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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 313.2 km/sec
density: 2.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B1
1930 UT Feb27
24-hr: B1
1930 UT Feb27
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 27 Feb. 10
Sunspots 1050 and 1051 are quiet and pose no immediate threat for strong solar flares. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 26
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 26 Feb 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 2 days (4%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 772 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 26 Feb 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 83 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 26 Feb 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.8 nT
Bz: 2.5 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on or about March 2nd. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Feb 27 2201 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: 2010 Feb 27 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
20 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
February 27, 2010

NEW AND IMPROVED: Turn your iPhone or iPod into a field-tested global satellite tracker. The Satellite Flybys app now works in all countries.

 

A MONTH OF SUNSPOTS: February 2010 is on the verge of a three-year "first." It's the first month since January 2007
with sunspots every single day. It's been a long solar minimum, but solar activity is on the rise again. Today, NASA's STEREO mission is tracking at least six active regions around the circumference of the sun. Check them out on the 3D Sun.

NORTHERN LIGHTS: On Feb. 25th, the hooting of owls drew Norwegian birdwatcher Fredrik Broms outdoors under a crispy, moonlit sky. "After having been really lucky to hear a Tengmalms owl, the auroras appeared behind the mountains." Using a Nikon D3, he recorded the scene:

"The pictures I took--without a tripod and with very cold fingers--turned out a bit shaky, but the conclusion was as crystal clear as the sky itself - winter is beautiful!"

A few days from now, a solar wind stream is due to hit Earth, and that could spark a renewed display. High-latitude sky watchers should obey the owls on the nights around March 1st. Be alert for auroras!

February Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Februarys: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002]

PURPLE HAZE: "I was work early yesterday, just before local sunrise, when I looked out the window," says Monika Landy-Gyebnar of Veszprem, Hungary. "What I saw made me wonder if someone had put something 'extra' in my coffee." The landscape was blanketed by an intense purple fog:

" I asked my colleague, who's not a coffee drinker, if he also saw the unbelievable color and he said 'yes.' I took some pictures and they also had the same color. So it was reality, not a psychedelic vision."

What caused this strange apparition?

It was the sunrise. "Using some weather webcams, I looked around the city and saw that other places without fog were also purple, pink and red," she continues. "Colorful sunrise rays were painting everything. The scattering of this light by tiny water droplets in the fog was truly wonderful!"

"Today's fog reminded me that the 43rd anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze is just around the corner. It was first released on March 17, 1967."

Purple haze all in my brain
Lately things just don't seem the same
Actin' funny, but I don't know why
'Scuse me while I kiss the sky


 
       
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 February 27, 2010 there were 1103 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Feb. 2010 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 UN3
Feb. 9
14.3 LD
12
1.2 km
2010 CK19
Feb. 17
0.9 LD
17
11 m
2001 FD58
Feb. 19
58.5 LD
17
0.9 km
2010 CJ18
Feb. 19
3.3 LD
18
20 m
2002 EZ11
Feb. 24
77.5 LD
18
1.0 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 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...
   
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