NLCs were confined to the Arctic, but in recent years they have been sighted as far south as Colorado and Utah. Some researchers think the increasing visibility is a sign of climate change. Whatever the cause, sky watchers should be alert for NLCs as northern summer unfolds.

Observing tips: Look west 30 to 60 minutes after sunset when the Sun has dipped 6o to 16o below the horizon. If you see luminous blue-white tendrils spreading across the sky, you may have spotted a noctilucent cloud.

Realtime NLC 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 Jun. 24, 2014, the network reported 20 fireballs.
( 20 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 June 24, 2014 there were 1483 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2014 MP
Jun 22
9.1 LD
29 m
2013 AG69
Jul 8
2.7 LD
15 m
2011 PU1
Jul 17
7.9 LD
43 m
2002 JN97
Aug 2
61.4 LD
2.0 km
2001 RZ11
Aug 17
34.2 LD
2.2 km
2013 WT67
Aug 17
16.1 LD
1.1 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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