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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 317.8 km/s
density:
2.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2255 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
B1 1920 UT Jul26
24-hr: B5 0830 UT Jul26
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 26 Jul '05

Sunspot 791 poses no threat for strong solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 23
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 25 Jul 2005

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals two sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 6.4 nT
Bz:
2.2 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2256 UT

Coronal Holes:

A weak solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could hit Earth's magnetic field on July 28th or 29th. Image credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope.


SPACE WEATHER
NOAA
Forecasts

Solar Flares: Probabilities for a medium-sized (M-class) or a major (X-class) solar flare during the next 24/48 hours are tabulated below.
Updated at 2005 Jul 25 2204 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 05 % 05 %
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 2005 Jul 25 2204 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 20 %
MINOR 05 % 10 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 30 %
MINOR 05 % 15 %
SEVERE 01 % 05 %

What's Up in Space -- 26 Jul 2005
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RETURN TO FLIGHT: Following a beautiful liftoff at the Kennedy Space Center this morning, the space shuttle Discovery is in Earth orbit. NASA's shuttle program is back in action! [more]

Would you like a call when the space shuttle appears over your backyard? Sign up for SpaceWeather PHONE.

SOLAR BLASTS: No fewer than eight coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have exploded away from the sun since July 22nd: SOHO movie (4.8 MB). This high level of activity is not producing auroras on Earth, however, because none of the CMEs is heading our way. All of the blasts have been on the farside of the sun.

Using a technique called helioseismic holography, astronomers can "see" the sun's farside. Recent maps reveal two or more sunspots there:

These 'spots could be the source of the blasts. If so, a new batch of CMEs could soon be heading toward Earth. Because the sun spins, sunspots on the farside now will be rotating around to face Earth later this week and next.

SPIDERBOW: On July 24th, standing beneath a sunlit tree in Los Angeles, Gary Palmer looked up and saw something extraordinary: a rainbow-colored spider's web. "There was just a narrow beam of light striking the web," says Palmer. "The brilliant colors shimmered as the web blew back and forth in the gentle breeze. I brought my wife and kids out to see it and they were amazed. How beautiful our wonderful world is!"

Rainbow-expert Les Cowley explains: "When covered by early morning dew, spider webs sparkle with the colors of a true rainbow. Gary's colors are different -- the spider silk itself produces them. A spider spins silk of long molecules that are stretched and coiled to make it strong but also elastic. These molecules somehow (we don't understand the details) diffract narrow beams of sunlight to make the colors. Look even closer and they split into intricate colored beads."



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 are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On 26 Jul 2005 there were 703 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

July 2005 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE (UT)

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
2000 AG6

July 22

8.7 LD

 20
Notes: LD is a "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 Environment Center -- The official U.S. government bureau for real-time monitoring of solar and geophysical events, research in solar-terrestrial physics, and forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances.

Atmospheric Optics -- the first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. See also Snow Crystals.

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory -- Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. (European Mirror Site)

Daily Sunspot Summaries -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Current Solar Images --a gallery of up-to-date solar pictures from the National Solar Data Analysis Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center. See also the GOES-12 Solar X-ray Imager.

Recent Solar Events -- a nice summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

SOHO Farside Images of the Sun from SWAN and MDI.

The Latest SOHO Coronagraph Images -- from the Naval Research Lab

The Sun from Earth -- daily images of our star from the Big Bear Solar Observatory

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

What is the Interplanetary Magnetic Field? -- A lucid answer from the University of Michigan. See also the Anatomy of Earth's Magnetosphere.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft. How powerful are solar wind gusts? Read this story from Science@NASA.

More Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Proton Monitor.

Aurora Forecast --from the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute

Daily Solar Flare and Sunspot Data -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

What is an Iridium flare? See also Photographing Satellites by Brian Webb.

What is an Astronomical Unit, or AU?

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; Jan-Mar., 2005;

Space Audio Streams: (University of Florida) 20 MHz radio emissions from Jupiter: #1, #2, #3, #4; (NASA/Marshall) INSPIRE: #1; (Stan Nelson of Roswell, New Mexico) meteor radar: #1, #2;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips: email

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