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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 311.2 km/sec
density: 2.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B2
2010 UT Feb14
24-hr: C4
1200 UT Feb14
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 14 Feb. 10
A new sunspot is emerging at the circled location. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 37
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 13 Feb 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 2 days (5%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 772 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 13 Feb 2010


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 94 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 13 Feb 2010

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 0 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 1
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 9.1 nT
Bz: 8.1 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Feb. 14th or 15th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2010 Feb 14 2201 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
50 %
50 %
CLASS X
10 %
10 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2010 Feb 14 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
35 %
40 %
MINOR
10 %
20 %
SEVERE
05 %
10 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
45 %
45 %
MINOR
15 %
25 %
SEVERE
10 %
15 %
What's up in Space
February 14, 2010

SATELLITE FLYBYS APP: Turn your iPhone or iPod into a field-tested satellite tracker! Spaceweather.com presents the Satellite Flybys app.

 

SUNSET TRIANGLE: When the sun sets on Valentine's Day, grab your binoculars and dash outside. Jupiter, Venus and an unbelievably slender crescent Moon are converging to form a triangle in the glow of sunset. Scan the western horizon for a beautiful view: sky map.

PARTING SHOTS: This morning, Feb. 14th, one and possibly two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) billowed over the sun's western limb. Click on the image to set the clouds in motion:

The source of the blasts appears to be a complex of sunspots (1045 and 1048) just now disappearing over the western limb. If so, NASA's STEREO Ahead spacecraft would have had a direct view of the double eruption, but the blast occured during a gap in data-taking, so head-on movies are not available. The CMEs were not directed at Earth, so our planet should feel no effects from the expanding clouds.

EXTRA: Rogerio Marcon of Campinas, Brasil, observed another spectacular eruption from the same region at approximately 1140 UT on Feb. 14th: image.

more images: from Dennis Simmons of Brisbane, Qld, Australia; from John C McConnell of Maghaberry Northern Ireland; from Matt Wastell of Brisbane, Australia; from Stefano Sello of Pisa, Italy; from Divyadarshan D. Purohit of Vadodara, Gujarat, India; from Terje Isberg of Biberstein, Switzerland; from Peter Paice of Belfast, Northern Ireland;

AURORA WATCH: High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on Feb. 14th and 15th. That's when a solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the sun is expected to reach Earth. The scene on Valentine's Night could look like this:

Zoltan Kenwell took the picture on Feb. 11th from the banks of the Athabasca River in Alberta, Canada. "I used a Canon 5D2 set at ISO 1000 for 10 seconds," he says. "The auroras were very active."

NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% to 35% chance of minor geomagnetic storming during the late hours of Feb. 14th and 15th. The activity could descend to northern-tier US states such as Minnesota and Wisconsin. Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia are better bets, however. Browse the gallery for a preview:

February Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Februarys: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002]

 
       
Near-Earth Asteroids
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 February 14, 2010 there were 1095 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Feb. 2010 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 UN3
Feb. 9
14.3 LD
12
1.2 km
2001 FD58
Feb. 19
58.5 LD
17
0.9 km
2002 EZ11
Feb. 24
77.5 LD
18
1.0 km
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.
Essential Links
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
  The official U.S. government space weather bureau
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.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Current Solar Images
  from the National Solar Data Analysis Center
Science Central
   
  more links...
   
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