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Solar wind
speed: 461.6 km/sec
density: 1.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B5
2111 UT Jul16
24-hr: B5
2111 UT Jul16
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2300 UT
Daily Sun: 16 Jul 15
None of these sunspots has the type of unstable magnetic field that poses a threat for strong solar flares. Solar activity is very low. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 39
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 16 Jul 2015

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2015 total: 0 days (0%)

2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)

Updated 16 Jul 2015


The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 101 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 16 Jul 2015

Current Auroral Oval:
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: 3.8 nT
Bz: 0.8 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2347 UT
Coronal Holes: 16 Jul 15

There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
Noctilucent Clouds The northern season for NLCs is underway. NASA's AIM spacecraft spotted the first noctilucent clouds over the Arctic Circle on May 19th.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 07-16-2015 17:55:02
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2015 Jul 16 2200 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: 2015 Jul 16 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
20 %
20 %
SEVERE
20 %
20 %
 
Thursday, Jul. 16, 2015
What's up in space
 

Learn to photograph Northern Lights like a pro. Sign up for Peter Rosen's Aurora Photo Courses in Abisko National Park, winner of the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Award 2015.

 
Lapland tours

(ALMOST NO) CHANCE OF FLARES: Solar activity is very low. No sunspots are actively flaring and, as a result, the sun's X-ray output has flatlined. NOAA forecasters estimate a minuscule 1% chance of M- or X-class solar flares on July 16th. Solar flare alerts: text or voice.

NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS: A bright bank of noctilucent clouds (NLCs) drifted over Europe last night (July 16th). "It was an unexpected and display. I was very excited," reports Ruslan Merzlyakov of Nykøbing Mors, Denmark, who recorded the moment with a self-portrait:

"You could say it was a 'moooo-ving experience,'" he adds.

NLCs are Earth's highest clouds. Seeded by meteoroids, they float at the edge of space more than 80 km above the planet's surface. The clouds are very cold and filled with tiny ice crystals. When sunbeams hit those crystals, they glow electric-blue.

Noctilucent clouds first appeared in the 19th century after the eruption of super-volcano Krakatoa. At the time, people thought NLCs were caused by the eruption, but long after Krakatoa's ash settled, the clouds remained. In recent years, NLCs have intensified and spread with summer sightings as far south as Utah and Colorado. This could be a sign of increasing greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere.

Observing tips: Look west 30 to 60 minutes after sunset when the Sun has dipped 6o to 16o below the horizon. If you see luminous blue-white tendrils spreading across the sky, you may have spotted a noctilucent cloud.

Realtime NLC Photo Gallery

THE MYSTERIOUS MOUNTAINS OF PLUTO: New Horizons is starting to beam back some of the high-resolution photos it took during Tuesday's breakneck flyby of Pluto. One of the first images shows a mountain range with peaks jutting as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body:

Spaceweather.com reader Philip Smith of Manorville, NY, has created an effective 3D representation of Pluto's mountains. Just cross your eyes slightly and they will practically leap out of your screen. Try it.

The mountains likely formed no more than 100 million years ago -- mere youngsters in a 4.56-billion-year-old solar system. This suggests Pluto may still be geologically active today.

"This is one of the youngest surfaces we've ever seen in the solar system," says Jeff Moore of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI) at NASA's Ames Research Center.

Unlike the icy moons of giant planets such as Jupiter and Saturn, Pluto cannot be heated by gravitational interactions with a much larger planetary body. Some other process must be generating its mountainous landscape.

"This may cause us to rethink what powers geological activity on many other icy worlds," says GGI deputy team leader John Spencer at SwRI.

This is just the beginning. It will take New Horizons as much as 9 months to transmit all the data it took during the flyby back to Earth. Stay tuned for more surprises.

Realtime Pluto Photo Gallery

SWx FORECAST VIDEO: Harvard undergraduate Matthew Cappucci has created another forecast video for readers of spaceweather.com. Check it out!

TRANSCONTINENTAL SPACE WEATHER BALLOON LAUNCH: On Monday, July 20th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus, in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire, will conduct the first-ever transcontinental launch of Space Weather Balloons. The group will be split in two, half in New Hampshire and half in California, and release balloons simultaneously 2947 miles apart. The purpose of the experiment is to discover how Earth's atmosphere responds to solar activity on continental scales.

The payload of each balloon will be equipped with an array of cosmic ray sensors capable of measuring measure neutrons, X-rays and gamma-rays at altitudes as high as 120,000 ft.

Regular readers know that we have been launching "radiation balloons" for nearly two years. In the past 6 months alone, the program has detected three disturbances in the stratosphere caused by CMEs and geomagnetic storms. So far the measurements have been localized to California and Nevada. The July 20th experiment is a step toward expanding our program across North America.

CROWD-FUNDED RESEARCH: The California half of the Transcontinental Launch is possible thanks to a $500 donation from the Alberta Aurora Chasers. To say "thanks", we flew their logo 111,400 feet above Earth's surface:

Update: White Mountain Science, Inc. has just agreed to sponsor the New Hampshire half of the Transcontinental Launch. Readers, if you would like to join them in supporting this crowd-funded research, and see your logo or favorite photo at the edge of space, please contact Dr. Tony Phillips to make arrangements.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery


Realtime Sprite Photo Gallery


  All Sky Fireball Network

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 Jul. 16, 2015, the network reported 69 fireballs.
(69 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]

  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 July 16, 2015 there were potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Size
2015 NR2
Jul 9
10.7 LD
28 m
1994 AW1
Jul 15
25.3 LD
1.3 km
2011 UW158
Jul 19
6.4 LD
540 m
2013 BQ18
Jul 20
7.9 LD
38 m
1999 JD6
Jul 25
18.8 LD
1.6 km
2005 NZ6
Aug 6
76.5 LD
1.4 km
2005 JF21
Aug 16
20.1 LD
1.6 km
2004 BO41
Aug 31
57.3 LD
1.2 km
1991 CS
Sep 4
62.1 LD
1.4 km
2014 KS76
Sep 14
8.7 LD
22 m
2004 TR12
Sep 15
58.8 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.
  Essential web 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 Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather
Columbia Northern High School
  Web-based high school science course with free enrollment
  more links...
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