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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: 263.8 km/sec
density: 0.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2241 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2045 UT Nov06
24-hr: A0
2045 UT Nov06
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 06 Nov 07
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 06 Nov 2007
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= 0 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 0
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:

Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Updated:
What is the auroral oval?
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.9 nT
Bz: 0.0 nT
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT
Coronal Holes:
A minor solar wind stream flowing from this coronal hole should reach Earth on or about Nov. 8th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2007 Nov 06 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: 2007 Nov 06 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %

What's up in Space
November 6, 2007
Where's Saturn? Is that a UFO--or the ISS? What's the name of that star? Get the answers from mySKY--a fun new astronomy helper from Meade.

SPACESHIP SIGHTINGS: Yesterday, space shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station (ISS). Minutes later, Freidrich Deters of LaGrange, North Carolina, trained his 11-inch telescope on a pair of bright lights gliding overhead and snapped this picture. The ISS is that big and bright. More double flybys are due today as Discovery and ISS orbit Earth in tandem prior to Discovery's landing on Wednesday. Check Heavens Above for spotting times.

COMET 17P/HOLMES: Italian astronomer Paolo Candy has christened Comet Holmes "the Jellyfish Comet." This picture taken Nov. 6th through his 8-inch telescope shows why:

"It has a green head and blue tentacles," notes Candy. An 8-hour movie recorded by astronomer Filipe Alves of Atalaia, Portugal, shows the tentacles in motion. Indeed, it seems to be swimming.

Doug Zubenel of DeSoto, Kansas, sees a different likeness. "It looks like an alien creature from the 1960s TV show the Outer Limits. The episode entitled Moonstone, which first aired on March 9, 1964, features a white sphere found by lunar explorers which houses creatures of great intelligence. The resemblance to Comet Holmes is striking."

Jellyfish? Alien intelligence? Form your own opinion after sunset when Comet Holmes pops into view in the northern constellation Perseus: sky map. It is visible to the unaided eye and a fine target for binoculars and backyard telescopes.

Comet 17P/Holmes Photo Gallery
[Interactive World Map of Comet Photos]
[sky map] [ephemeris] [3D orbit] [Night Sky Cameras]

STRANGE SUNSET: Two nights ago, photographer John Cesarek was standing on a beach near San Francisco when he saw something extraordinary happen to the setting sun. Using a Nikon D80, he snapped this picture:

Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley calls it a "three sun sunset--with a magnificent green flash produced by a temperature inversion layer!"

"You can see the inversion layer," he points out. "It's the dark band above the horizon. A mock-mirage generated by the layer made the three suns: Sun #1 is the lower pancake shape. Sun #2, an inverted image, is the fragmented yellow line at the top of the dark layer. Time sequences show these two Images moving within the layer. Finally, sun #3, just above the layer, has its colors vertically stretched out making the intense flash of green."

"The combination of cold offshore current and warm Santa Ana winds makes California an ideal green flash hunting ground." Indeed, just such conditions are predicted for the evenings ahead. San Franciscans, grab your cameras and head for the beach.

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 November 6, 2007 there were 900 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Nov. 2007 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2005 GL
Nov. 8
8.0 LD
16
280 m
2007 VA3
Nov. 11
7.0 LD
19
30 m
2007 UL12
Nov. 12
18.4 LD
17
325 m
1989 UR
Nov. 24
27.6 LD
15
880 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 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.
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  From the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
  more links...
©2007, SpaceWeather.com -- This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
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