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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
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SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 305.9 km/sec
density: 2.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Oct14
24-hr: A0
0330 UT Oct14
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Daily Sun: 14 Oct. 09
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Photo credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 13 Oct 2009

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 12 days
2009 total: 224 days (79%)
Since 2004: 735 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days
explanation | more info
Updated 13 Oct 2009

Far side of the Sun:
This holographic image reveals no sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.3 nT
Bz: 0.3 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes:
A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on or about Oct. 15th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2009 Oct 14 2201 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
01 %
01 %
CLASS X
01 %
01 %
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2009 Oct 14 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
What's up in Space
October 14, 2009

AURORA ALERT: Did you miss the Northern Lights? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.

 

DEEP QUIET: Today, the sun is entering its 13th consecutive day without sunspots. Just a few years ago, such a stretch of blank suns would have been unthinkable. Now it's routine. So far this year, the sun has been spotless 79% of the time, topping the 73% mark recorded in 2008. Long after many forecasters thought solar minimum would be finished, the quiet is not only continuing, but actually deepening. Are sunspots gone for good? Researchers discuss the question in an article from Science@NASA.

NETHERLANDS FIREBALL: A fireball as bright as the full Moon startled observers in the Netherlands yesterday when it raced across the evening twilight sky. A lucky shot by photographer Jan de Vries at approximately 1658 UT caught the meteor in mid-flight:

"It was spectacular," says eyewitness Dominic Doyle of the European Space Agency in Noordwijk. "I estimate its magnitude to be about -12," adds amateur astronomer Koen Miskotte, who saw it from the small village of Ermelo. Various observers report it breaking apart into as many as a half-dozen pieces, followed by sonic booms, low rumbles and shaking windows. A Royal Dutch Meteorology Institute listening post detected strong infrasound (low-frequency sound) waves, apparently confirming a high-altitude breakup event: data.

more images: from Robert Mikaelyan of Groningen, The Netherlands

NORTHERN LIGHTS: A minor solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field on Oct. 11th, sparking green auroras around the Arctic Circle. Aleksander Chernucho photographed the display from Russia's Kola Peninsula not far from the border of Finland:

"I used a Nikon D700 for this 10 second exposure," he says.

More auroras could appear on Oct. 15th when another solar wind stream is expected to reach Earth. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for green lights in the sky.

more images: from M-P Markkanen of Kuusamo, Finland


Sept. 2009 Aurora Gallery
[previous Septembers: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001]


Explore the Sunspot Cycle

       
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 October 14, 2009 there were 1074 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Oct. 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2001 CV26
Oct. 8
9.8 LD
13
2.2 km
2009 TJ
Oct. 13
10.8 LD
18
130 m
1999 AP10
Oct. 20
29.7 LD
13
2.7 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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