You are viewing the page for Jan. 26, 2009
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 350.3 km/sec
density: 9.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2255 UT Jan26
24-hr: A0
2255 UT Jan26
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 26 Jan 09
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 26 Jan. 2009
Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
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: 6.0 nT
Bz: 1.0 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes:
Earth is entering a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2009 Jan 26 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: 2009 Jan 26 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
30 %
15 %
MINOR
10 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
40 %
25 %
MINOR
15 %
05 %
SEVERE
05 %
01 %
What's up in Space
January 26, 2009

AURORA ALERT: Did you sleep through the Northern Lights? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

 

UPDATED FIREBALL VIDEO: On Jan. 17th, a small asteroid hit Earth's atmosphere over Scandinavia and exploded in a flash so bright it turned the nighttime sky daylight-blue. The fireball came as a complete surprise, so photographers were caught unprepared; almost no images were captured. In Sweden, however, an automated video camera recorded the event. Roger Svensson, who owns the camera, has just contributed a new version of the video at higher-resolution than previously shown. Click here to watch it.

CRESCENT SUNSET: Onlookers will never forget today's sunset in the Philippines. Dr. Armando Lee and Fermin Naelga send this picture from the Mall of Asia seawall overlooking Manila Bay:

"The sun sinking into the waves resembled a shark's fin," says Lee.

It was a solar eclipse. The new Moon passed in front of the sun, covering as much as 93% of the solar disk. This produced an array of sunset crescents and rings of fire witnessed across the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Indonesia. Browse the gallery for more:

Jan. 26 Solar Eclipse Gallery
[Submit your photos] [Backyard solar telescopes]

APPROACHING COMET: Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3) is approaching Earth for a 38 million mile close encounter in late February. At that time, the comet could brighten to naked eye visibility (5th magnitude). Meanwhile, it's a nice target for backyard telescopes:

Chris Brennan of Barbados took the picture using a 7-inch telescope on Jan. 24th. "Note the double tail," he says.

Martin McKenna sends this report from Maghera, Northern Ireland: "I checked out Comet Lulin this morning before dawn using a 8.5-inch reflector. My immediate impression was that the comet is very bright; the coma is healthy and active with an obvious green color. [Note: The 'coma' is the comet's gaseous atmosphere.] Seeing both tails at the same time was quite a treat! I also looked at the comet using a pair of binoculars and despite the poor quality of the opticsI was still able to find the comet easily. Finally, I tried very carefully to detect it with the naked eye but I just couldn't convince myself that it was visible. However, I suspect that with excellent sky conditions the first naked eye observations will be reported very soon. This comet could very well put on a good show in February!"

Comet Lulin Photo Gallery
[Comet Hunter telescope] [sky map] [ephemeris]


Explore the Sunspot Cycle


Recent Fireballs: Jan. 23, Jan. 17, Dec. 29

       
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 26, 2009 there were 1017 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Jan. 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2008 YC29
Jan. 2
3.4 LD
18
35 m
2008 YY32
Jan. 3
6.2 LD
18
40 m
2008 YG30
Jan. 4
3.6 LD
16
50 m
2008 YV32
Jan. 9
2.7 LD
19
25 m
2008 YF29
Jan. 11
9.7 LD
18
65 m
2002 AO11
Jan. 15
7.7 LD
17
120 m
1998 CS1
Jan. 17
11 LD
12
1.3 km
2009 BS5
Jan. 17
2.4 LD
18
15 m
2009 BJ2
Jan. 21
4.6 LD
19
16 m
2009 BE
Jan. 23
2.1 LD
17
26 m
2009 BD
Jan. 25
1.8 LD
19
10 m
2009 BO5
Jan. 25
6.7 LD
20
19 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...
   
©2008, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.