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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: 343.3 km/sec
density: 1.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A9
2110 UT Sep30
24-hr: A9
2110 UT Sep30
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 30 Sept. 09
Sunspot 1027 is a member of new Solar Cyle 24. Photo credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 14
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 28 Sept 2009

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2009 total: 212 days (79%)
Since 2004: 723 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 28 Sept 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= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.0 nT
Bz: 1.6 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on or about Oct. 2nd. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2009 Sep 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 Sep 30 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
05 %
MINOR
05 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
September 30, 2009

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

 

COSMIC RAYS HIT SPACE AGE HIGH: NASA spacecraft are measuring record-high levels of cosmic rays--a side-effect of the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. This development could have implications for the amount of shielding astronauts need to take when they explore deep space. Science@NASA has the full story.

FIRST FIRE-EATER IN SPACE: Fire-eater. Stiltwalker. Space tourist. What do those three occupations have in common? They all describe Cirque du Soleil billionaire Guy Laliberté, who blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan this morning on a 10-day mission to the International Space Station:

Laliberté reportedly paid as much as $35 million to visit the ISS as a "spaceflight participant" (NASA-speak for "space tourist") in a deal with the Russian Space Agency arranged through Space Adventures Ltd. He is accompanied by cosmonaut Maxim Suraev and astronaut Jeffrey Williams, two new members of the ISS crew.

The trio and their Russian Soyiz spacecraft will dock to the ISS on Friday, Oct. 2nd. Night sky watchers may be able to see the Soyuz rocket approach the space station just prior to docking. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for flybys.

NIGHT LIGHTS: Last night, the sun set but the sky did not grow dark. A pair of bright lights continued to illuminate the heavens:

"It was the Moon and Jupiter very close together," says photographer Monika Landy-Gyebnar of Veszprém, Hungary. "The beautiful pair twinkled brightly above our town's viaduct, no matter how the streetlights tried to overshine them."

The scene was repeated in evening skies around the world (see the images below). Did you miss it? It will happen again on Oct. 26th. Reminder calls are available from Spaceweather PHONE.

more images: from Mustafa Erol of Antalya, Turkey; from John Stetson of Portland, Maine; from Valentin Grigore of Targoviste, Romania; from Jens Hackmann of Bad Mergentheim, Germany; from M. Raşid Tuğral of Ankara, Turkey; from Wioleta Zarzycka of Iceland; from Christopher Calubaquib of El Sobrante, California; from Peter von Bagh of Porvoo, Finland; from Giuseppe Pappa of Mascalucia, Sicily, Italy; from Christophe Stolz of near Bern, Switzerland; from Trey Lynch of Cisco, Texas; from Sean Scully of Akureyri, Iceland; from Enrico Perissinotto of Premariacco Italy


Sept. 2009 Aurora Gallery
[previous Septembers: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001]


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 September 30, 2009 there were 1080 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Sept. 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 QC35
Sept. 2
2.9 LD
17
35 m
2009 RY3
Sept. 11
1.9 LD
15
50 m
2009 RR
Sept. 16
2.8 LD
18
33 m
2009 RG2
Sept. 21
9.1 LD
19
31 m
2009 SN103
Sept. 28
1.2 LD
17
13 m
2009 HD21
Sept. 29
22.9 LD
15
1.0 km
1998 FW4
Sept. 29
8.6 LD
14
550 m
2009 SH2
Sept. 30
2.8 LD
17
49 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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