SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 536.4 km/s
density: 4.0 protons/cm³
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C7 1925 UT Nov20
24-hr: M9 0745 UT Nov20
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 20 Nov '03
They're back. All three sunspots that caused intense space weather last month are again visible on the Earth-facing side of the sun. Active regions 484, 486, and 488 pose a threat for X-class solar flares. Image credit: SOHO MDI

The Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals a modest sunspot on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 114
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 19 Nov 2003

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 22.6 nT
B_z: 8.3 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

Coronal Holes:

Earth could encounter a solar wind stream from the indicated coronal hole as early as Nov. 23rd. Image credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope.

What's Up in Space -- 20 Nov 2003 Subscribe to Space Weather News! Would you like a call when auroras appear over your home town? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE. MAGNETIC STORM: A strong geomagnetic storm is in progress. It began at approximately 0800 UT on Nov. 20th when a coronal mass ejection swept past Earth. Auroras have been sighted as far south as Michigan and Wisconsin in the United States. Got pictures? Submit them here. Above: Auroras above Wisconsin before sunrise on Thursday, Nov. 20th. Photo credit: Chris VenHaus SOLAR ACTIVITY: The coronal mass ejection that hit Earth's magnetic field on Nov. 20th was hurled into space on Nov. 18th by sunspot 484--one of the three big sunspots that caused so much intense space weather last month. The trio (484, 486 and 488) are back on the Earth-facing side of the sun this week, so strong solar activity is possible in the days ahead. MEAGER LEONIDS: Sky watchers around the world agree: this year's Leonid meteor shower was meager. In most places, people saw fewer than 10 meteors per hour--much less than predicted. Perhaps Earth missed the anticipated comet debris trail. Or we hit it and the meteors were too faint to make an impression. Despite the shower's generally poor showing, there were some bright and beautiful meteors. Witness this rainbow-colored Leonid photographed by Frankie Lucena of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. more images: from Thad V'Soske in California's Anza-Borrego Desert State Park; from Calvin Hall in Bird Valley (just south of Anchorage), Alaska; from Bob Yen of Pasadena, California; ; from Frankie Lucena of Puerto Rico Spaceweather PHONE | Upcoming Events | Archives

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.

November 2003 Earth-asteroid encounters

ASTEROID		MISS DISTANCE	MAG.
Hermes	Nov. 4	18 LD	13
1990 OS	Nov. 12	9 LD	15
1996 GT	Nov. 12	19 LD	13
2003 UX5	Nov. 13	32 LD	17
1998 UT18	Nov. 28	26 LD	15

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.

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.

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 Soft 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.

Vandenberg AFB missile launch schedule.

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; Jan-Mar., 2003; Apr-Jun., 2003;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL