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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 350.7 km/sec
density: 1.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A2
1815 UT Oct01
24-hr: B6
0250 UT Oct01
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 01 Oct. 09
Sunspot 1027 is fading away and also about to disappear over the sun's western limb. Photo credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 11
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 30 Sept 2009

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2009 total: 212 days (78%)
Since 2004: 723 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 30 Sept 2009

Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.1 nT
Bz: 2.8 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Oct. 2nd or 3rd. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2009 Oct 01 2201 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: 2009 Oct 01 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
October 1, 2009

AURORA ALERT: Did you miss the Northern Lights? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

 

COSMIC RAYS HIT SPACE AGE HIGH: NASA spacecraft are measuring record-high levels of cosmic rays--a side-effect of the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. This development could have implications for the amount of shielding astronauts need to take when they explore deep space. Science@NASA has the full story.

MERCURY FLYBY: NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is receding from Mercury after a Sept 29th flyby that put smiles on the faces of mission scientists. MESSENGER is beaming back images of thousands of square miles of previously unseen terrain, including this cheerful crater:

The arc-shaped depression in the crater's floor is a "pit crater." A few of these have been seen on Mercury, and they are probably volcanic in nature. Pit craters may have formed when subsurface magma drained away and left a roof area unsupported, leading to collapse and the formation of the pit. In this example, the southern area of the pit appears to have two or more floor levels. The discovery of multiple pit-floor craters adds to a growing body of evidence that volcanic activity was widespread in Mercury's past.

Stay tuned for more happy discoveries.

THE OPTICS OF DANDELIONS: Beautiful displays of atmospheric optics usually require some form of clouds, snow or rain. Ice and clouds are not required, however, when you have a dandelion handy:

"Autumn is here and many flowers are preparing for the next generation with hairy seed pods," says photographer Monika Landy-Gyebnar of Veszprem, Hungary. "If you hold these seeds against the light and look through their tiny hairs, you can see a very colourful little world! It is a real do-it-yourself optics phenomenon!"

Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley explains the physics: "Light waves bend (diffract) around obstacles in their way. The waves from each side of a tiny hair combine together downstream to make a colorful interference pattern. The shining iridescent hues of dandelion seed hairs, spider webs and clouds of small water droplets are all a result of this process."

Landy-Gyebnar has one final suggestion: "After examining the colors of a sunlit dandelion or aster, you can help them spread by blowing on them." Then it really is atmospheric optics.


Sept. 2009 Aurora Gallery
[previous Septembers: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001]


Explore the Sunspot Cycle

       
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 October 1, 2009 there were 1080 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Sept. 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 QC35
Sept. 2
2.9 LD
17
35 m
2009 RY3
Sept. 11
1.9 LD
15
50 m
2009 RR
Sept. 16
2.8 LD
18
33 m
2009 RG2
Sept. 21
9.1 LD
19
31 m
2009 SN103
Sept. 28
1.2 LD
17
13 m
2009 HD21
Sept. 29
22.9 LD
15
1.0 km
1998 FW4
Sept. 29
8.6 LD
14
550 m
2009 SH2
Sept. 30
2.8 LD
17
49 m
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 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 and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
Science Central
   
  more links...
   
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