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

SpaceWeather.com
Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 556.7 km/s
density:
1.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
A3 2040 UT Aug01
24-hr: B1 1150 UT Aug01
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 01 Aug '06

These small sunspots pose no threat for solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 25
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 31 Aug 2006

Far Side of the Sun

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

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.4 nT
Bz:
1.3 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

Coronal Holes:

Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. 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 2006 Aug 01 2203 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 2006 Aug 01 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 15 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 25 % 20 %
MINOR 15 % 15 %
SEVERE 05 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 1 Aug 2006
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JUPITER & THE MOON: The two brightest objects in the night sky, Jupiter and the Moon, are lined up tonight. The best time to look is around sunset, before the twilight fades to black. Imagine, Jupiter and the Moon surrounded by deep blue. The scene has a special beauty--don't miss it! [sky map]

EARLY PERSEID: "A direct hit on North America!" cries Irish astronomer Paul Evans. Last night he was taking a deep-sky picture of the North American Nebula when a meteor streaked through the scene:

Evans caught an early-arriving Perseid. The Perseid meteor shower doesn't peak until August 12th but, as the picture shows, the display has already begun. Meteor rates, now low, will increase in the days ahead as Earth plunges into the broad tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle. More "direct hits" are on the way.

GENESIS MOVIE: The inflatable Genesis satellite is orbiting Earth and starting to make conspicuous evening passes over North America. It glows about as brightly as a 3rd-magnitude star. On July 28th, Kevin Fetter videotaped Genesis passing over his home in Brockville, Ontario, Canada: 2 MB movie.


Genesis 1, photographed July 28th by one of the satellite's exterior cameras.

Developed by Bigelow Aerospace, Genesis is on a mission to test the idea that inflatable modules could be used to build future space stations or even orbital hotels. So far, so good: Genesis is working fine.

Genesis flyby alerts
from Spaceweather PHONE



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 1 Aug 2006 there were 796 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

July 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2004 XP14

Jul 3

1.1 LD

12

600 m
2006 BQ6

Jul 29

14 LD

16

500 m
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

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.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; Jan-Mar 2006;

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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