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Solar wind
speed: 409.7 km/sec
density: 2.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C8
1833 UT Feb08
24-hr: C8
1833 UT Feb08
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 08 Feb 14
Departing sunspots AR1967 and AR1968 pose a declining threat for Earth-directed flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 241
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 08 Feb 2014

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2014 total: 0 days (0%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)

Update
08 Feb 2014

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 178 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 08 Feb 2014

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 4 unsettled
24-hr max: Kp= 4
unsettled
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 6.4 nT
Bz: 5.4 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 07 Feb 14
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Feb. 8-10. Credit: SDO/AIA.

Spaceweather.com posts daily satellite images of noctilucent clouds (NLCs), which hover over Earth's poles at the edge of space. The data come from NASA's AIM spacecraft. The north polar "daisy" pictured below is a composite of near-realtime images from AIM assembled by researchers at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
Noctilucent Clouds
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 02-08-2014 11:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2014 Feb 08 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
60 %
40 %
CLASS X
20 %
05 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2014 Feb 08 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
35 %
15 %
MINOR
15 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
30 %
25 %
SEVERE
45 %
25 %
 
Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014
What's up in space
 

When is the best time to see auroras? Where is the best place to go? And how do you photograph them? These questions and more are answered in a new book, Northern Lights - a Guide, by Pal Brekke & Fredrik Broms.

 
Northern Lights - a Guide

DECLINING CHANCE OF FLARES: Departing sunspots AR1967 and AR1968 are in a state of decay. Even so, both retain unstable magnetic fields that harbor energy for strong flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a declining but significant 60% chance of M-flares and a 20% chance of X-flares on Feb. 8th. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

CME IMPACT SPARKS AURORAS: A minor CME hit Earth's magnetic field on February 7th. The light show it produced was anything but minor. "BANG!" says Truls Tiller of Tromsø, Norway. "The sky exploded in auroras." In every direction he turned, he saw a scene like this:

"I could hardly decide which direction to point my camera," he says. "The sky was filled with light for more than four hours."

More auroras are in the offing. A solar wind stream is expected to reach Earth this weekend even as Earth's magnetic field continues to reverberate from the Feb. 7th CME impact. NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Feb. 8-9. Aurora alerts: text, voice

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery

CURIOSITY PHOTOGRAPHS EARTH: Last year when the Cassini spacecraft photographed Earth through the rings of Saturn, the whole world was alerted to smile and wave. Last week, Curiosity did the same thing with less fanfare. Except for a few scientists, no one knew the Mars rover would be taking this picture of the Earth-Moon system on Jan. 31st:

Mission controllers used the left eye of Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) to capture the scene about 80 minutes after local sunset in the Dingo Gap. Our planet was the brightest thing in the darkening Martian sky. A human observer with normal vision, if standing on Mars, would have easily seen Earth and the Moon as two distinct "evening stars." The distance to Earth when Curiosity took the photo was about 99 million miles. For more information about Curiosity's adventures on Mars, visit mars.jpl.nasa.gov.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Supernova Photo Gallery


  All Sky Fireball Network

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 Feb. 5, 2014, the network reported 2 fireballs.
(2 sporadics)

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]

On Feb. 4, 2014, the network reported 6 fireballs.
(6 sporadics)

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]

  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 February 8, 2014 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2014 BW32
Feb 3
1.9 LD
23 m
2014 BP43
Feb 8
5.5 LD
22 m
2006 DP14
Feb 10
6.2 LD
730 m
2014 BT43
Feb 11
9.8 LD
31 m
2000 EM26
Feb 18
8.8 LD
195 m
2014 BR57
Feb 20
4.4 LD
68 m
2014 CR
Feb 24
8.3 LD
124 m
2000 EE14
Mar 6
64.6 LD
1.8 km
2003 QQ47
Mar 26
49.9 LD
1.4 km
1995 SA
Apr 2
73.1 LD
1.6 km
2000 HD24
Apr 4
42.2 LD
1.3 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
Space Weather Alerts
   
  more links...
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