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

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Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 354.3 km/s
density: 12.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2256 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B1 1930 UT Nov03
24-hr: B4 0430 UT Nov03
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 03 Nov '06

Sunspot 921 has developed a "beta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 59
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 02 Nov 2006

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals a large sunspot on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 7.5 nT
Bz: 7.2 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2247 UT

Coronal Holes:

There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun today. Credit: NOAA GOES-13.

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 Nov 03 2203 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 10 % 10 %
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 Nov 03 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 10 % 10 %
MINOR 05 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 20 %
MINOR 10 % 10 %
SEVERE 05 % 05 %

What's Up in Space -- 3 Nov 2006
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Autumn is here, and it's a wonderful time for stargazing. Find out what's up from Spaceweather PHONE.

FIRST LIGHT FOR HINODE: A new space telescope onboard Japan's Hinode spacecraft is beaming back fantastic images of the sun. Get the full story from Science@NASA.

MOON HALO: When the Moon is big and bright, as it is tonight, keep an eye out for Moon halos. Gil Esquerdo of the Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, saw this one last night:

"The 10-meter gamma ray telescope here at the observatory served as a Moon-block and a nice foreground," he says.

What made the halo? Answer: Ice crystals in high wispy clouds. ("The clouds that made the halo, also made observing a bit difficult" laments Esquerdo.) Circular halos are just one of many luminous shapes that may appear when icy clouds float overhead on a moonlit night. When you spot a moon halo, be alert for moondogs, pillars and tangent arcs as well.

TRANSIT OF MERCURY: Can a little black dot be an objet d'art? It can when the black dot is Mercury crossing the face of the sun:

"I made this pencil and pastel drawing three years ago during the May 7, 2003, transit of Mercury," says Petr Horalek of Pardubice, Czech Republic. "It was amazing to see that little point on the sun."

Another transit is just around the corner--next week on Nov. 8th. Sharpen your pastels!

Transit of Mercury Photo & Art Contest



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 3 Nov 2006 there were 821 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Oct-Nov 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE
(UT)

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

 SIZE
2006 UC185

Oct. 23

6.3 LD

17

95 m
2006 UZ215

Oct. 27

7.6 LD

19

35 m
2006 UJ185

Oct. 30

0.7 LD

17

10 m
2006 UA216

Oct. 31

6.0 LD

16

90 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.

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.

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;

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL

This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips: email


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