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Solar wind
speed: 538.6 km/sec
density: 4.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: M9
1852 UT Jan01
24-hr: M9
1852 UT Jan01
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2259 UT
Daily Sun: 01 Jan 14
Sunspots AR1934 and AR1936 have 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic fields that harbor energy for X-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 136
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 01 Jan 2014

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
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%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days

Update
01 Jan 2014

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 145 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 01 Jan 2014

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 4
unsettled
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 7.5 nT
Bz: 1.2 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 01 Jan 14
Solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on Jan 3-4. Credit: SDO/AIA.

Spaceweather.com posts daily satellite images of noctilucent clouds (NLCs), which hover over Earth's poles at the edge of space. The data come from NASA's AIM spacecraft. The north polar "daisy" pictured below is a composite of near-realtime images from AIM assembled by researchers at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
Noctilucent Clouds
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 01-01-2014 11:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2014 Jan 01 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
70 %
70 %
CLASS X
30 %
30 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2014 Jan 01 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
30 %
20 %
MINOR
10 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
20 %
MINOR
25 %
30 %
SEVERE
40 %
25 %
 
Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014
What's up in space
 

When is the best time to see auroras? Where is the best place to go? And how do you photograph them? These questions and more are answered in a new book, Northern Lights - a Guide, by Pal Brekke & Fredrik Broms.

 
Northern Lights - a Guide

NEW YEARS AT THE EDGE OF SPACE: On New Year's Day, Jan. 1st, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus will launch a space weather balloon to the stratosphere (~120,000 feet altitude). It's part of their ongoing program to monitor energetic solar particles at the edge of space. Would you like to support their flight? You can! For only $49.95 the students will send a picture of your choice along for the ride. The group has previously photographed cupcakes, shoes, US presidents, ad banners and telescopes at the edge of space. Your personal New Year's greeting card could be next. Contact Dr. Tony Phillips for more information.

STRONG FLARES UNDERWAY: 2014 began with a bang. At 18:54 UT on January 1st, big sunspot AR1936 erupted, producing a strong M9-class solar flare. This eruption follows close on the heels of an almost-equally strong M6-category explosion on New Year's Eve: movie. Here is a picture of the M9-flare recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:

Neither of the "New Year's Flares" so far have been very geoeffective. AR1936 is approaching the sun's western limb so it is not directly facing our planet. Nevertheless, CMEs produced by these explosions might deliver glancing blows to Earth's magnetic field later this week, possibly sparking geomagnetic storms. We'll find out more about this possibility when coronagraph data from SOHO and STEREO reach Earth.

Meanwhile, more flares are in the offing. Sunspot AR1936 has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that could erupt again at any time. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of M-class flares and a 10% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

NORTHERN LIGHTS: A medium-speed (~500 km/s) stream of solar wind is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, sparking auroras around the Arctic Circle. Last night, Darrell Jordan photographed the display from Ersfjordbotn, Norway:

"What better way to spend New Years Eve than with clear skies and also an aurora display right up to 11.35pm?" says Jordan.

The display will likely spill over into the New Year. The solar wind speed is picking up as Earth moves deeper into the stream. NOAA forecasters estimate an increasing 25% to 40% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Jan. 1-2. Aurora alerts: text, voice.

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Venus Photo Gallery


Realtime Comet Photo Gallery


  All Sky Fireball Network

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 Jan. 1, 2014, the network reported 4 fireballs.
(4 sporadics)

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]

On Dec. 31, 2013, the network reported 6 fireballs.
(4 sporadics, 1 December Leonis Minorid, 1 alpha Hydrid)

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]

  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 January 1, 2014 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2011 YD29
Dec 28
6.1 LD
24 m
2013 YL2
Jan 3
3.6 LD
101 m
2013 YM48
Jan 6
8.8 LD
34 m
2007 SJ
Jan 21
18.9 LD
1.9 km
2012 BX34
Jan 28
9.6 LD
13 m
2006 DP14
Feb 10
6.2 LD
730 m
2000 EM26
Feb 18
8.8 LD
195 m
2000 EE14
Mar 6
64.6 LD
1.8 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
Space Weather Alerts
   
  more links...
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