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THE FULL MOON: There's a full Moon tonight, and according to folklore it has a special name: The "Buck Moon." A better name this year might be "Fire Moon." Smoke from Canada is circling the globe, tinting moonrises with the color of wildfire. Look east at sunset for the Fire Moon rising. [photo gallery]
SUNSPOT COUNTS HIT A 21-YEAR HIGH: The sun is partying like it's 2002. That's the last time sunspot counts were as high as they are now. The monthly average sunspot number for June 2023 was 163, according to the Royal Observatory of Belgium's Solar Influences Data Analysis Center. This eclipses every month since Sept. 2022:
Above: This plot is based on NOAA's interactive Solar Cycle Progression. Check it out!
Solar Cycle 25 wasn't expected to be this strong. When it began in Dec. 2019, forecasters believed it would be a weak cycle akin to its immediate predecessor Solar Cycle 24. If that forecast had panned out, Solar Cycle 25 would be one of the weakest solar cycles in a century.
Instead, Solar Cycle 25 has shot past Solar Cycle 24 and may be on pace to rival some of the stronger cycles of the 20th century. The last time sunspot numbers were this high, the sun was on the verge of launching the Great Halloween Storms of 2003, which included the strongest X-ray solar flare ever recorded (X45), auroras as far south as Texas, and a CME so powerful it was ultimately detected by the Voyager spacecraft at the edge of the solar system.
Stay tuned. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
X-FLARE AND RADIO BLACKOUT (UPDATED): 'Tis the season for fireworks. On July 2nd (2314 UT), giant sunspot AR3354 exploded, producing a long duration X1-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:
Radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere. This caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over western parts of USA and the Pacific Ocean: map. Mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal and other propagation effects for 30+ minutes after the flare.
Although the explosion lasted long enough to lift a CME out of the sun's atmosphere, it did not. SOHO coronagraph images show no sign of a significant CME.
The genesis of this flare is interesting and possibly unusual. A 304 Å movie from SDO shows what happened:
The sunspot didn't explode on its own. It got help from a plume of plasma curling over the sun's limb. Hot magnetized gas landing on the sunspot seems to have triggered the blast. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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LASER-ETCHED MOON CUBE: Last week, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere. This unique laser-etched Moon cube went along for the ride, ascending to an altitude of 101,140 feet:
You can have it for $119.95. The students are selling these cubes as a fund-raiser for their cosmic ray ballooning program. It's an authentic representation of the Moon, with all of the craters, mountains and lava plains accurately portrayed.
The Moon-cube comes with a unique gift card showing the item floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that this gift has been to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
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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 03, 2023, the network reported 17 fireballs.
(17 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 July 3, 2023 there were 2335 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 |
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
| 2023 MG4 | 2023-Jun-28 | 12.5 LD | 12.4 | 35 |
| 2013 WV44 | 2023-Jun-28 | 9.1 LD | 11.8 | 95 |
| 2023 MH6 | 2023-Jun-29 | 1.7 LD | 10.7 | 32 |
| 2023 MN1 | 2023-Jun-29 | 9.5 LD | 15 | 36 |
| 2023 MR1 | 2023-Jun-29 | 6 LD | 12.1 | 61 |
| 2023 MX2 | 2023-Jun-29 | 1.2 LD | 4.3 | 8 |
| 2022 MM1 | 2023-Jun-29 | 9.8 LD | 9.7 | 41 |
| 2023 MZ5 | 2023-Jun-30 | 2.6 LD | 10.8 | 22 |
| 2023 LG2 | 2023-Jul-01 | 5.7 LD | 2.8 | 25 |
| 2023 MB6 | 2023-Jul-01 | 6.1 LD | 10.9 | 42 |
| 2023 MF6 | 2023-Jul-02 | 8.7 LD | 9.5 | 96 |
| 2020 NC | 2023-Jul-02 | 13.9 LD | 7.7 | 123 |
| 2023 MT1 | 2023-Jul-03 | 2.9 LD | 5.2 | 15 |
| 2023 HO6 | 2023-Jul-05 | 5.3 LD | 7.8 | 182 |
| 2023 ME4 | 2023-Jul-06 | 3 LD | 10.7 | 33 |
| 2023 LH2 | 2023-Jul-06 | 18.8 LD | 7.9 | 36 |
| 2019 LH5 | 2023-Jul-07 | 14.9 LD | 21.6 | 281 |
| 2018 NW | 2023-Jul-10 | 18 LD | 21.8 | 10 |
| 2023 LN1 | 2023-Jul-10 | 17.9 LD | 5.8 | 60 |
| 2023 MD2 | 2023-Jul-11 | 5.6 LD | 8.4 | 48 |
| 2023 MQ1 | 2023-Jul-11 | 10.7 LD | 6 | 49 |
| 2018 UY | 2023-Jul-12 | 7.4 LD | 16.4 | 243 |
| 2023 MG6 | 2023-Jul-16 | 9.5 LD | 12.4 | 278 |
| 2020 UQ3 | 2023-Jul-18 | 3.2 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 |
| 2023 MX5 | 2023-Jul-21 | 11.9 LD | 11.8 | 57 |
| 2023 MM3 | 2023-Jul-22 | 19.1 LD | 6.4 | 40 |
| 2015 MA54 | 2023-Jul-24 | 16.6 LD | 9.2 | 31 |
| 2018 BG5 | 2023-Jul-27 | 10.7 LD | 8.4 | 56 |
| 2020 PP1 | 2023-Jul-29 | 17 LD | 4.1 | 17 |
| 2021 BD3 | 2023-Jul-30 | 14 LD | 8.5 | 25 |
| 2016 AW65 | 2023-Jul-31 | 16.6 LD | 5.7 | 54 |
| 2020 PN1 | 2023-Aug-03 | 10.8 LD | 4.8 | 29 |
| 620082 | 2023-Aug-04 | 14 LD | 20.6 | 375 |
| 2004 KG1 | 2023-Aug-06 | 18.7 LD | 9.2 | 54 |
| 2022 BS2 | 2023-Aug-11 | 17.3 LD | 8.2 | 30 |
| 2022 CP1 | 2023-Aug-17 | 13.8 LD | 9.8 | 12 |
| 2011 QJ21 | 2023-Aug-19 | 13 LD | 15.1 | 45 |
| 6037 | 2023-Aug-23 | 15.9 LD | 14.3 | 563 |
| 2012 PZ17 | 2023-Aug-30 | 16.8 LD | 3.6 | 16 |
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 |
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