| | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 2 quiet 24-hr max: Kp= 3 quiet explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 5.83 nT Bz: 2.63 nT north more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 1146 UT Coronal Holes: 16 May 22 Earth is inside a stream of solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: SDO/AIA Noctilucent Clouds NASA's AIM spacecraft has started monitoring the north pole for signs of noctilucent clouds. The first NLCs of the season are expected to appear in mid-May. Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar Updated May16 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2022 May 16 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 45 % | 45 % | CLASS X | 15 % | 15 % | Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm Updated at: 2022 May 16 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 20 % | 15 % | MINOR | 05 % | 01 % | SEVERE | 01 % | 01 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 20 % | 15 % | MINOR | 30 % | 20 % | SEVERE | 25 % | 20 % | | | | | | | | | | | | Never miss another geomagnetic storm. Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and you'll receive a text message when magnetic storms erupt. Aurora your guides and professional astronomers use this service. You can, too! | | | M-FLARES FROM THE NORTHEASTERN LIMB: Sprawling sunspot complex AR3014-15 is crackling with M-class solar flares. The latest, an M2-class explosion on May 16th (1327 UT), caused a minor shortwave radio blackout over the mid-Atlantic Ocean: map. The region is growing in size and complexity as it turns toward Earth, which means stronger flares are possible in the days ahead. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE MOON: Last night, the full Moon passed through the shadow of Earth, producing a total lunar eclipse. "It was really dark," says Robbie Merrill, who photographed totality from Columbia, Missouri: "The deep shade of red was amazing!" adds Merrill, whose 3-second exposure captured many faint stars around the shadowed Moon. Many observers remarked on the darkness of totality. "This was the darkest total lunar eclipse in recent memory--about as dark as the 1993 total," says Chris Cook, of Duxbury, Massachusetts. Stars which would normally be invisible popped into view: Roberto Bartali of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, saw SAO159330 (magnitude +5.5) almost touching the Moon. The darkness is probably a sign of volcanic ash. Earlier this year, an undersea volcano erupted near Tonga, hurling 400 million kilograms of ash and fumes deep into the stratosphere. During a lunar eclipse, most of the light illuminating the Moon passes through Earth's stratosphere where it is reddened by scattering. Lingering exhaust from Tonga almost certainly made this eclipse darker and redder than usual. Light levels were so low, Francisco A. Rodriguez was able to photograph the Milky Way during the eclipse from the Canary Islands: "The view was spectacular," says Rodriguez, whose exposure also captured faint bands of green airglow. Airglow is a dim upper atmospheric phenomenon usually reserved for nights when the Moon is New. It was dark, indeed. Realtime Lunar Eclipse Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter MR. SPOCK IN THE STRATOSPHERE (COLLECTOR'S ITEM): He's back by popular demand: Mr. Spock Bobblehead. On Dec. 12, 2021, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew the green-blooded science officer to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. At the apex of the flight he was 107,341 ft high: You can have it for $170.10 (the serial number of the Enterprise divided by 10). The bobblehead is made of high-quality resin and hand-painted. It cannot be purchased from Amazon; this rare collector's item is available only from the Earth to Sky Store. The students are selling Mr. Spock bobbleheads to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing Spock in flight and telling the story of his journey to the edge of space and back. Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store All sales support hands-on STEM education Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter 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 May 15, 2022, the network reported 16 fireballs. (16 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 May 16, 2022 there were 2280 potentially hazardous asteroids. | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | 2019 JE | 2022-May-11 | 4.9 LD | 7.2 | 21 | 2022 JT1 | 2022-May-11 | 18.3 LD | 21.2 | 53 | 2022 JB1 | 2022-May-11 | 12.7 LD | 12.1 | 44 | 2022 JQ | 2022-May-11 | 8.6 LD | 25.1 | 45 | 2022 JV1 | 2022-May-12 | 2.1 LD | 6.5 | 11 | 2022 JR | 2022-May-12 | 7.4 LD | 9.4 | 22 | 2022 JP1 | 2022-May-13 | 2.6 LD | 22.6 | 41 | 2022 JO | 2022-May-15 | 8.8 LD | 7.7 | 25 | 2022 JU | 2022-May-15 | 19.9 LD | 6 | 26 | 2012 UX68 | 2022-May-15 | 2.8 LD | 8.2 | 54 | 388945 | 2022-May-15 | 15 LD | 8.2 | 293 | 2022 JC1 | 2022-May-16 | 6.4 LD | 10 | 31 | 2013 UX | 2022-May-17 | 16.8 LD | 16.3 | 141 | 2021 WY | 2022-May-18 | 16.9 LD | 9 | 65 | 2022 JQ1 | 2022-May-19 | 11.5 LD | 4.9 | 23 | 2022 HD1 | 2022-May-20 | 15.3 LD | 6.8 | 60 | 7335 | 2022-May-27 | 10.5 LD | 13.1 | 1078 | 2022 JU1 | 2022-May-27 | 15.1 LD | 6.1 | 37 | 2022 JY | 2022-May-28 | 15.1 LD | 10.9 | 67 | 2021 KO2 | 2022-May-30 | 3.1 LD | 14.8 | 9 | 2022 HT2 | 2022-May-30 | 11.9 LD | 15.7 | 224 | 2020 DA4 | 2022-Jun-01 | 5.5 LD | 8.9 | 26 | 2021 GT2 | 2022-Jun-06 | 9.5 LD | 7.5 | 50 | 2018 LU2 | 2022-Jun-09 | 14.8 LD | 10.7 | 16 | 2006 XW4 | 2022-Jun-12 | 5.9 LD | 7.3 | 49 | 2022 GU6 | 2022-Jun-12 | 3.2 LD | 8.4 | 88 | 2015 WP2 | 2022-Jun-26 | 18.5 LD | 11.4 | 3 | 2022 JE1 | 2022-Jul-03 | 8.5 LD | 5.6 | 71 | 2021 EL4 | 2022-Jul-05 | 19.8 LD | 9.5 | 25 | 2015 OQ21 | 2022-Jul-12 | 18.3 LD | 6.6 | 9 | 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. | 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 (Nov. 2021): Our balloons have just measured a sudden drop in atmospheric radiation. It happened during the strong geomagnetic storms of Nov. 3-4, 2021. Here are the data: This is called a "Forbush decrease," named after American physicist Scott Forbush who studied cosmic rays in the early 20th century. It happens when a CME from the sun sweeps past Earth and literally pushes cosmic rays away from our planet. Radiation from deep space that would normally pepper Earth's upper atmosphere is briefly wiped out. We have measured Forbush decreases before. For example, here's one from Sept. 2014. The Forbush Decrease of Nov. 3-4, 2021, was the deepest in the history of our 7-year atmospheric monitoring program. Radiation levels in the stratosphere over California dropped nearly 20%, more than doubling the previous record from our dataset. En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes, so we can sample radiation where planes fly. This plot shows how the Forbush decrease was restricted to the stratosphere; it did not affect lower levels of the atmosphere: The dose rates shown above are expressed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. The higher you fly, the more radiation you will absorb. .Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. They can seed clouds, 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. Somewhat more controversial studies (#1, #2, #3, #4) link 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 first graph ("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 | | 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 | | Going above and beyond to provide the best homes listings in the Comox real estate market to keep you up to date and informed | | BestCSGOGambling is the best site for everything related to CSGO gambling on the web | | To find reviews of new online casino sites in the UK try The Casino DB where there are hundreds of online casino reviews complete with bonuses and ratings. 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