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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 419.2 km/sec
density: 0.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
2112 UT Mar30
24-hr: C1
2112 UT Mar30
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 30 Mar 12
Returning sunspot AR1429 is just a shadow of its former self, having decayed substantially during its two week trip around the backside of the sun. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 100
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 29 Mar 2012

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Updated 29 Mar 2012


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 112 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 29 Mar 2012

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 6.4 nT
Bz: 1.5 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes: 30 Mar 12
There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2012 Mar 30 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
15 %
15 %
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: 2012 Mar 30 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
15 %
15 %
SEVERE
05 %
05 %
 
Friday, Mar. 30, 2012
What's up in space
 

Thirty-five new items have just been added to our Meteorite Jewelry collection. Browse the Space Weather Store for something out of this world.

 
Meteorite jewelry

HOW TO EXPLORE AN EARTH-LIKE PLANET LIGHT YEARS AWAY: With NASA's Kepler spacecraft discovering alien worlds at a record pace, it seems to be just a matter of time before an Earth-sized planet is found in the "Goldilocks zone"--that is, in an orbit sized just right for liquid water and life. In today's story from Science@NASA, researchers discuss how they'll explore a cousin of Earth so many light years away. [video]

WHO'S AFRAID OF AN OLD SUNSPOT? Sunspot AR1429, the source of many strong flares and geomagnetic storms earlier this month, has returned, but it's no longer the behemoth it once was. After a two week transit around the backside of the sun, AR1429 has substantially decayed. All that's left is a few small dark cores scattered among some bright magnetic froth:

Even the corpse of AR1429 might still be potent, however. Just yesterday it produced a flurry of five C-class flares and sent waves of ionization rippling through the high atmosphere over Europe. Furthermore, NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of M-class flares during the next 24 hours.

Some activity from this diminished active region is certainly possible, but it is unlikely to be anything like the strong storms of early March. Stay tuned for updates. Solar flare alerts: text, phone.

NORTHERN LIGHTS: Spring is aurora season, and the Arctic Circle is alight with green. First-time aurora photographer Alex Keen had no trouble finding a scene to shoot last night in Inari, Finland.

"This was the very first time that I have ever witnessed the Aurora Borealis and to say that I was captured by its magnificence and beauty would be the understatement of the Century," says Alex. "My Dad, Andy Keen, has been 'hunting' and photographing the 'lights' for many years and, up to now, I have only experienced them through his images and the countless stories that he has relayed to me regarding his adventures here in Northern Lapland. To have actually seen and 'felt' them first- hand was completely different and I can now fully understand and relate to his passion for what is quite rightly described by many as one of Mother Nature's most spectacular natural phenomena." Aurora alerts: text, phone.

more images: from Frank Olsen of Bø i Vesterålen, Norway; from Fredrik Broms of Kvaløya, Norway; from Ole C. Salomonsen of Grøtfjord, Tromsø; from Dirk Obudzinski of Circle, Alaska; from Thilo Bubek of near Tromsø / Norway; from Helge Mortensen of Kvaløya, Norway; from Bob Franklin of Door County Wisconsin; from Jónína Óskarsdóttir of Faskrudsfjordur, Iceland; from LeRoy Zimmerman of Ester, AK


February 2012 Aurora Gallery
[previous Februaries: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002]

  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 30, 2012 there were 1287 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2012 FP35
Mar 26
0.4 LD
--
12 m
2012 FS35
Mar 26
0.2 LD
--
4 m
2012 FV23
Mar 30
6.6 LD
--
36 m
2012 EG5
Apr 1
0.6 LD
--
60 m
2012 FW35
Apr 1
8.3 LD
--
23 m
2012 FS52
Apr 2
8.9 LD
--
46 m
2012 FH58
Apr 3
3.6 LD
--
17 m
2012 FA57
Apr 4
1.1 LD
--
29 m
1996 SK
Apr 18
67.2 LD
--
1.6 km
2007 HV4
Apr 19
4.8 LD
--
8 m
2011 WV134
Apr 28
38.6 LD
--
1.6 km
1992 JD
May 2
9.5 LD
--
43 m
2010 KK37
May 19
2.3 LD
--
31 m
4183 Cuno
May 20
47.4 LD
--
5.7 km
2002 VX94
May 26
72.8 LD
--
1.1 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
Trade Show Displays
   
  more links...
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