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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: 427.1 km/sec
density: 7.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Jan30
24-hr: A0
1220 UT Jan30
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 30 Jan 09
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 29 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= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
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: 8.9 nT
Bz: 8.3 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could hit Earth on or about Jan. 31. However, because of the hole's southern latitude, the stream it is spewing could miss Earth entirely. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2009 Jan 30 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 30 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
01 %
01 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
January 30, 2009

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

 

VOLCANO WATCH: Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano is rumbling and geologists expect it to erupt "within days." The last time an Alaskan volcano blew its top (Kasatochi in August 2008), about a million tons of ash and sulfur dioxide flooded the stratosphere, causing fantastic sunsets around the northern hemisphere and possibly reducing Earth's temperature by a fraction of a degree. More SO2 is in the offing. Stay tuned for updates.

SUNSET SKY SHOW: For the second night in a row, Venus and the crescent Moon are gathered in beautiful proximity. Look southwest at sunset to see the two brightest lights in the night sky beaming side-by-side through the twilight: sky map.

Just hours ago, Mahdi Zamani used a Canon 30D to photograph the pair over Tehran, Iran:

"The Moon and Venus looked very nice shining over Sanat square and the Milad tower," says Zamani. "Milad is the tallest tower in Iran and Sanad square is at the center of northwest Tehran."

more images: from Wienie van der Oord in the eastern Negev desert, Israel; from Minghelli of L'Escarène, Alpes Maritimes, France; from Patrick Jablonski of Normandie, France; from Eleazar Sánchez of Shanghai, China; from Mike O'Leary of El Cajon, California; from Larry Fischer of Topeka, Kansas; from Hal Schade of Rio Dulce, Guatemala; from Alfredo Garcia Jr of Torrance Beach, California; from Sam Cole of Austin, Texas;

SOLAR ECLIPSE: The jagged spires of Candi Prambanan, an ancient Hindu temple in Java, never fail to make a deep impression on visitors. An atmosphere of celestial expectation swirls through the grounds as the architecture itself draws attention to the heavens. It feels like something amazing is about to happen.

On Monday, Jan. 26th, something did. The disk of the sun turned into a ring:

"It was an annular eclipse," explains photographer Sangku Kim of Merak, Indonesia. The Moon passed in front of the sun--dead center--covering 93% of the solar disk. "I photographed the event at 10 minute intervals using my Canon 5D and a Baader solar filter."

Similar "rings of fire," crescent suns, and strangely-shaped shadows were witnessed along an "path of annularity" spanning the Indian Ocean from the waters off South Africa to the islands of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Browse the gallery for the latest photos:

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


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


Explore the Sunspot Cycle

       
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 30, 2009 there were 1018 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...
   
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