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GEOMAGNETIC STORM PREDICTED: NOAA forecasters have issued a watch for G2-class (moderately strong) geomagnetic storms on Sept. 11th. That's when a fast -moving stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. The gaseous material is flowing from a canyon-shaped hole in the sun's atmosphere. During G2-class storms, auroras can appear in the United States from New York to Wisconsin to Washington state. Free: Aurora Alerts.
GREEN COMET MAKES CLOSEST APPROACH TO EARTH: On Sept. 10th, Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner ("21P" for short) makes its closest approach to Earth in 72 years--only 58 million km from our planet. The small but active comet is easy to see in small telescopes and binoculars shining like a 7th magnitude star. Michael Jäger of Weißenkirchen, Austria, photographed 21P approaching our planet on Sept. 9th:
"Comet 21P is currently in the constellation Auriga," says Jäger. "I caught it just as it was passing by star clusters M36 and M38."
The comet's close approach to Earth coincides with a New Moon, providing a velvety-dark backdrop for astrophotography. The best time to look is during the dark hours before sunrise when the constellation Auriga is high in the eastern sky. If you have a GOTO telescope, use these orbital elements to point your optics. Detailed sky maps can help, too.
Shining just below the limit of naked-eye visibility, the comet will remain easy to photograph for the rest of September. If you can only mark one date on your calendar, however, make it Sept. 15th. On that night, 21P will cross directly through the middle of the star cluster M35 in the constellation Gemini. Astronomer Bob King writing for Sky and Telescope notes that "the binocular view should be unique with the rich cluster appearing to sprout a tail!"
Click to view an interactive 3D orbit of 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. Credit: NASA/JPL
21P/Giacobini-Zinner is the parent of the annual Draconid meteor shower, a bursty display that typically peaks on Oct. 8th. Will the shower will be extra-good this year? Draconid outbursts do tend to occur in years near the comet's close approach to the sun. However, leading forecasters do not expect an outburst this year despite the comet's flyby. In case they are mistaken, many eyes next month will be on the shower's radiant in the constellation Draco.
Got a picture of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner? Submit it here.
Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
A JEDI MASTER IN THE STRATOSPHERE: "When 100,000 feet you reach, look as good you will not." –Yoda, 2018. Yoda has flown to the stratosphere. On Aug. 30, 2018, he hitched a ride on board an Earth to Sky Calculus helium balloon, traveling more than 101,362 feet above Earth's surface:
The students are selling these Jedi Christmas ornaments to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. You can have one for $97.95.
Each ornament comes with a unique gift card showing Yoda floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that the Jedi master has been to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Every night, a network of
NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.
On Sep. 9, 2018, the network reported 38 fireballs.
(31 sporadics, 6 September epsilon Perseids, 1 alpha Aurigid)
In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]
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 September 9, 2018 there were 1923 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2018 RO1 | 2018-Sep-04 | 4.2 LD | 11.1 | 15 |
2018 RD2 | 2018-Sep-04 | 5.8 LD | 8.3 | 16 |
2018 RO | 2018-Sep-05 | 5.8 LD | 6.4 | 23 |
2018 RP | 2018-Sep-05 | 3.8 LD | 14.2 | 21 |
2018 RB2 | 2018-Sep-05 | 1.5 LD | 9.2 | 13 |
2018 RS | 2018-Sep-05 | 0.3 LD | 17.1 | 5 |
2018 RE2 | 2018-Sep-06 | 1 LD | 8.7 | 7 |
2018 RR | 2018-Sep-06 | 2 LD | 9 | 11 |
2018 RQ | 2018-Sep-07 | 12.5 LD | 13.3 | 40 |
2018 RF | 2018-Sep-08 | 11.8 LD | 13.3 | 44 |
2018 RD1 | 2018-Sep-08 | 13.5 LD | 10.1 | 50 |
2018 RW | 2018-Sep-08 | 0.4 LD | 6.3 | 3 |
2018 RC | 2018-Sep-09 | 0.6 LD | 5.3 | 38 |
2018 RE1 | 2018-Sep-10 | 11.1 LD | 26 | 44 |
2018 RF2 | 2018-Sep-10 | 4 LD | 10.9 | 10 |
2018 RA1 | 2018-Sep-10 | 2.4 LD | 10.1 | 18 |
2018 QU1 | 2018-Sep-11 | 10.9 LD | 12.5 | 101 |
2018 RB1 | 2018-Sep-11 | 2.5 LD | 8.1 | 10 |
2018 RQ2 | 2018-Sep-15 | 9.8 LD | 14.4 | 96 |
2018 RC1 | 2018-Sep-15 | 16.7 LD | 2.2 | 20 |
2018 RA2 | 2018-Sep-16 | 8 LD | 9.3 | 27 |
2017 SL16 | 2018-Sep-20 | 8.5 LD | 6.4 | 25 |
2018 RQ1 | 2018-Sep-24 | 4.1 LD | 3.1 | 52 |
2018 EB | 2018-Oct-07 | 15.5 LD | 15.1 | 155 |
2014 US7 | 2018-Oct-17 | 3.2 LD | 8.7 | 19 |
2013 UG1 | 2018-Oct-18 | 10.4 LD | 13.4 | 123 |
2016 GC221 | 2018-Oct-18 | 8.7 LD | 14.4 | 39 |
475534 | 2018-Oct-29 | 7.5 LD | 18.1 | 204 |
2002 VE68 | 2018-Nov-04 | 14.7 LD | 8.6 | 282 |
2010 VQ | 2018-Nov-07 | 15.6 LD | 3.8 | 10 |
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. | Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere |
SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 18% since 2015:
The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.
En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes:
In this plot, dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x.
The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.
Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.
| The official U.S. government space weather bureau |
| The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. |
| Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. |
| 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory |
| Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. |
| from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
| fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. |
| from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
| the underlying science of space weather |
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