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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: 386.4 km/sec
density: 9.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B1
2330 UT Jul23
24-hr: B7
1525 UT Jul23
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 23 Jul 10
Sunspot 1089 poses a threat for C-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 39
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 22 July 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 35 days (17%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 803 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days
explanation | more info
Updated 22 July 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 88 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 22 July 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 8.1 nT
Bz: 7.9 nT north
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 July 23rd. Credit: SDO/AIA
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Jul 23 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: 2010 Jul 23 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
15 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
25 %
20 %
MINOR
15 %
10 %
SEVERE
05 %
05 %
What's up in Space
July 23, 2010

ANDROID FLYBYS: Our field-tested satellite tracker is now available for Android phones. Features: Global predictions and flyby alarms! Learn more.

 

AURORA WATCH: High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras tonight. A solar wind stream is about to hit Earth's magnetic field, and the impact could spark geomagnetic storms.

SUNSPOT SUNSET: Sunspot 1089 has grown so large, it can now be seen without the aid of a solar telescope. On July 21st, Gil Esquerdo "spotted it" as the sun set over Kitt Peak, Arizona:


Photo details: Canon 20Da, ISO 100, 1/8000s exposure

Esquerdo was located on adjacent Mt. Hopkins. "Twice a year, the sun sets behind Kitt Peak as seen from the ridge on Mt. Hopkins and the Whipple Observatory," he says. "Our monsoon thunderstorms cooperated long enough for me to photograph the event."

Kitt Peak is home to more than a dozen world-class telescopes, and many of their silhouettes can be seen in Esquerdo's photo. Highlights include the triangular profile of the great McMath-Pierce solar telescope and the towering dome of the Mayall 4-meter telescope.

Caution: Although sunspot 1089 is large enough to see with the naked eye, looking for it is not recommended. Even when sunlight is dimmed by clouds and haze, you can still suffer permanent eye damage by staring too long at the unfiltered sun. Be careful.

more images: from Rogerio Marcon of Campinas SP Brasil; from John Stetson of South Portland, Maine; from Mogens Nissen of Aalborg, Denmark; from Denis Fell of Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada; from Gianfranco Meregalli of Milano Italy; from Peter Desypris of Syros Greece; from Etienne Lecoq of Normandy France; from Roman Vanur of Nitra, Slovakia; from Pavol Rapavy of Observatory Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia; from Steve Wainwright of Gower S.Wales UK;

VIEW FROM A JACUZZI: Yesterday in the San Bernardino mountains of southern California, photographer Nicolas Gorceix was enjoying a break in his jacuzzi. As hot water swirled around the tub, he leaned back and saw this:

"What a fantastic show!" he says. "I took these pictures using a simple camera pointed through my polarizing sun glasses--I didn't even have to get out of the jacuzzi."

The phenomenon is called iridescence. Tiny water droplets and ice crystals in clouds diffract sunlight, producing pastel hues of surpassing beauty. Mountain wave clouds are notorious for this kind of display.

Coincidentally, Gorceix's jacuzzi is located on Big Bear Lake just downshore from North America's biggest solar telescope, the New Solar Telescope at the Big Bear Solar Observatory. Inside the dome, a different kind of display was underway. Click here for latest images.


Solar Eclipse Photo Gallery
[NASA: South Pacific Eclipse] [animated map]

 
       
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 July 23, 2010 there were 1140 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
1999 JD6
Jul 27
53.9 LD
17
1.8 km
2010 KZ117
Aug 4
72.6 LD
18
1.0 km
6239 Minos
Aug 10
38.3 LD
18
1.1 km
2005 NZ6
Aug 14
60.5 LD
18
1.3 km
2002 CY46
Sep 2
63.8 LD
16
2.4 km
2010 LY63
Sep 7
55.9 LD
18
1.3 km
2009 SH2
Sep 30
7.1 LD
25
45 m
1998 UO1
Oct 1
32.1 LD
17
2.1 km
2005 GE59
Oct 1
77 LD
18
1.1 km
2001 WN5
Oct 10
41.8 LD
18
1.0 km
1999 VO6
Oct 14
34.3 LD
17
1.8 km
1998 TU3
Oct 17
69.1 LD
15
5.3 km
1998 MQ
Oct 23
77.7 LD
17
2.0 km
2007 RU17
Oct 29
40.6 LD
18
1.0 km
2003 UV11
Oct 30
5 LD
19
595 m
3838 Epona
Nov 7
76.8 LD
16
3.4 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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