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A SUDDEN CHANGE IN BLUEWALKER 3: For months sky watchers have been waiting for AST SpaceMobile's Bluewalker 3 (BW3) satellite to unfurl its huge antenna. That might be happening now. This morning in Arizona, Paul Maley witnessed a sudden change in BW3's brightness. "It came directly overhead 40 minutes before sunrise and reached naked eye brightness at +1 magnitude," says Maley. This is 50 to 100 times brighter than previous similar passes. The satellite could become brighter still as the unfurling proceeds. For local flyby times check Heavens Above.
A SUNSPOT WITHIN A SUNSPOT: Fans of Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy will understand what this means: "Sunspot AR3141 reminds us of Zaphod Bebblebrox." The sunspot is sprouting a little version of itself on its shoulder. The circled region in this magnetogram is, essentially, an extra sunspot:
The extra magnetic poles are in close proximity to AR3141's primary core, an arrangement which makes the ensemble unstable (also like Zaphod). Analysts call this a 'delta-class' magnetic field; it poses a threat for strong X-class solar flares. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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A BIG BRIGHT CLOUD ON MARS: If you look at Mars through a telescope this week, you might be surprised by what you see--a bright blue cloud of ice. Michael Karrer photographed it on Nov. 7th from his backyard in Austria:
"Mars is no longer dusty and the north pole has dense cloud cover - very impressive despite the planet's modest diameter of 15.8 arcseconds," he says.
Karrer photographed the North Polar Hood, a giant cloud of water ice that forms over the Martian north pole during winter. Why blue? That's the color of sunlight scattered from very tiny crystals of ice (smaller than the wavelength of light itself) floating in the cloud.
"It was easy to see through my 14-inch Celestron telescope," adds Kerrer. "And it's about to get even easier."
Mars is approaching Earth for a close encounter on Dec. 1, 2022. Between now and then, Mars will double in brightness to magnitude -1.9 (brighter than Sirius) and increase in size to 17.2 arcseconds. Look for the Red Planet and its blue hood rising in the east after sunset in the constellation Taurus: sky map.
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WHERE NO CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT HAS GONE BEFORE: You cannot buy a rare Capt. Kirk space ornament on Amazon. But you can get one from the Earth to Sky Store. On Oct 9, 2022, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched Capt. Kirk to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. Here he is floating 109,620 feet high:
You can have it for $99.95. The students are selling Kirk ornaments to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Made by Hallmark in the 1990s, the ornament comes with a greeting card showing the captain of the Enterprise in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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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 Nov 11, 2022, the network reported 18 fireballs.
(12 sporadics, 6 northern Taurids)
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 November 11, 2022 there were 2314 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2022 UY14 | 2022-Nov-06 | 8.8 LD | 19.8 | 34 |
2022 UC34 | 2022-Nov-06 | 1.7 LD | 10.9 | 7 |
2022 UO6 | 2022-Nov-06 | 11.5 LD | 11.5 | 38 |
2022 VA | 2022-Nov-06 | 8.2 LD | 12.3 | 25 |
2022 UC22 | 2022-Nov-07 | 18.3 LD | 17.4 | 199 |
2022 UN21 | 2022-Nov-07 | 8 LD | 11.1 | 18 |
2022 US6 | 2022-Nov-07 | 9.7 LD | 7.2 | 19 |
2022 UR21 | 2022-Nov-07 | 8.6 LD | 9.8 | 17 |
2022 VY | 2022-Nov-08 | 3.1 LD | 10 | 10 |
2022 UK5 | 2022-Nov-08 | 14.3 LD | 5.2 | 43 |
2020 WD | 2022-Nov-08 | 3 LD | 6 | 8 |
2022 UC5 | 2022-Nov-08 | 6.1 LD | 12.9 | 37 |
2022 UV20 | 2022-Nov-09 | 7.7 LD | 8.4 | 20 |
2019 XS | 2022-Nov-10 | 16.7 LD | 11.9 | 60 |
2022 VP | 2022-Nov-11 | 8.1 LD | 5.1 | 19 |
2022 UV14 | 2022-Nov-11 | 10.8 LD | 7.6 | 19 |
2020 FC4 | 2022-Nov-12 | 19.3 LD | 13.3 | 78 |
2022 VE | 2022-Nov-13 | 11.3 LD | 9.6 | 31 |
2022 UH16 | 2022-Nov-14 | 14.8 LD | 9.8 | 23 |
2022 UP2 | 2022-Nov-14 | 10.6 LD | 6 | 34 |
2019 VL5 | 2022-Nov-15 | 8.5 LD | 8.1 | 24 |
2022 UD28 | 2022-Nov-16 | 10.9 LD | 11.5 | 32 |
2018 WH | 2022-Nov-16 | 2.5 LD | 7.7 | 4 |
2022 US14 | 2022-Nov-18 | 8.5 LD | 8.3 | 40 |
2022 VX | 2022-Nov-20 | 11.2 LD | 5.9 | 13 |
2019 OR1 | 2022-Nov-21 | 18.1 LD | 13.4 | 246 |
2005 LW3 | 2022-Nov-23 | 3 LD | 13.5 | 168 |
2022 VQ | 2022-Nov-27 | 7.7 LD | 8.2 | 24 |
2010 VQ | 2022-Dec-02 | 11.9 LD | 3.9 | 10 |
2009 HV58 | 2022-Dec-02 | 12.3 LD | 28.8 | 427 |
2022 UT8 | 2022-Dec-02 | 11.1 LD | 4.2 | 64 |
2017 QL33 | 2022-Dec-03 | 16 LD | 6.9 | 195 |
2019 XY | 2022-Dec-10 | 3.6 LD | 12.9 | 9 |
2003 YS70 | 2022-Dec-13 | 10.4 LD | 4.1 | 5 |
2019 XQ1 | 2022-Dec-13 | 14.5 LD | 9.8 | 30 |
2018 XU3 | 2022-Dec-13 | 14.8 LD | 10.3 | 30 |
2021 XS4 | 2022-Dec-14 | 14.5 LD | 9.7 | 23 |
2015 RN35 | 2022-Dec-15 | 1.8 LD | 5.9 | 84 |
2016 YE | 2022-Dec-18 | 18.6 LD | 4.8 | 23 |
2014 HK129 | 2022-Dec-20 | 6.7 LD | 11.6 | 214 |
2017 XQ60 | 2022-Dec-21 | 18.8 LD | 16 | 45 |
2022 UD9 | 2022-Dec-22 | 4.6 LD | 10.3 | 153 |
2022 RD2 | 2022-Dec-22 | 13.9 LD | 1.1 | 7 |
2013 YA14 | 2022-Dec-25 | 2.7 LD | 10.5 | 68 |
2022 TE14 | 2022-Dec-25 | 11.2 LD | 7 | 128 |
2018 YK2 | 2022-Dec-26 | 15.8 LD | 15.1 | 98 |
2010 XC15 | 2022-Dec-27 | 2 LD | 10.1 | 184 |
2021 AE | 2022-Dec-28 | 16.5 LD | 15 | 23 |
2021 NF | 2023-Jan-02 | 17.9 LD | 11.3 | 40 |
2011 WR41 | 2023-Jan-03 | 15.8 LD | 8.9 | 34 |
2019 AY3 | 2023-Jan-04 | 16.8 LD | 19.7 | 62 |
2021 TL | 2023-Jan-09 | 14.2 LD | 8.5 | 75 |
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. | Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere |
SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Almost 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 sensors that detect secondary cosmic rays, a form of radiation from space that can penetrate all the way down to Earth's surface. Our monitoring program has been underway without interruption for 7 years, resulting in a unique dataset of in situ atmospheric measurements.
Latest results (July 2022): Atmospheric radiation is decreasing in 2022. Our latest measurements in July 2022 registered a 6-year low:
What's going on? Ironically, the radiation drop is caused by increasing solar activity. Solar Cycle 25 has roared to life faster than forecasters expected. The sun's strengthening and increasingly tangled magnetic field repels cosmic rays from deep space. In addition, solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays, causing sharp reductions called "Forbush Decreases." The two effects blend together to bring daily radiation levels down.
.Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. They can alter the chemistry of the atmosphere, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. According to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan school of public health, crews of aircraft have higher rates of cancer than the general population. The researchers listed cosmic rays, irregular sleep habits, and chemical contaminants as leading risk factors. A number of controversial studies (#1, #2, #3, #4) go even further, linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.
Technical notes: 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.
Data points in the graph labeled "Stratospheric Radiation" correspond to the peak of the Regener-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 Regener and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.
| 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. |
| information about sunspots based on the latest NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary |
| current counts of failed and deployed Starlink satellites from Jonathan's Space Page |
| Authoritative predictions of space junk and satellite re-entries |
| 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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