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Solar wind
speed: 424.2 km/sec
density: 22.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
2210 UT Feb15
24-hr: C2
0319 UT Feb15
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 15 Feb 14
Sunspot AR1974 has a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 196
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 15 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
15 Feb 2014

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 167 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 15 Feb 2014

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 11.4 nT
Bz: 11.3 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 14 Feb 14
Solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on Feb. 17-18. 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: 02-15-2014 10:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2014 Feb 15 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
60 %
60 %
CLASS X
05 %
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 15 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
10 %
15 %
MINOR
30 %
25 %
SEVERE
45 %
25 %
 
Saturday, Feb. 15, 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

STORM WARNING: As expected a "cannibal CME" hit Earth's magnetic field on Feb. 15th at 1300 UT. However, the impact did not spark a geomagnetic storm. Storming could still happen, though, as another CME is en route, due to arrive on Feb. 15-16. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras. Aurora alerts: text, voice

SUNSPOT OF INTEREST: For the 4th day in a row, big sunspot AR1974 is crackling with M-class solar flares. So far, however, the active region has failed to produce a major eruption. Will this change? Click to view a 4-day movie of the sunspot's development--then scroll down for the probabilities:

As the movie shows, AR1974 is in a state of rapid evolution. Its magnetic field is unstable and harbors energy for strong eruptions. Accordingly, NOAA forecasters have boosted the daily odds of M-flares to 75% and and X-flares to 15%. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY FROM THE STRATOSPHERE: Helium is not free. That's why the student scientists of Earth to Sky Calculus occasionally fly commercial payloads onboard their suborbital research balloons. The profits fund space weather experiments in the stratosphere. On Feb. 11th, the team flew a batch of Valentine's Cards to the edge of space. Spaceweather reader Shiree Schade was one of the customers:

"Best Valentine's card...EVER!" she says. "Not only will my valentine cherish the image, but I can't wait to start bragging to my friends that I'VE been to the stratosphere."

The student group makes regular flights to the stratosphere to measure radiation and ozone during periods of stormy space weather. If you would like to support their work with, say, a birthday card or Mother's Day greeting, contact Dr. Tony Phillips to book passage. The cost is only $49.95.

INDOOR STAR PARTY: For amateur astronomers, winter can be an uncomfortable time. It's hard to concentrate on the stars above when you are freezing. Lawrence Garrett of Queen City Printers In Burlington, Vermont, has a solution to this problem: "Hold your star party indoors." Seriously. "For the past two months I have been holding indoor press room star parties," he says. "Using a solar filter, we have watched active region 1944 round the Sun. And we have been enjoying good views of Venus, which is currently a slender crescent. " Here are two of his colleagues taking a look at the second planet through his Meade 90mm ETX:

"Even with window glassĀ and slight haze, the sight of Venus was beyond my greatest expectations. Others with small telescopes might find these inside star parties just as good as those outside this time of year, and introduce Venus, and perhaps the Sun and Moon to co-workers, while staying warm in the process!"

How do you find Venus through the window in broad daylight? Garrett offers this advice:

"Venus is easy to see right before I start work in strong twilight. The real trick is to do polar alignment indoors so the telescope can track Venus. Its easy with the ETX if you know where the North Pole is. I start tracking on Venus for a few minutes, and then see how it has moved away from the center of the eyepiece view. I then move the whole telescope to place Venus back in the center and it tracks perfectly after that."

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Comet 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. 15, 2014, the network reported 0 fireballs.
(winter weather)

On Feb. 14, 2014, the network reported 4 fireballs.
(4 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. 13, 2014, the network reported 0 fireballs.
(winter weather)

  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 15, 2014 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2014 CF13
Feb 10
9.6 LD
44 m
2006 DP14
Feb 10
6.2 LD
730 m
2014 BT43
Feb 11
9.8 LD
31 m
2014 CB3
Feb 12
8.8 LD
26 m
2000 EM26
Feb 18
8.8 LD
195 m
2014 BR57
Feb 20
4.4 LD
71 m
1995 CR
Feb 21
7.7 LD
215 m
2014 CR
Feb 24
8.3 LD
123 m
2000 EE14
Mar 6
64.6 LD
1.8 km
2014 CU13
Mar 13
8.4 LD
230 m
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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