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MINOR GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on March 15th and 16th in response to a number of incoming CMEs. NOAA forecasters believe that 2 or 3 glancing blows are possible, individually weak but collectively effective. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
FARSIDE SUNSPOTS: The source of yesterday's farside CME (described below) is a mystery, but there are two leading suspects. Helioseismic maps reveal a pair of large active regions on the far side of the sun:
Both will rotate around to the Earthside of the sun within a week, potentially bringing potent sunspots into our planet's "strike zone." In the meantime we will keep an eye out for CMEs flying over the edge of the sun, indicating additional farside activity. Stay tuned. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
'EXTREMELY RARE' FARSIDE CME: Something big just happened on the farside of the sun. During the early hours of March 13th, SOHO coronagraphs recorded a farside halo CME leaving the sun faster than 3000 km/s:
Note: The bright object at 4 o'clock is Mercury: diagram
Because of its extreme speed, this CME is classified as "extremely rare," a fast-mover that occurs only once every decade or so. A NASA model of the event shows the CME heading almost directly away from Earth. Good thing!
Although the CME was not Earth-directed, it has nevertheless touched our planet. See all the snowy dots and streaks in the coronagraph movie above? Those are energetic particles accelerated by shock waves in the CME. They create short-lived luminous speckles when they hit SOHO's digital camera.
NOAA's GOES-16 satellite has detected the particles reaching Earth--all from the CME's backside. Imagine what a frontside blast would have been like. Earth's magnetic field is funneling the particles toward the poles where a type of radio blackout is underway--a polar cap absorption (PCA) event:
Note the broad red areas. Airplanes flying over these regions may find that their shortwave radios won't work due to the ionizing effect of infalling protons. This PCA could persist for a day or more. You can monitor its progress here. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
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"ALWAYS AND FOREVER" SPACE PENDANT: Are you looking for a romantic gift? Consider the Always and Forever Space Pendent. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $199.95. Engraved with the words "I love you always and forever", this 18K gold-plated pendant has a heart-shaped citrine crystal in the middle surrouunded by a ring of glittering 5A cubic zirconia nuggets. It is a visually striking premium pendant that makes a once-in-a-lifetime anniversary or birthday gift.
The students are selling space pendants to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry 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 Mar 14 2023, the network reported 9 fireballs.
(9 sporadics)
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 March 14, 2023 there were 2325 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2020 FQ | 2023-Mar-09 | 14 LD | 6.3 | 13 |
2023 EO | 2023-Mar-09 | 17.8 LD | 13.4 | 68 |
2023 EN | 2023-Mar-09 | 0.4 LD | 12.8 | 9 |
2023 ER | 2023-Mar-09 | 2.7 LD | 13 | 54 |
2023 ET | 2023-Mar-11 | 1.3 LD | 11.7 | 21 |
2023 ES | 2023-Mar-12 | 2.2 LD | 8.2 | 19 |
2023 EX | 2023-Mar-13 | 3.7 LD | 8.4 | 11 |
2020 FV4 | 2023-Mar-13 | 17.6 LD | 8.2 | 30 |
2023 CM | 2023-Mar-14 | 10.3 LD | 14 | 190 |
2023 EW | 2023-Mar-15 | 14.2 LD | 4.1 | 22 |
2023 DM | 2023-Mar-15 | 8.5 LD | 7.3 | 65 |
2023 EY | 2023-Mar-17 | 0.6 LD | 8.1 | 18 |
2018 UQ1 | 2023-Mar-17 | 10.7 LD | 11.7 | 143 |
2023 EZ | 2023-Mar-18 | 16.3 LD | 6.6 | 19 |
2016 WH | 2023-Mar-19 | 18.1 LD | 11.8 | 14 |
2018 FE3 | 2023-Mar-21 | 10.1 LD | 5.4 | 13 |
2023 DX2 | 2023-Mar-27 | 8.5 LD | 9 | 56 |
2022 YK4 | 2023-Mar-29 | 11.9 LD | 2.3 | 25 |
2017 SE12 | 2023-Mar-30 | 5.2 LD | 8.4 | 15 |
2016 GH1 | 2023-Mar-30 | 7.7 LD | 5.8 | 11 |
2022 GO3 | 2023-Apr-02 | 17 LD | 11.6 | 15 |
2021 GN1 | 2023-Apr-02 | 17.7 LD | 14.2 | 18 |
2018 FD | 2023-Apr-07 | 17.9 LD | 8.2 | 47 |
2019 GK21 | 2023-Apr-13 | 15.2 LD | 8.1 | 27 |
2022 YK9 | 2023-Apr-13 | 19.9 LD | 9.9 | 175 |
436774 | 2023-Apr-13 | 12.5 LD | 17.6 | 719 |
2006 HV5 | 2023-Apr-26 | 6.3 LD | 17.4 | 400 |
2021 JF2 | 2023-Apr-28 | 16.6 LD | 8 | 19 |
2018 VS6 | 2023-May-01 | 5.2 LD | 11.6 | 14 |
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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