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SUBSIDING STORM: The geomagnetic storm of July 14th through 16th is subsiding. Solar wind conditions are trending toward quiet, and Earth's magnetic field is responding by settling down. The remarkable 36-hour event was triggered by a CME impact on July 14th around 11 am PDT (1800 UT).
When the CME first arrived on July 14th, its effect appeared weak. However, conditions in the wake of the CME soon become stormy. On July 14-16 Northern Lights appeared in the United States as far south as Oregon, California, Colorado, Missouri, Utah, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, South Dakota, Nebraska, Michigan and Arkansas. Travis Novitsky sends this picture from Grand Portage, Minnesota:
"Anticipating the CME's arrival on Saturday, I planned an Aurora Party with my girlfriend and a couple of friends," says Novitsky. "Just after midnight the sky erupted and suddenly we were surrounded by the shimmering, dancing lights. The intense activity continued through the rest of the night until the first light of dawn started to creep into the sky. Certainly one of the most amazing aurora nights I've ever witnessed in northern Minnesota!" Aurora alerts: text, voice.
Meanwhile in the southern hemisphere, the aurora australis has been sighted in New Zealand, Tasmania, and directly above the South Pole itself. Visit our aurora gallery for a complete set of images:
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
THE SOURCE OF THE DISPLAY: Big sunspot AR1520, the source of the X-flare that instigated this weekend's auroras, can attract observers even without exploding. During a quiet moment yesterday in France, it showed itself at sunset:
Photographer VegaStar Carpentier took the picture on July 15th overlooking an island near the Coast of Marseilles.
The behemoth sunspot has a beta-gamma-delta magnetic field that harbors energy for more X-class solar flares. The odds of a geoeffective eruption are decreasing, however, as the sunspot turns toward Earth. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of M-flares and a 15% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.
Realtime Sunspot Photo Gallery
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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 July 16, 2012 there were 1320 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Mag. | Size |
2003 KU2 | Jul 15 | 40.2 LD | -- | 1.3 km |
2004 EW9 | Jul 16 | 46.8 LD | -- | 2.1 km |
2002 AM31 | Jul 22 | 13.7 LD | -- | 1.0 km |
37655 Illapa | Aug 12 | 37 LD | -- | 1.2 km |
2000 ET70 | Aug 21 | 58.5 LD | -- | 1.1 km |
1998 TU3 | Aug 25 | 49.2 LD | -- | 4.9 km |
2009 AV | Aug 26 | 62.8 LD | -- | 1.1 km |
1998 UO1 | Oct 4 | 60.1 LD | -- | 2.1 km |
2005 GQ21 | Oct 12 | 77 LD | -- | 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. | The official U.S. government space weather bureau |
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