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19 DAYS WITHOUT SUNSPOTS: The sun is without spots for the 19th straight day. To find an equal stretch of blank suns, you have to go all the way back to September of 2009 when the sun was emerging from the deepest solar minimum in a century. The current stretch of spotlessness is a sign that the sun is entering another solar minimum, possibly as deep as the last one. Stay tuned. Free: Aurora Alerts.
RED SPRITES OVER THE USA: Around Earth's northern hemisphere, thunderstorm season is in full swing. That means it's a great time to see sprites. Paul Smith photographed these specimens on July 14th:
"I was at Kaw Lake in Oklahoma when the sprites started leaping up from the thunderheads," says Smith.
Sprites are an exotic form of upward-directed lightning, reaching from the tops of electrical storms all the way up to the edge of space. Because they emerge from the tops of storms, the best place to see sprites is from a distance where the camera can point over the edge of the thunderhead.
"I was about 140 miles from the storm in Kansas that produced these sprites," says Smith. This weather map shows the location of his camera (blue pushpin) and where it was pointing (blue arrow):
People have been seeing sprites since at least the 19th century, but the first reports were met with skepticism. Sprites entered the mainstream in 1989 when researchers from the University of Minnesota finally captured them on film. Subsequent video footage from the space shuttle cemented their status as an authentic physical phenomenon.
In recent years, citizen scientists like Smith have been photographing sprites in record numbers. One reason is raised awareness. More photographers know about sprites, so more sprites are being photographed. Another reason might be a genuine increase in sprite activity. Some researchers think that sprites are linked to cosmic rays. Subatomic particles from deep space strike the top of Earth's atmosphere, producing secondary electrons that trigger the upward bolts. Cosmic rays are now intensifying due to the decline of the solar cycle. More sprites, anyone?
Realtime Sprite Photo Gallery
FLY ME TO THE MOONSTONE: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Nothing says "I love you" like a moonstone from the edge of space. On June 12th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew this moonstone wrapped in a sterling silver Celtic love knot 34.1 km (111,877 feet) above Earth's surface:
You can have it for $119.95. The students are selling these pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. Sales support the Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray ballooning program and hands-on STEM research.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
MOON-VENUS CONJUNCTION: Last night, the crescent Moon passed Venus less than 1 degree away in the sunset skies of North America. Alex Barnedt photographed the meeting from West Bountiful, Utah:
"We watched and took pictures as the bright pair were pulled together in the sky," says Barnedt. "It was a wonderful show."
The show's not over. Now the Moon is moving away from Venus, forming a long line in the sky composed of the lunar crescent, Venus, Regulus and Mercury. Look west after sunset for the new arrangement. Sky maps: July 15, 16.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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 Jul. 16, 2018, the network reported 30 fireballs.
(29 sporadics, 1 psi Cassiopeid)
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 July 16, 2018 there were 1912 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2018 NF1 | 2018-Jul-12 | 18.1 LD | 10.8 | 38 |
2018 NW1 | 2018-Jul-14 | 9.9 LD | 9.2 | 29 |
2018 ND4 | 2018-Jul-14 | 12.7 LD | 11.9 | 35 |
2018 NV2 | 2018-Jul-15 | 10.1 LD | 15.1 | 42 |
2018 NM | 2018-Jul-17 | 1.4 LD | 6.7 | 19 |
2018 NL4 | 2018-Jul-18 | 10.4 LD | 12.7 | 51 |
2018 NQ1 | 2018-Jul-19 | 16.4 LD | 6 | 32 |
2018 NE1 | 2018-Jul-21 | 10.1 LD | 14.2 | 81 |
2018 NF4 | 2018-Jul-21 | 18.8 LD | 12.8 | 112 |
2018 NR1 | 2018-Jul-27 | 17.1 LD | 5.1 | 37 |
2018 LQ2 | 2018-Aug-27 | 9.4 LD | 1.5 | 39 |
2016 GK135 | 2018-Aug-28 | 16.8 LD | 2.8 | 9 |
2016 NF23 | 2018-Aug-29 | 13.3 LD | 9 | 93 |
1998 SD9 | 2018-Aug-29 | 4.2 LD | 10.7 | 51 |
2018 DE1 | 2018-Aug-30 | 15.2 LD | 6.5 | 28 |
2001 RQ17 | 2018-Sep-02 | 19.3 LD | 8.3 | 107 |
2015 FP118 | 2018-Sep-03 | 12.3 LD | 9.8 | 490 |
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. | Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere |
Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here:
This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California.
What is this all about? 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 more than 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.
| 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 |
| fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. |
| from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
| the underlying science of space weather |
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