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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: 389.0 km/sec
density: 0.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A8
1835 UT Mar19
24-hr: B1
0500 UT Mar19
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 19 Mar. 10
Sunspots 1054 and 1056 are decaying and pose no threat for strong solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 28
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 18 Mar 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 6 days (8%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 776 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 18 Mar 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 86 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 18 Mar 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.5 nT
Bz: 1.4 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Mar 19 2201 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: 2010 Mar 19 2201 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
March 19, 2010

NEW AND IMPROVED: Turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a field-tested global satellite tracker. The Satellite Flybys app now works in all countries.

 

EQUINOX SKY SHOW: Northern Spring begins on Saturday, March 20th. To celebrate the occasion, Nature is putting on an equinox sky show. Look west after sunset for a close encounter between the crescent Moon and the Pleiades star cluster. It's a beautiful view, especially through binoculars, and a nice way to experience the equal night.

NORTHERN LIGHTS: A CME that was supposed to hit Earth's magnetic field on March 18th didn't. Either it missed, or the cloud is approaching so slowly that the ultimate impact could be negligible. No matter. Last night, the skies over Norway turned green anyway:

"It was a beautiful night for watching the auroras, especially with the crescent moon low on the horizon!" reports photographer Hanneke Luijting of Tromsø, Norway. "We took a thermos of hot chocolate and watched from the shelter of a (roofless) hut."

The source of the display was a run-of-the-mill undulation in the solar wind. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for more lights in the nights ahead as the solar wind continues to blow.

March Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Marches: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003]

HUGE PROMINENCE: For the 4th consecutive day, a magnificent prominence is arching over the sun's northwestern limb. Rogerio Marcon sends this picture from his backyard observatory in Campinas, Brasil:

The view through the eyepiece of a solar telescope is spectacular--and dynamic. The prominence is slowly moving, twisting and turning in a way that reportedly mesmerizes observers. "This time lapse video shows the prominence's double rotational vortex motion on March 18th," says Marcon.

Snap out of it! This prominence may be big, but it won't last forever. Eventually, the structure's underlying magnetic fields will dissipate--or grow unstable and erupt. Readers with solar telescopes should take a look before it goes.

more images: from Stephen Ames of Hodgenville, KY; from Erika Rix of Zanesville, OH; from Peter Desypris of Athens,Greece


 
       
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 March 19, 2010 there were 1110 potentially hazardous asteroids.
March 2010 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2001 PT9
March 3
11.1 LD
15
305 m
4486 Mithra
March 12
73.5 LD
15
3.3 km
2001 FM129
March 13
44.1 LD
16
1.5 km
2010 EF43
March 18
5.0 LD
19
23 m
2002 TE66
March 28
48.0 LD
15
940 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 space weather bureau
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.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
Science Central
   
  more links...
   
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