SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 292.6 km/s
density: 4.6 protons/cm³
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2215 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: X8 1725 UT 02Nov
24-hr: X8 1725 UT 02Nov
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1955 UT

Daily Sun: 02 Nov '03
Sunspots 486 and 488 pose a continued threat for strong X-class solar flares. Image credit: SOHO MDI

Sunspot Number: 277
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 01 Nov 2003

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 5.6 nT
B_z: 0.2 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

Earth could encounter a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole as early as Nov. 8th. Image credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope.

What's Up in Space -- 2 Nov 2003 Subscribe to Space Weather News! X-FLARE: Another remarkable solar flare has erupted from giant sunspot 486--an X8-class blast at 1725 UT on Nov. 2nd. Because the sunspot is nearing the sun's western limb, this explosion was not aimed squarely at Earth. Even so, a coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading our way. Auroras could appear on Nov. 3rd or 4th when the electrified cloud delivers a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field. Above: Using a safely-filtered telescope, Ginger Mayfield of Divide, CO, captured this view of today's flare shortly after its peak. "What a fantastic week for the Sun!" she says. As a result of the flare, solar protons are streaming past Earth. The ongoing radiation storm is a strong S3-class event. Passengers and crew in commercial jets at high latitudes may receive low-level radiation exposure--approximately equal to one chest x-ray. [more] Would you like a phone call when auroras appear over your home town? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE. AURORAS: Last week was a wonderful one for sky watchers. Two fast-moving clouds of gas from the sun (CMEs) swept past Earth--one on Oct. 29th and one on Oct. 30th--and sparked extreme geomagnetic storms. Auroras appeared in places where they are rarely seen: Texas, California, Florida and elsewhere. Visit our growing storm gallery to view a selection of photos from around the world. Photographer Steve Irvine of Big Bay, Ontario, took this picture at the onset of the geomagnetic storm on Oct. 29th: (continued below) "The display here was spectacular, the best in at least two years, with shimmering cascades of light extending well south of the zenith," says Irvine. Visit our growing gallery of aurora pictures. SUNSPOT WATCH: Giant sunspots 486 and 488 are approaching the sun's western limb and will soon disappear from view. You can still see them for another day or so, but never look directly at the sun. Always use safe solar observing techniques. Right: On Oct. 31st, amateur astronomer David Haworth recorded this movie of an airplane passing in front of sunspot 488. To capture the images, he used a 10-inch telescope (capped with an Orion solar filter) and a Philips ToUcam PRO web camera. [more information] 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.

October 2003 Earth-asteroid encounters

ASTEROID		MISS DISTANCE	MAG.
2003 SS84	Oct. 11	8 LD	17
1998 FG2	Oct. 21	15 LD	17
2003 TL4	Oct. 26	12 LD	15
2001 KZ66	Oct. 30	31 LD	16

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