|   SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions
Solar Wind
velocity: 294.0 km/s
density:5.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C2 2230 UT Jun17
24-hr: C2 2250 UT Jun16
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT
Daily Sun: 17 Jun '01 
Active regions 9503 and 9506 have twisted magnetic fields that harbor energy for M-class solar flares. AR 9502 is also a potential source of strong flares; it unleashed three M-class explosions last week. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
The Far Side of the Sun
This holographic image reveals one mid-sized spot group on the far side of the Sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot Number: 276
More about sunspots
Updated: 16 Jun 2001
Radio Meteor Rate
24 hr max: 57 per hr
Listen to the Meteor Radar!
Updated: 17 Jun 2001 Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.4 nT
Bz: 0.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT Coronal Holes:
There are no substantial Earth-facing coronal holes on the Sun today. Image credit: Yohkoh Soft X-ray Telescope.
More about coronal holes
 SPACE WEATHER
NOAA
Forecasts
Solar Flares: Probabilities for a medium-sized (M-class) or a major (X-class) solar flare during the next 24/48 hours are tabulated below.
Updated at 2001 Jun 17 2200 UT
| FLARE | 24 hr | 48 hr | | CLASS M | 60 % | 60 % | | CLASS X | 10 % | 10 % |
Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at 2001 Jun 17 2200 UT Mid-latitudes | 24 hr | 48 hr | | ACTIVE | 35 % | 25 % | | MINOR | 15 % | 15 % | | SEVERE | 10 % | 05 % |
High latitudes | 24 hr | 48 hr | | ACTIVE | 35 % | 30 % | | MINOR | 25 % | 20 % | | SEVERE | 15 % | 10 % |
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| What's Up in Space -- 17 Jun 2001
Subscribe to Space Weather News! SUNSPOT WATCH: An impressive cluster of sunspots has rotated into view over the Sun's east limb. Two of them, 9503 and 9506, have twisted beta-bamma magnetic fields that could unleash strong M-class solar flares in the days ahead. BURSTING COMET: Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR), which crumbled and brightened as it neared the Sun on May 24, 2001, is flaring once again as it heads for a late-June close encounter with Earth. Glowing at visual magnitude 3.3, the comet's fuzzy head is visible to the unaided eye and its tail is a lovely sight through binoculars, say observers. Sky watchers south of the equator can spot comet LINEAR easily in the eastern sky between 4am local time and sunrise [finder chart]. 
Above: Australia's Gordon Garradd captured this view of the comet's tail stretching 1.5 degrees on May 18, 2001.
(Copyright 2001, G. Garradd) Although this comet is too far south for many of our readers to enjoy now, it will make an appearance in northern skies later this month. By June 30th (the date of the comet's closest approach to our planet at 0.24 AU) it will lie ~30 deg. above the eastern horizon before dawn as seen from mid-northern latitudes. How bright will the crumbling comet become? Watch it and see! [3D orbit][ephemeris]  SUN EXPLOSIONS: A spectacular coronal mass ejection (CME, pictured right) erupted near the Sun's western limb on Friday. Although the expanding cloud does not appear to be heading directly for Earth, the CME's "bow shock," generated as it plows through the interplanetary medium, could strike our planet's magnetosphere Sunday and trigger geomagnetic activity. Another less impressive CME billowed away from the vicinity of sunspot group 9502 early Friday. Our planet's magnetic field might experience a glancing blow from that cloud as well.
RADIATION STORM: A shock front preceding Friday's coronal mass ejection accelerated a large number of subatomic particles toward Earth. During the hours after the eruption the flux of 10 MeV solar protons surrounding our planet soared to approximately 100 times normal. Such radiation levels, while high, pose no appreciable hazard to air travelers, astronauts or satellites.  THE BIGGEST EXPLOSIONS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM: NASA's HESSI spacecraft aims to unravel an explosive mystery: the origin of solar flares. [full story] WEB LINKS: NOAA FORECAST | GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL | LESSON PLANS | BECOME A SUBSCRIBER | 
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 are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time. [more]
On 17 Jun 2001 there were 310 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids May-June 2001 Earth-asteroid encounters | ASTEROID | DATE (UT) | MISS DISTANCE | | 2001 FE90 | 2001-May-06 23:37 | 49.7 LD | | 1999 KW4 | 2001-May-25 23:31 | 12.6 LD | | 2001 JV1 | 2001-Jun-06 07:53 | 18.0 LD | Note: LD is a "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. 
- TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE: On Jan. 9, 2001, the full Moon glided through Earth's copper-colored shadow. [gallery]
- CHRISTMAS ECLIPSE: Sky watchers across North America enjoyed a partial solar eclipse on Christmas Day 2000 [gallery]
- LEONIDS 2000: Observers around the globe enjoyed three predicted episodes of shooting stars. [gallery]
 Feb. 21, 2001: Nature's Tiniest Space Junk -- Using an experimental radar at the Marshall Space Flight Center, scientists are monitoring tiny but hazardous meteoroids that swarm around our planet. Feb. 15, 2001: The Sun Does a Flip -- NASA scientists who monitor the Sun say our star's enormous magnetic field is reversing -- a sure sign that solar maximum is here. Jan. 25, 2001: Earth's Invisible Magnetic Tail -- NASA's IMAGE spacecraft, the first to enjoy a global view of the magnetosphere, spotted a curious plasma tail pointing from Earth toward the Sun. Jan. 4, 2001: Earth at Perihelion -- On January 4, 2001, our planet made its annual closest approach to the Sun. Dec. 29, 2000: Millennium Meteors -- North Americans will have a front-row seat for a brief but powerful meteor shower on January 3, 2001. Dec. 28, 2000: Galileo Looks for Auroras on Ganymede -- NASA's durable Galileo spacecraft flew above the solar system's largest moon this morning in search of extraterrestrial "Northern Lights" Dec. 22, 2000: Watching the Angry Sun -- Solar physicists are enjoying their best-ever look at a Solar Maximum thanks to NOAA and NASA satellites. MORE SPACE WEATHER HEADLINES |
