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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 442.0 km/sec
density: 0.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B2
1754 UT Nov28
24-hr: B2
1754 UT Nov28
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 28 Nov 10
New sunspots are emerging at the circled locations. Credit: SDO/HMI. 2-day movie: 9 MB mpg
Sunspot number: 22
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 27 Nov 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 45 days (13%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 813 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 27 Nov 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 77 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 27 Nov 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.2 nT
Bz: 2.6 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes: 28 Nov 10
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could brush against Earth's magnetic field on Nov. 28th or 29th. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Nov 28 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: 2010 Nov 28 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
15 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010
What's up in space
 

iPHONE VS ANDROID! Actually, it doesn't matter which phone you carry. Our cool, new app turns both smartphones into field-tested satellite trackers. Learn more.

 

COMET HARTLEY 2: Comet Hartley 2 is putting on a show for amateur astronomers. Tonight, the amazing green comet glides midway between two star clusters, M46 and M47, in the southern constellation Puppis. George Ionas of Palmerston North, New Zealand, made a two hour movie of the comet's approach on Nov. 28th. "This is a pretty sight in backyard telescopes as the comet stilll has a fairly bright nucleus," he says. Astrophotographers who wish to monitor the encounter can point their telescopes using this ephemeris and sky map.

more images: from Rolando Ligustri and from J.D. Strikis, both using robotic telescopes in New Mexico

AURORA SURPRISE: A solar wind gust hit Earth's magnetic field on Nov. 27th, sparking a geomagnetic storm (Kp=6) and an outburst of auroras that surprised onlookers. "We experienced an explosion of Northern Lights," reports Therese van Nieuwenhoven of the Polar Light Center in Lofoten, Norway. "Suddenly, our magnetometers began to show big activity and we could see the most beautiful and moving auroras."

"I did not expect auroras tonight," adds Bjørn Jørgensen of Tromso, Norway, "but suddenly there was a huge, powerful outburst that lasted for about an hour and a half." He photographed the display using a Nikon D3s:

The storm is subsiding now. Nevertheless, high-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras as the solar wind continues to blow at elevated speeds.

UPDATED: November 2010 Aurora Gallery
[previous Novembers: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000]

RADAR MOON: The job of the US Air Force Space Survellance Radar in Texas is to monitor the space around Earth for satellites, meteoroids, and space debris. On Nov. 23rd, something much larger passed through the radar's primary beam: the Moon. Using a surplus military antenna and a receiver tuned to the radar's frequency of 216.983 MHz, electrical engineer Pieter Ibelings of Atlanta, Georgia, recorded the echo. Click on the dynamic spectrum to hear the Moon's long, slow ping:


Click to play an audio recording

"I have been looking at objects crossing the radar fence for many years now," says Ibelings. "The nice thing about the Moon is that you can image it." Using the delay-doppler technique, he de-skewed the echo to produce a radar picture: The Moon is a sphere!

"The will be a few more passes this month," he says, "and I plan to be listening." This means there could be more lunar echoes on Spaceweather.com in the near future, so stay tuned.

BONUS: For hobbyists interested in capturing their own lunar echoes from the Space Surveillance Radar, Ibelings offers the following: "Most of the equipment I use is homebrew, not much different from that used for looking at satellite or meteorite crossings. The reflections from the Moon can be pretty strong using a long yagi and preamplifier. Typically you get three reflections at 216.97, 216.983 and 216.99 MHz as the moon crosses all three transmitters. To calculate the crossing, one looks for the moment of time when the lunar azimuth has the following values at the radar sites: 83.9º at Gila River, AZ; 91.4º at Lake Kickapoo, TX; and 98.1º in Lake Jordan, AL."

  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 November 28, 2010 there were 1164 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2010 TQ19
Oct 8
9.6 LD
18
37 m
2010 TS19
Oct 10
3.7 LD
18
31 m
2010 TD54
Oct 12
0.1 LD
14
7 m
2010 TB54
Oct 13
6.1 LD
20
19 m
1999 VO6
Oct 14
34.3 LD
16
1.8 km
2010 TK
Oct 16
4.5 LD
18
37 m
1998 TU3
Oct 17
69.1 LD
13
5.2 km
2010 TG19
Oct 22
1.1 LD
15
70 m
1998 MQ
Oct 23
77.7 LD
15
1.9 km
2007 RU17
Oct 29
39.2 LD
15
1.1 km
2003 UV11
Oct 30
5 LD
12
595 m
3838 Epona
Nov 7
76.8 LD
14
3.4 km
2005 QY151
Nov 16
77.7 LD
17
1.3 km
2008 KT
Nov 23
5.6 LD
21
10 m
2002 EZ16
Nov 30
73.9 LD
16
1.0 km
2000 JH5
Dec 7
47 LD
-
1.5 km
2010 JL33
Dec 9
16.6 LD
13
1.3 km
2008 EA32
Jan 7
76.5 LD
-
2.1 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
Science Central
   
  more links...
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