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LONG-RANGE FORECAST: A fast-moving stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field on Nov. 19th or 20th. It is flowing from a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras at the end of this week. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
ELLERMAN BOMBS: Sunspot AR3140 is crackling--not with flares, but with Ellerman Bombs. Sylvain Weiller photographed the phenomenon today from Jerusalem, Israel:
A sampling of the bombs are circled for reference. Weiller caught more than a dozen explosions underway in sunpot AR3140 (left) and a few in sunspot AR3141 (right). All this action took place during a brief 30 second exposure.
Ellerman bombs are magnetic explosions about one-millionth as powerful as true solar flares. They are named after physicist Ferdinand Ellerman who studied the tiny blasts in the early 20th century. Of course, "tiny" is relative. A single Ellerman bomb releases about 1026 ergs of energy--equal to about 100,000 World War II atomic bombs.
Explosions like these are a sign of magnetic complexity in a sunspot. Opposite polarities bump together, reconnect, and--boom. A full-fledged flare may not be far behind. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
more images: from Michael Karrer of Austria
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BLUEWALKER 3 UPDATE: The CEO of AST SpaceMobile, Abel Avellan, confirmed in a Tweet this morning that BlueWalker 3 has successfully unfurled its huge antenna. Here are two selfies of the array in orbit alongside members of the mission team:
"The array has been fully deployed," he says.
BlueWalker 3 is a revolutionary communications satellite designed to provide cell phone service from space. To detect weak cell phone signals from Earth's surface it needs a very large antenna. BlueWalker 3's is about the size of a squash court.
Astronomers have been anticipating and dreading the deployment for months. Some analysts believed that BlueWalker 3 might become one of the brightest objects in the night sky, outshining everything except the Moon. The broad array could reflect blinding beams of sunlight into telescopes on the ground below.
Initial observations suggest that BlueWalker 3 is indeed bright--although far from the worst case scenario. Paul Maley of Carefree, Arizona, has seen it four mornings in a row. "It has been about as bright as a 1st magnitude star," he says.
BlueWalker 3 passing by the bright star Procyon (m=+0.4) on Nov. 14th. Credit: Paul Maley
If the peak brightness is truly 1st magnitude,then BlueWalker 3 would be no worse than, say, China's Tiangong space station or the ISS, which pass through the night sky all the time. Astronomy is saved.
It may be too soon to relax, though. While this is only a single satellite for now, Bluewalker's maker AST SpaceMobile plans to launch more than 100 larger satellites called BlueBirds. These satellites could be more than twice the size of BlueWalker 3 and much brighter. Flocks of Bluebirds could ruin a lot of astronomical observations.
You can help monitor BlueWalker 3. Morning and evening flybys are currently happening over the USA. Check Heavens Above for local flyby times and let us know what you see.
more images: from Gary Dowdle of Fort Davis, Texas; from Wayne Wooten of Pensacola, Florida
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"I LOVE YOU MORE" OPAL: Nothing says "I love you" like jewelry from space. This sterling silver opal pendant just hitched a ride to the stratosphere on an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon. At the apex of the flight it floated 101,326 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $142.95. The opal's infinity wrap is engraved with "I Love You More." It's the perfect birthday, anniversary or (never too early!) Christmas gift for that special someone who loves space. Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back.
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 14, 2022, the network reported 10 fireballs.
(7 sporadics, 2 Leonids, 1 northern Taurid)
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 14, 2022 there were 2314 potentially hazardous asteroids.
|
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
2022 UV20 | 2022-Nov-09 | 7.7 LD | 8.4 | 21 |
2022 VT1 | 2022-Nov-10 | 16.5 LD | 9.1 | 27 |
2019 XS | 2022-Nov-10 | 16.7 LD | 11.9 | 60 |
2022 VN1 | 2022-Nov-10 | 2.7 LD | 11.9 | 33 |
2022 VM1 | 2022-Nov-11 | 6 LD | 13.9 | 18 |
2022 VZ1 | 2022-Nov-11 | 14.1 LD | 15.1 | 70 |
2022 VP | 2022-Nov-11 | 8.1 LD | 5.1 | 19 |
2022 VO1 | 2022-Nov-11 | 3.5 LD | 6 | 14 |
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 VL1 | 2022-Nov-13 | 1.2 LD | 8.7 | 15 |
2022 UH16 | 2022-Nov-14 | 14.8 LD | 9.8 | 22 |
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 | 11 LD | 11.5 | 31 |
2018 WH | 2022-Nov-16 | 2.5 LD | 7.7 | 4 |
2022 US14 | 2022-Nov-18 | 8.5 LD | 8.3 | 41 |
2022 VU1 | 2022-Nov-20 | 7 LD | 7.1 | 19 |
2022 VR1 | 2022-Nov-20 | 4 LD | 5.7 | 38 |
2022 VX | 2022-Nov-20 | 11.2 LD | 5.9 | 14 |
2019 OR1 | 2022-Nov-21 | 18.1 LD | 13.4 | 246 |
2022 VS1 | 2022-Nov-22 | 6.5 LD | 7.7 | 23 |
2005 LW3 | 2022-Nov-23 | 3 LD | 13.5 | 168 |
2022 VQ | 2022-Nov-27 | 7.6 LD | 8.2 | 23 |
2022 VB2 | 2022-Nov-29 | 9 LD | 8.5 | 34 |
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 |
2022 VP1 | 2022-Dec-05 | 17.3 LD | 7.1 | 56 |
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 | 152 |
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 | 127 |
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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