You are viewing the page for Oct. 4, 2005
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
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: 321.5 km/s
density:
1.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2256 UT


X-ray Solar Flares

6-hr max:
B8 2155 UT Oct04
24-hr: B8 2155 UT Oct04
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 04 Oct '05

The sun is almost blank. Solar activity should remain low. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot Number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 03 Oct 2005

Far Side of the Sun

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

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.0 nT
Bz:
1.8 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2257 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on or about Oct. 9th. Image 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 2005 Oct 04 2204 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 20 % 25 %
CLASS X 05 % 05 %

Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at 2005 Oct 04 2204 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 15 % 20 %
MINOR 05 % 05 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes
0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 20 % 25 %
MINOR 05 % 10 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

What's Up in Space -- 4 Oct 2005
Subscribe to Space Weather News

Did you miss the auroras of Sept.? Next time get a phone alert: Sign up for SpaceWeather PHONE.

QUIET SUN: The sun is practically blank today--no sunspots. Solar activity should remain very low.

SOLAR ECLIPSE: For a while yesterday, the sun looked a little odd. Usually it's a bright disk. On Oct. 3rd, it was a bright crescent. This happened when the Moon glided in front of the sun, producing a solar eclipse visible from Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

In Belgium, Dirk Peeters used a backyard telescope to project this image of the sun on a brick wall:

Most people in the vast eclipse zone saw a crescent-shaped sun, but a few observers stationed along a narrow path in Spain and Africa watched the sun turn into a hollow ring. There the eclipse was annular. Browse the gallery for examples:

October 3rd Solar Eclipse Gallery

OWLING AT THE MOON: The Moon, having just passed in front of the sun, is now moving out of the glare and into the evening sky. Look for a slender crescent near the horizon at sunset. Thursday night, Oct. 6, is especially good. The Moon will be pleasingly close to the bright planet Venus: sky map.

With an owl looking on, photographer Andy Skinner snapped this picture of the crescent Moon over Yosemite National Park in October 2004:

See the ghostly glow between the horns of the crescent? That's Earthshine--sunlight bouncing off Earth and hitting the Moon. The source of this beautiful glow was a mystery for thousands of years until Leonardo Da Vinci figured it out. Get the full story from Science@NASA.



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.

On 4 Oct 2005 there were 710 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

August 2005 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID

 DATE (UT)

 MISS DISTANCE

 MAG.
1992 UY4

August 8

16 LD

 12
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

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.

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; 2003; 2004; Jan-Mar., 2005;

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

You are visitor number 33495128 since January 2000.
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.