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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 412.2 km/sec
density: 0.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2336 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B8
1756 UT May05
24-hr: B8
1756 UT May05
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 05 May 11
Solar activity is low. None of these sunspots poses a threat for strong flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 72
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 04 May 2011

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2011 total: 1 day (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 820 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 04 May 2011


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 107 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 04 May 2011

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.3 nT
Bz: 3.7 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes: 05 May 11
There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2011 May 05 2220 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: 2011 May 05 2220 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
15 %
MINOR
01 %
10 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
 
Thursday, May. 5, 2011
What's up in space
 

Turn your cell phone into a field-tested satellite tracker. Works for Android and iPhone.

 
Satellite flybys

METEORS FROM HALLEY'S COMET: Earth is entering a streaam of debris from Halley's Comet, source of the annual eta Aquarid meteor shower. People who wake up before sunrise on Friday morning, May 6th--that's tomorrow morning--could see between 10 and 40 meteors per hour as bits of Halley's comet disintegrate in the atmosphere. [full story] [video] [meteor radar] [NASA chat]

SUNSET SKY SHOW: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look west. An exquisite crescent Moon is beaming through the twilight:

The sight moved Tavi Greiner of Shallotte, NC, who took the picture on May 4th, to wax poetic: "I spy, in the twilight sky, the young Crescent Moon, with 37 Tauri."

More verse could be in the offing tonight, May 5th, when the crescent fattens slightly to 6% and appears higher above the horizon for even easier viewing. Check the sunset sky for inspiration.

more images: from Marek Nikodem of Szubin, Poland; from Mohammad Mehdi Asgari of Zanjan, Iran; from Jan Koeman of Kloetinge, the Netherlands; from Monika Landy-Gyebnar of Veszprem, Hungary; from Alan C Tough of Elgin, Moray, Scotland

ASTEROID FLYBY: Asteroid 2003 YT1 is flying past the Earth-Mooon system today at a safe distance of 25 million km. Albeit far away, the 2.5 km-wide space rock is big enough to see through backyard-class telescopes. At the University of Narino Observatory in Columbia, Alberto Quijano Vodniza and colleagues used a 14-inch Meade LX200 to record this movie:

Experienced observers can track 2003 YT1 in the nights ahead as it slowly crosses the zodiac near Cancer. Sunlight reflected from the asteroid's surface makes it shine like a 15th-magnitude star--an easy target for telescopes equipped with sensitive CCD cameras. [3D Orbit] [ephemeris]


April 2011 Aurora Gallery
[previous Aprils: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002]

  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 May 5, 2011 there were 1218 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2011 GJ3
Apr 27
7.7 LD
--
25 m
2008 UC202
Apr 27
8.9 LD
--
10 m
2011 HJ
Apr 28
5.3 LD
--
27 m
2011 JY1
Apr 30
7.5 LD
--
60 m
2011 HP4
May 1
3.3 LD
--
14 m
2009 UK20
May 2
8.6 LD
--
23 m
2011 HD24
May 2
5.4 LD
--
35 m
2008 FU6
May 5
75.5 LD
--
1.2 km
2003 YT1
May 5
65.3 LD
--
2.5 km
2011 HC24
May 12
5.9 LD
--
60 m
2002 JC
Jun 1
57.5 LD
--
1.6 km
2009 BD
Jun 2
0.9 LD
--
10 m
2002 JB9
Jun 11
71.5 LD
--
3.2 km
2001 VH75
Jun 12
42.2 LD
--
1.1 km
2004 LO2
Jun 15
9.9 LD
--
48 m
2011 EZ78
Jul 10
37.3 LD
--
1.5 km
2003 YS117
Jul 14
73.9 LD
--
1.0 km
2007 DD
Jul 23
9.3 LD
--
31 m
2009 AV
Aug 22
49.7 LD
--
1.1 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 web 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 Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Conquest Graphics
  for out-of-this-world printing and graphics
Science Central
  cloud server 2
  more links...
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