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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 351.0 km/s
density:
1.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2255 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
C3 1750 UT Jul06
24-hr: C3 1750 UT Jul06
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 06 Jul '05

Sunspots 783 and 786 pose a threat for M-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 181
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 05 Jul 2005

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals no large sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.5 nT
Bz:
0.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2256 UT

Coronal Holes:

There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun today. Image credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope.


SPACE WEATHER
NOAA
Forecasts

Solar Flares: Probabilities for a medium-sized (M-class) or a major (X-class) solar flare during the next 24/48 hours are tabulated below.
Updated at 2005 Jul 05 2206 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 45 % 45 %
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 2005 Jul 05 2206 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 15 % 15 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 05 % 05 %

What's Up in Space -- 6 Jul 2005
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AURORA WATCH: A coronal mass ejection (CME, movie) left the sun yesterday and is heading toward Earth. It's not a very bright or massive CME. Only mild geomanetic storms are expected when it reaches Earth tonight or (more likely) tomorrow. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

APHELION: You probably haven't noticed, but the sun today looks a bit smaller than usual. That's because, this week, Earth is at its greatest distance from the sun (152 million km), a point in our planet's orbit called aphelion. [full story]

The image above was created yesterday by Greek astronomer Anthony Ayiomamitis. It shows the sun on July 5th, aphelion, vs. January 2nd, perihelion, when the Earth-sun distance was least (147 million km). These photos illustrate what Johannes Kepler discovered 400 years ago: Earth's orbit is not a circle, but rather an ellipse.

DEEP IMPACT: On July 4th, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft successfully blasted a hole through the crust of Comet Tempel 1. The 820-lb projectile that hit the comet was equipped with a camera and it took this picture moments before impact:

A short time later the projectile vaporized deep below the comet's surface, producing a brilliant flash that stunned onlookers in the control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Deep Impact mothership photographed the formation of the crater and analyzed a plume of gas and dust emerging from it. Data are still being transmitted to Earth; stay tuned for updates.

Deep Impact image gallery



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 are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On 6 Jul 2005 there were 703 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

June-July 2005 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE (UT)

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
2005 LM3

June 3

4.0 LD

 18
2005 LU3

June 4

4.9 LD

 20
2005 LD

June 19

7.1 LD

 17
2000 AG6

July 22

8.7 LD

 20
Notes: LD is a "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 Environment Center -- The official U.S. government bureau for real-time monitoring of solar and geophysical events, research in solar-terrestrial physics, and forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances.

Atmospheric Optics -- the first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. See also Snow Crystals.

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory -- Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. (European Mirror Site)

Daily Sunspot Summaries -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Current Solar Images --a gallery of up-to-date solar pictures from the National Solar Data Analysis Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center. See also the GOES-12 Solar X-ray Imager.

Recent Solar Events -- a nice summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

SOHO Farside Images of the Sun from SWAN and MDI.

The Latest SOHO Coronagraph Images -- from the Naval Research Lab

The Sun from Earth -- daily images of our star from the Big Bear Solar Observatory

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

What is the Interplanetary Magnetic Field? -- A lucid answer from the University of Michigan. See also the Anatomy of Earth's Magnetosphere.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft. How powerful are solar wind gusts? Read this story from Science@NASA.

More Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Proton Monitor.

Aurora Forecast --from the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute

Daily Solar Flare and Sunspot Data -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

What is an Iridium flare? See also Photographing Satellites by Brian Webb.

What is an Astronomical Unit, or AU?

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; Jan-Mar., 2005;

Space Audio Streams: (University of Florida) 20 MHz radio emissions from Jupiter: #1, #2, #3, #4; (NASA/Marshall) INSPIRE: #1; (Stan Nelson of Roswell, New Mexico) meteor radar: #1, #2;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips: email

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