Directly under the Arctic Circle! Marianne's Arctic Xpress in Tromsø offers fjord, whale and wildlife tours by day, aurora tours by night. Book Now and get a 10% discount on combo day and night adventures. | | | VERY FAST SOLAR WIND: Earth is inside a fast-moving (600 km/s-700 km/s) solar wind stream that has sparked intermittent geomagnetic storms and bright auroras around the poles for the past few days. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of continued storming on Sept.4-5. Aurora alerts: text or voice DARK SOLAR FILAMENT: A dark filament of magnetism is snaking across the sun today. Measuring more than 450,000 km from end-to-end, the bushy structure is an easy target for properly filtered backyard telescopes. Amateur astronomer Mike Taormina sends this picture from Malta, New York: The filament is filled with plasma held above the surface of the sun by magnetic lines of force. Structures like this one tend to be unstable. If the filament collapses, it could fall to the surface below, igniting an explosion called a 'Hyder flare." The blast, if it occurs, would be Earth directed. Astronomers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments. Solar flare alerts: text or voice Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery 'AURORA SEASON' IS UNDERWAY: Around the Arctic Circle, the end of summer is greeted with mixed feelings. The summer sun sets, taking its cheerful warmth below the horizon, setting the stage for the long dark winter. The onset of cold, however, brings with it something missing for far too long. This: "A new season with Northern Lights has started in northern Norway," reports photographer Kristin Berg, who took this picture on Sept. 2nd from Tromsø, Norway. "What a night! " Northern Lights are returning to the Arctic for two reasons. The first is simple: It's getting dark. The exit of the midnight sun is leaving velvety dark skies where geomagnetic storms can paint their colors. The second is a little more complicated. Because of the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field, the weeks around equinoxes favor geomagnetic storms. At this time, even gentle gusts of solar wind can spark bright outbursts of light. Whatever the reasons, aurora season has definitely begun. Monitor the photo gallery for more sightings: Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery Realtime Sprite Photo Gallery | Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere | Updated: Sept.3, 2016 // Next Flight: Sept. 10, 2016 Sept. 3, 2016: On Sept. 2nd, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus conducted a successful transcontinental launch of two space weather balloons--one from New Hampshire and another from California. The New Hampshire balloon recorded the highest levels of atmospheric radiation since our monitoring program began two years ago. Students are reducing the data now, and we will report the results in the coming week. While you wait, here is a shot of the Atlantic coast of Maine taken during the Sept. 2nd balloon flight from an altitude of 118,000 feet: Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of almost 13% since 2015: Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation. The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners. The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today. THIS RESEARCH IS CROWD-FUNDED: The cosmic ray research presented on Spaceweather.com is done by students, driven by curiosity, and funded entirely by readers. Our latest flight over California on Aug. 21st was sponsored by World Tech Toys of Valencia CA. In exchange for their generous donation of $750, we flew a toy Striker Drone to the edge of space: HD video and poster-quality images of the drone in space are now being used by World Tech Toys for marketing and outreach--an out-of-this-world bargain. Our next flights on Sept. 2nd and Sept. 10th need sponsors. Would you like to assist? Contact Dr. Tony Phillips to make arrangements. Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com. On Sep. 4, 2016, the network reported 19 fireballs. (18 sporadics, 1 September epsilon Perseid) In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies] 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 4, 2016 there were potentially hazardous asteroids. 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. | The official U.S. government space weather bureau | | The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. | | Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. | | 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory | | Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | a proud supporter of science education and Spaceweather.com | | the underlying science of space weather | | Claim your tax refund with this UK tax rebate company and get back your overpaid tax. | | Enjoy this fabulous range of leather sofas from a leader in the UK sofa manufacturer industry.. | | This link helps Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! | | This link helps Spaceweather.com stay online. 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