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X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: "Mixed-up" sunspot AR3006 (described below) exploded on May 10th (1355 UT), producing an intense X1.5-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:
Radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout around the Atlantic Ocean: blackout map. Radio transmissions at frequencies below ~30 MHz were attenuated for more than an hour after the flare.
Since the flare occurred, a mish-mash of CMEs has billowed away from the sun's southern hemisphere. It is unclear if these CMEs are related to the X-flare or instead some other, lesser explosions that happened at almost the same time. There was a filament eruption to the right of the X-flare, and a C4-class solar flare in a different sunspot to the left. NOAA analysts are busy unraveling these events using computer models to determine if one of the CMEs might hit Earth. Stay tuned. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
A MIXED-UP SUNSPOT: Sunspot AR3006 is having an identity crisis. It is supposed to have a +/- magnetic field. Mostly it does. But deep inside the sunspot's primary core, the polarity is opposite: -/+. Note the circled region in this magnetic map of the sunspot from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:
The mixture of magnetic polarities makes this sunspot interesting and dangerous. When opposite polarities bump together, it can light the fuse of magnetic reconnection--the explosive power source of solar flares. If AR3006 flares today, it will be geoeffective. The sunspot is directly facing Earth.
Update: The sunspot *did* flare today. An X1.5 class explosion on May 10th (1355 UT) caused a radio backout over the Atlantic Ocean and may have hurled a complicated CME toward Earth. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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'NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS' OVER FLORIDA: Only a few years ago, the best place on Earth to see noctilucent clouds (NLCs) was near the Arctic Circle. Now it's Florida. Michael Holland Sr. photographed this one on May 6th from Lakeland, FL:
The electric-blue cloud formed in the wake of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which had just launched from Cape Canaveral carrying 53 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. Ice crystals in the rocket's exhaust caught rays of sunlight in the upper atmosphere, creating the display.
"The noctilucent cloud was simply gorgeous," says Holland.
Years ago, when researchers said "noctilucent cloud," they meant an icy cloud made of meteoroids and water vapor in the polar mesosphere. Only rarely would such natural NLCs spread to low latitudes. Now the term is being used to describe rocket exhaust. Icy "rocket clouds" look a lot like their natural cousins, and they are increasingly common at low latitudes. Already this year SpaceX has launched fourteen Falcon 9 rockets from Cape Canaveral with many more on the schedule.
more images: from Jeff Berkes in Dry Tortugas National Park / Florida Keys; from Dr. Gilbert Plumer of Rockledge, Florida; from Brent of Orlando, Florida; from Martin Wise of Trenton, Florida
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STERLING SILVER DOLPHIN PENDANT: On Feb. 28, 2022, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray research balloon. This sterling silver dolphin hitched a ride, flying 111,101 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California:
You can have it for $142.95. Leaping through blue crystal waves, the playful cetacean is 100% 925 sterling silver. It comes with a matching 18-inch sterling silver chain The entire pendant is lead-free, nickel-free, cadmium-free, and totally hypoallergenic.
Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the dolphin in flight, and telling the story of its trip to the edge of space and back again. All sales support the student's cosmic ray research program.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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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 May 10, 2022, the network reported 16 fireballs.
(8 sporadics, 6 eta Aquariids, 2 eta Lyrids)
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 10, 2022 there were 2278 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 |
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
| 2022 HL2 | 2022-May-05 | 7.7 LD | 7 | 21 |
| 2022 JP | 2022-May-05 | 19.6 LD | 9.3 | 73 |
| 2022 JV | 2022-May-05 | 0.8 LD | 9.7 | 4 |
| 2022 JJ | 2022-May-05 | 4.2 LD | 19.2 | 16 |
| 2022 HA4 | 2022-May-07 | 11.1 LD | 13 | 32 |
| 2022 JR1 | 2022-May-07 | 1 LD | 19.8 | 12 |
| 2022 JC | 2022-May-08 | 6.9 LD | 6.2 | 32 |
| 2022 HF1 | 2022-May-08 | 8.8 LD | 17.1 | 59 |
| 2022 HL3 | 2022-May-08 | 11.7 LD | 11.7 | 52 |
| 467460 | 2022-May-09 | 14.9 LD | 11.3 | 499 |
| 2022 JM | 2022-May-09 | 1 LD | 4.9 | 6 |
| 2022 JD1 | 2022-May-10 | 3.6 LD | 11 | 16 |
| 2022 JO1 | 2022-May-10 | 0.2 LD | 13.9 | 13 |
| 2019 JE | 2022-May-11 | 4.9 LD | 7.2 | 21 |
| 2022 JB1 | 2022-May-11 | 12.7 LD | 12.1 | 45 |
| 2022 JQ | 2022-May-11 | 8.6 LD | 25.1 | 45 |
| 2022 JR | 2022-May-12 | 7.4 LD | 9.4 | 22 |
| 2022 JP1 | 2022-May-13 | 2.6 LD | 22.6 | 41 |
| 2022 JO | 2022-May-15 | 8.8 LD | 7.7 | 25 |
| 2022 JU | 2022-May-15 | 19.9 LD | 6 | 26 |
| 2012 UX68 | 2022-May-15 | 2.8 LD | 8.2 | 54 |
| 388945 | 2022-May-15 | 15 LD | 8.2 | 293 |
| 2022 JC1 | 2022-May-16 | 6.4 LD | 10 | 32 |
| 2013 UX | 2022-May-17 | 16.8 LD | 16.3 | 141 |
| 2021 WY | 2022-May-18 | 16.9 LD | 9 | 65 |
| 2022 JQ1 | 2022-May-19 | 11.5 LD | 4.9 | 23 |
| 2022 HD1 | 2022-May-20 | 15.3 LD | 6.8 | 60 |
| 7335 | 2022-May-27 | 10.5 LD | 13.1 | 1078 |
| 2022 JY | 2022-May-28 | 15.2 LD | 11 | 68 |
| 2021 KO2 | 2022-May-30 | 3.1 LD | 14.8 | 9 |
| 2022 HT2 | 2022-May-30 | 11.9 LD | 15.7 | 224 |
| 2020 DA4 | 2022-Jun-01 | 5.5 LD | 8.9 | 26 |
| 2021 GT2 | 2022-Jun-06 | 9.5 LD | 7.5 | 50 |
| 2018 LU2 | 2022-Jun-09 | 14.8 LD | 10.7 | 16 |
| 2006 XW4 | 2022-Jun-12 | 5.9 LD | 7.3 | 49 |
| 2022 GU6 | 2022-Jun-12 | 3.2 LD | 8.4 | 88 |
| 2015 WP2 | 2022-Jun-26 | 18.5 LD | 11.4 | 3 |
| 2021 EL4 | 2022-Jul-05 | 19.8 LD | 9.5 | 25 |
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. | | 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 (Nov. 2021): Our balloons have just measured a sudden drop in atmospheric radiation. It happened during the strong geomagnetic storms of Nov. 3-4, 2021. Here are the data:
This is called a "Forbush decrease," named after American physicist Scott Forbush who studied cosmic rays in the early 20th century. It happens when a CME from the sun sweeps past Earth and literally pushes cosmic rays away from our planet. Radiation from deep space that would normally pepper Earth's upper atmosphere is briefly wiped out.
We have measured Forbush decreases before. For example, here's one from Sept. 2014. The Forbush Decrease of Nov. 3-4, 2021, was the deepest in the history of our 7-year atmospheric monitoring program. Radiation levels in the stratosphere over California dropped nearly 20%, more than doubling the previous record from our dataset.
En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes, so we can sample radiation where planes fly. This plot shows how the Forbush decrease was restricted to the stratosphere; it did not affect lower levels of the atmosphere:
The dose rates shown above are expressed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. The higher you fly, the more radiation you will absorb.
.Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. They can seed clouds, 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. Somewhat more controversial studies (#1, #2, #3, #4) link 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 first graph ("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 |
| | 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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