 | | | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation  Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3.00 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3.00 quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.75 nT
Bz: -3.64 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 1147 UT Coronal Holes: 24 May 23 
Solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on May 24-25. Credit: SDO/AIA  Noctilucent Clouds
Bad news: NASA's AIM spacecraft, which monitors noctilucent clouds, may be dead due to problems with an onboard battery. Mission controllers have not yet given up all hope, so stay tuned. Switch view:Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Polar Updated May24 SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2023 May 24 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 30 % | 40 % | CLASS X | 05 % | 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: 2023 May 24 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 35 % | 35 % | MINOR | 20 % | 15 % | SEVERE | 05 % | 01 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 20 % | 10 % | MINOR | 30 % | 30 % | SEVERE | 30 % | 50 % | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | Text created by ChatGPT and other Large Language Models is spreading rapidly across the Internet. It's well-written, artificial, frequently inaccurate. If you find a mistake on Spaceweather.com, rest assured it was made by a real human being. This is an AI Free Zone! | | | THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM? Giant sunspot AR3311 has been relatively calm for the past 48 hours. It might be the calm before the storm. The sunspot has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for strong X-class solar flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a 10% chance of an X-flare on May 24th. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text. A SOLAR STORM AND THE PLEIADES: Before the launch of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) in 1995, astronomers had never seen anything like this. Behold, a solar storm passing directly in front of the Pleiades: 
SOHO recorded this rare conjunction on May 21st. An erupting filament of magnetism near the sun's north pole propelled the CME into space just as the Seven Sisters were passing by. Electra, Taygete, Maia, Celaeno, Alcyone, Sterope, and Merope spent nearly three hours shining through the translucent solar storm. When SOHO left Earth almost 30 years ago, it carried the first realtime coronagraph into space. Coronagraphs are devices that create an artificial eclipse, blocking the glare of the sun to reveal nearby stars, planets, and comets. No telescope on Earth could see something as faint as the Pleiades only a few degrees from the sun, but SOHO does it all the time. Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter MULTIPLE FARSIDE SUNSPOTS: We can't see the farside of the sun, but we know what's happening there. The science of helioseismology allows researchers to make crude maps of the sun's hidden hemisphere. Their latest map reveals at least three large farside sunspots: 
The black blobs are sunspots so large they effect the way the whole sun vibrates. Indeed, these vibrations are the data used by helioseismologists to pintpoint the unseen spots. One of the sunspots will rotate onto the Earthside of the sun later this week. The other two will remain hidden for a week to 10 days; then they will appear as well. With these regions in the offing, the sunspot number should remain high for some time to come Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter MR. SPOCK SOAP (VULCAN MINT SCENTED): It's the logical way to get clean: Vulcan-mint scented Spock Soap. This bar touched space on April 29, 2023, when it hitched a ride onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon: 
You can have it for $99.95. Not only does the bar smell like the mint gardens of Vulcan, but also each side of the wrapper features hilarious Spock lore. Take a look. The students of Earth to Sky are selling space soap to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each bar comes with a greeting card showing the soap in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again. Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather 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 24, 2023, the network reported 3 fireballs.
(3 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 24, 2023 there were 2335 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | | 2023 KV | 2023-May-19 | 6.7 LD | 13.3 | 22 | | 2023 KD2 | 2023-May-20 | 14.7 LD | 9.7 | 38 | | 2023 KN2 | 2023-May-20 | 3.7 LD | 15.7 | 17 | | 2023 JL2 | 2023-May-20 | 15.6 LD | 9.4 | 41 | | 2023 HG11 | 2023-May-20 | 11.8 LD | 0.4 | 8 | | 2023 KS1 | 2023-May-20 | 7.9 LD | 10.6 | 34 | | 2023 JK | 2023-May-21 | 4.3 LD | 9.3 | 38 | | 2023 JD4 | 2023-May-21 | 8.1 LD | 10.3 | 37 | | 2021 JK7 | 2023-May-22 | 16.7 LD | 22.9 | 48 | | 2023 KQ | 2023-May-22 | 13.5 LD | 6.4 | 37 | | 2023 KC1 | 2023-May-22 | 2.2 LD | 12.8 | 17 | | 2023 JK3 | 2023-May-22 | 1.6 LD | 4.9 | 30 | | 2023 KS | 2023-May-22 | 0.6 LD | 18.2 | 11 | | 2023 GY2 | 2023-May-22 | 18.1 LD | 11.3 | 96 | | 2023 KN | 2023-May-22 | 2.4 LD | 22.1 | 14 | | 2023 JZ1 | 2023-May-22 | 10.7 LD | 13 | 38 | | 2023 KJ1 | 2023-May-23 | 1.5 LD | 11.6 | 11 | | 2023 KV1 | 2023-May-23 | 13.4 LD | 7.6 | 26 | | 2019 UJ3 | 2023-May-23 | 15.5 LD | 9.8 | 21 | | 2023 KX1 | 2023-May-23 | 1.3 LD | 5.1 | 6 | | 2023 JK1 | 2023-May-23 | 17.1 LD | 8.7 | 37 | | 2023 KZ1 | 2023-May-23 | 1 LD | 13.7 | 20 | | 2023 KE2 | 2023-May-23 | 16.5 LD | 14.5 | 29 | | 2023 KF1 | 2023-May-24 | 4.4 LD | 12 | 23 | | 2023 JC4 | 2023-May-24 | 17.7 LD | 4.2 | 30 | | 2023 CL3 | 2023-May-24 | 18.9 LD | 7.3 | 117 | | 2023 JP2 | 2023-May-25 | 11.5 LD | 20.5 | 88 | | 2023 KA2 | 2023-May-25 | 1.1 LD | 16 | 11 | | 2023 JR4 | 2023-May-25 | 4.1 LD | 9.4 | 16 | | 2023 KQ1 | 2023-May-25 | 14.2 LD | 18 | 32 | | 2023 KZ | 2023-May-26 | 8.9 LD | 4.4 | 13 | | 2023 KB2 | 2023-May-26 | 11.9 LD | 7.3 | 23 | | 2023 KX | 2023-May-26 | 16 LD | 15.9 | 30 | | 2023 KF | 2023-May-26 | 17.8 LD | 8 | 45 | | 2023 JE2 | 2023-May-27 | 19.7 LD | 11.4 | 35 | | 2023 KL1 | 2023-May-27 | 9.1 LD | 6.2 | 18 | | 2023 JZ3 | 2023-May-28 | 14.2 LD | 4.1 | 25 | | 2021 KO2 | 2023-May-29 | 15.8 LD | 13.9 | 9 | | 2023 JZ4 | 2023-May-29 | 6 LD | 16.1 | 32 | | 2023 KT1 | 2023-May-30 | 10 LD | 7.8 | 23 | | 2012 KP24 | 2023-May-31 | 10.3 LD | 12.4 | 19 | | 2023 JM1 | 2023-Jun-01 | 10.1 LD | 5.2 | 22 | | 2023 JE5 | 2023-Jun-04 | 17.6 LD | 8 | 35 | | 2023 JR2 | 2023-Jun-04 | 17 LD | 7.6 | 44 | | 2018 KR | 2023-Jun-07 | 6.5 LD | 4.9 | 19 | | 2017 UJ2 | 2023-Jun-07 | 5.3 LD | 5.6 | 2 | | 2023 JB3 | 2023-Jun-09 | 14.2 LD | 7 | 47 | | 488453 | 2023-Jun-12 | 8.3 LD | 21.5 | 495 | | 2022 WN4 | 2023-Jun-13 | 10.8 LD | 15.1 | 158 | | 2020 DB5 | 2023-Jun-15 | 11.3 LD | 9.5 | 506 | | 2023 HL | 2023-Jun-17 | 13.5 LD | 1 | 15 | | 2016 LK49 | 2023-Jun-19 | 17.4 LD | 19.4 | 22 | | 2023 HF1 | 2023-Jun-21 | 12.5 LD | 4.4 | 59 | | 467336 | 2023-Jun-24 | 17.4 LD | 7.1 | 269 | | 2008 LG2 | 2023-Jun-24 | 10.5 LD | 5.6 | 32 | | 2022 MM1 | 2023-Jun-29 | 9.5 LD | 9.8 | 41 | | 2020 NC | 2023-Jul-02 | 13.9 LD | 7.7 | 123 | | 2023 HO6 | 2023-Jul-05 | 5.3 LD | 7.8 | 238 | | 2019 LH5 | 2023-Jul-07 | 14.9 LD | 21.6 | 281 | | 2018 NW | 2023-Jul-10 | 18 LD | 21.8 | 10 | | 2018 UY | 2023-Jul-12 | 7.4 LD | 16.4 | 243 | | 2020 UQ3 | 2023-Jul-18 | 3.1 LD | 9.3 | 59 | | 2022 GX2 | 2023-Jul-20 | 11.9 LD | 9.4 | 5 | | 2020 OM | 2023-Jul-20 | 8.5 LD | 9.5 | 14 | 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 |  | Getting YouTube comments is essential if you want to beat the algorithm! That’s why you need to buy YouTube comments from RealSocialz.com because they offer real USA comments you can customize. | | BestCSGOGambling is the best site for everything related to CSGO gambling on the web | | | These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! | | | | | | | | |  | | |  | ©2021 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips. | |
