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Solar wind
speed: 528.5
km/sec
density: 3.7
protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 0701
UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A8
0646
UT
Nov22
24-hr:
A8
0931
UT
Nov21
explanation
| more
data
Updated: Today at: 0659
UT
Daily Sun: 22 Nov 19
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number:
0
What
is the sunspot number?
Updated 22 Nov 2019
Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 9 days
2019 total: 245 days (75%)
2018 total: 221 days (61%)
2017 total: 104 days (28%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
2015 total: 0 days (0%)
2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
2008 total: 268 days (73%)
2007 total: 152 days (42%)
2006 total: 70 days (19%)
Updated 22 Nov 2019
Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 3.67x1010 W Cold
Max: 49.4x1010 W Hot (10/1957)
Min: 2.05x1010 W Cold (02/2009)
explanation | more data: gfx, txt
Updated 21 Nov 2019
The Radio
Sun
10.7 cm flux: 71 sfu
explanation | more
data
Updated 22 Nov 2019
Cosmic Rays Solar minimum is underway. The sun's magnetic field is weak, allowing extra cosmic rays into the solar system. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth in 2019 are near a Space Age peak.
Oulu Neutron Counts
Percentages of the Space Age average:
today: +9.6% High
7-day change: +0.4%
Max: +11.7% Very High (12/2009)
Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991)
explanation | more data
Updated 22 Nov 2019 @ 0430 UT
Since 2015, Earth to Sky cosmic ray balloons launched weekly from California have also detected significant increases in atmospheric radiation. Dose rates reported below are in the stratosphere at approx. 100,000 ft.
California Cosmic Ray Balloons
Monitoring started in March 2015
now: 4.46 uGy/hr High
change since 2015: +18%
Max: 4.79 uGy/hr High (10/2019)
Min: 3.80 uGy/hr Low (05/2015)
explanation | more data
Updated 16 Nov 2019
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New
Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp=
2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 4 unsettled
explanation | more
data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.1
nT
Bz: -3.5
nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 0700
UT
Coronal Holes: 22 Nov 19
Earth is inside a stream of solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: SDO/AIA
Noctilucent Clouds The southern hemisphere season for noctilucent clouds began on Nov. 15th--the earliest start in recorded history. Check here for daily images from NASA's AIM spacecraft.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 11-20-2019 21:55:02
UT
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts |
|
Updated at: 2019 Nov 21 2200 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: 2019 Nov 21 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
|
0-24
hr |
24-48
hr |
ACTIVE |
30
% |
25
% |
MINOR |
10
% |
05
% |
SEVERE |
01
% |
01
% |
High latitudes
|
0-24
hr |
24-48
hr |
ACTIVE |
15
% |
15
% |
MINOR |
30
% |
30
% |
SEVERE |
40
% |
30
% |
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ALPHA MONOCEROTID METEOR UPDATE: Did it happen? We're not sure. Earth passed by the predicted location of a comet debris stream on Nov. 22nd at 04:50 UT. So far we have not received photos or confirmed reports of a resulting meteor outburst. If you saw anything, let us know.
VENUS AND JUPITER AT 30,000 FT: Air travelers, if you see someone staring out the window from underneath their jacket, don't call security. It's just Venus and Jupiter. "On the evening of Nov. 16th, we boarded a plane from Christchurch, New Zealand, to the Gold Coast in Australia," says Noeleen Lowndes. "What a wonderful surprise when I looked out my window at 30,000 feet and saw Venus and Jupiter."
"It was absolutely stunning," says Lowndes. "To capture the images I had to put a jacket over my head to block out all the lights from the interior of the plane…I got many strange looks from other passengers, but I just smiled and kept taking pictures :-)"
The view is about to improve even more. Venus and Jupiter are converging in the sunset sky. At closest approach on Nov. 24th, they will be only 1.4 degrees apart--about the width of your index finger held at arm's length. On Nov. 27th and 28th, the crescent Moon will join the show, forming a celestial triangle that people in the USA will want to go outside and see after Thanksgiving dinner. Sky maps:Nov. 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.
Realtime Spaceweather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
GREEN FRAGMENT BREAKS OFF THE SUN: Spoiler alert: The sun is still intact. On Nov. 19th, Mike Kelley was watching the sunset from a California sand dune when a green fragment broke away from the solar disk. He recorded the event with a 1/2500s exposure on his Nikon D90 camera:
"It was a gorgeous green flash," says Kelley. "I saw it from Mad River Beach in northern California."
Pacific beaches are great places to find a green flash. Warm breezes from inland flow out over the cold water, creating temperature gradients in the air above the waves. Those gradients can magnify tiny differences in the atmospheric refraction of red and green light, creating a verdant mirage. If you find yourself on the beach at sunset, take a look!
Realtime Green Flash Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
THE SUNFLOWER SPACE PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the sunflower space pendant. On Oct. 18, 2019, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere. This cheerful pendant went along for the ride, 109,923 feet high:
You can have it for $109.92 (its altitude divided by 1000). The students are selling these pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each rose gold-plated pendant comes with a greeting card showing the flower in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again. They make great birthday, anniversary and Christmas gifts.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
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 Nov. 21, 2019, the network reported 14 fireballs.
(12 sporadics, 2 Leonids)
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 November 22, 2019 there were 2018 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 |
Recent
& Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT) |
Miss Distance |
Velocity (km/s) |
Diameter (m) |
| 2019 WC |
2019-Nov-17 |
9.2 LD |
7.6 |
18 |
| 2019 UR2 |
2019-Nov-18 |
18 LD |
13.4 |
131 |
| 2019 WH |
2019-Nov-19 |
0.2 LD |
11 |
21 |
| 2019 UK6 |
2019-Nov-20 |
15.4 LD |
7.7 |
66 |
| 2019 WN |
2019-Nov-20 |
16.7 LD |
10 |
34 |
| 2019 WF |
2019-Nov-20 |
1.6 LD |
11.6 |
14 |
| 2019 WE |
2019-Nov-20 |
3.3 LD |
8.5 |
16 |
| 481394 |
2019-Nov-21 |
11.3 LD |
7.9 |
372 |
| 2019 VK |
2019-Nov-21 |
5.8 LD |
7.6 |
43 |
| 2019 WM |
2019-Nov-21 |
7.8 LD |
12.4 |
18 |
| 2008 EA9 |
2019-Nov-23 |
10.5 LD |
2.2 |
10 |
| 2019 VF1 |
2019-Nov-25 |
13.3 LD |
17.2 |
87 |
| 2017 AP4 |
2019-Dec-03 |
8.5 LD |
7.5 |
15 |
| 2018 XW2 |
2019-Dec-07 |
17.4 LD |
13 |
28 |
| 2019 VH5 |
2019-Dec-08 |
18 LD |
9.8 |
71 |
| 216258 |
2019-Dec-20 |
15.3 LD |
11.8 |
324 |
| 2013 XY20 |
2019-Dec-21 |
18.4 LD |
1.9 |
28 |
| 2017 XQ60 |
2019-Dec-22 |
11 LD |
15.6 |
47 |
| 310442 |
2019-Dec-26 |
19 LD |
12.3 |
372 |
| 2019 AE3 |
2020-Jan-02 |
4.9 LD |
8.2 |
13 |
| 2019 UO |
2020-Jan-10 |
11.8 LD |
9.4 |
373 |
| 2011 EP51 |
2020-Jan-15 |
19.6 LD |
7.1 |
32 |
| 2017 RZ15 |
2020-Jan-15 |
12.1 LD |
7.4 |
14 |
| 2009 BH2 |
2020-Jan-18 |
14.6 LD |
17.9 |
118 |
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 |
SOMETHING NEW! We have developed a new predictive model of aviation radiation. It's called E-RAD--short for Empirical RADiation model. We are constantly flying radiation sensors onboard airplanes over the US and and around the world, so far collecting more than 22,000 gps-tagged radiation measurements. Using this unique dataset, we can predict the dosage on any flight over the USA with an error no worse than 15%.
E-RAD lets us do something new: Every day we monitor approximately 1400 flights criss-crossing the 10 busiest routes in the continental USA. Typically, this includes more than 80,000 passengers per day. E-RAD calculates the radiation exposure for every single flight. The Hot Flights Table is a daily summary of these calculations. It shows the 5 charter flights with the highest dose rates; the 5 commercial flights with the highest dose rates; 5 commercial flights with near-average dose rates; and the 5 commercial flights with the lowest dose rates. Passengers typically experience dose rates that are 20 to 70 times higher than natural radiation at sea level. To measure radiation on airplanes, we use the same sensors we fly to the stratosphere onboard Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloons: neutron bubble chambers and X-ray/gamma-ray Geiger tubes sensitive to energies between 10 keV and 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners. Column definitions: (1) The flight number; (2) The maximum dose rate during the flight, expressed in units of natural radiation at sea level; (3) The maximum altitude of the plane in feet above sea level; (4) Departure city; (5) Arrival city; (6) Duration of the flight.
SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: 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 18% since 2015:
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.
En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes:
In this plot, 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.
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.
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
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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