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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: 524.8 km/s
density: 0.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B1 2220 UT Oct30
24-hr: B1 0920 UT Oct30
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 30 Oct '06

New sunspot 921 is growing fast but it does not yet pose a threat for solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 29 Oct 2006

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.1 nT
Bz: 0.1 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: NOAA GOES-13.

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 2006 Oct 30 2203 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 2006 Oct 30 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 10 %
MINOR 05 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 15 %
MINOR 10 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 30 Oct 2006
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Autumn is here, and it's a wonderful time for stargazing. Find out what's up from Spaceweather PHONE.

TRANSIT OF MERCURY: Mark your calendar: On Wednesday, Nov. 8th, Mercury will pass in front of the Sun. The transit will be visible from the Americas, Hawaii and all along the Pacific Rim. It's a marvelous opportunity for art and photography.

WEEKEND AURORAS: "What a show! Even the sea changed colors," marvels Rune Christiansen who photographed these intense Northern Lights over Nuuk, Greenland last night:

The display was caused by a solar wind stream that hit Earth on Friday night, Oct. 28th. The impact did not cause an outright geomagnetic storm, but it was enough to spark auroras throughout the weekend over parts of Scandinavia, Canada and Greenland.

October 2006 Aurora Gallery

COMET SWAN: Just 15 seconds. That's all the exposure time Brian Klimowski needed to photograph Comet Swan setting over the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona, on Oct. 27th:


Photo details: Canon 5D, 85mm, f/1.8, 15 sec, ISO 1600.

Comet Swan (C/2006 M4) is receding from Earth and no longer visible to the naked eye, but as Brian's photo shows it remains a good target for astrophotography. All you need is a digital camera, a tripod and a sky map.

BONUS: Using a 5-inch telescope, Mike Holloway of Van Buren, Arkansas, took seven photos of Comet Swan's tail and stitched them together to make this spectacular image.

Comet Swan Photo Gallery



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 30 Oct 2006 there were 821 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Oct-Nov 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2006 UE64

Oct. 21

0.4 LD

18

11 m
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.

Recommended: Earth & Sky

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.

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.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; Jan-Mar 2006;

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;

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

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


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