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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 338.9 km/sec
density: 5.8 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A1
2027 UT Sep12
24-hr: A1
1556 UT Sep12
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2350 UT
Daily Sun: 12 Sep 20
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 12 Sep 2020

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 22 days
2020 total: 177 days (69%)
2019 total: 281 days (77%)
2018 total: 221 days (61%)
2017 total: 104 days (28%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
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%)
2008 total: 268 days (73%)
2007 total: 152 days (42%)
2006 total: 70 days (19%)

Updated 12 Sep 2020


Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 3.44
x1010 W Cold
Max: 49.4
x1010 W Hot (10/1957)
Min: 2.05
x1010 W Cold (02/2009)
explanation | more data: gfx, txt
Updated 12 Sep 2020

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 69 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 12 Sep 2020

Cosmic Rays Solar minimum is underway. The sun's magnetic field is weak, allowing extra cosmic rays into the solar system. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth in 2020 are near a Space Age peak.

Oulu Neutron Counts

Percentages of the Space Age average:
today: +10.0% Very High
48-hr change: -0.5%
Max: +11.7% Very High
(12/2009)
Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991)
explanation | more data
Updated 12 Sep 2020 @ 1600 UT

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 3.3 nT
Bz: 0.1 nT north
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 12 Sep 20

Solar wind flowing from this narrow southern coronal hole could reach Earth on Sept. 14th.
Credit: SDO/AIA

Noctilucent Clouds The northern-hemisphere season for noctilucent clouds has ended. The southern season begins in November. Between now and then, Earth has no noctilucent clouds.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at:
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2020 Sep 12 2215 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: 2020 Sep 12 2215 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
05 %
05 %
MINOR
01 %
01 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
15 %
15 %
SEVERE
10 %
10 %
 
Saturday, Sep. 12, 2020
What's up in space
       
 

Safe aurora tours: Thinking of a visit to Norway? Marianne's Heaven on Earth Aurora Tours has a 7-seater minivan for families who don't require social distancing. See the Northern Lights or take a scenic day tour. Book here

 

THREE WEEKS WITHOUT SUNSPOTS: The sun has been blank for 22 days--more than three weeks without sunspots. Solar Cycle 25 started months ago, but the new cycle is not yet strong enough to break the icy grip of Solar Minimum. Until sunspots reappear, solar activity will remain low. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.

BLUE CLOUDS ON MARS: Seasons are changing on Earth. Ditto on Mars. Winter has just begun at the Martian north pole, and icy-blue clouds are gathering there. Jefferson Teng photographed them last night from Bandar Lampung, Indonesia:

"Good seeing allowed me to get this Mars image through my 11-inch telescope," says Teng. "The bluish north hemisphere clouds were simply breathtaking."

Astronomers call this the "North Polar Hood." It's made of ice--crystals of H2O and CO2, floating high above the Martian arctic circle. These tiny crystals give the Hood its blue color by preferentially scattering short (blue) wavelengths of sunlight.

The giant blue cloud will expand and intensify in the weeks ahead as Mars moves deeper into northern winter. Perfect timing for observers on Earth: We're having a close encounter with Mars on Oct. 6th, and the North Polar Hood will be very easy to see.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

PACIFIC CREPUSCULAR RAYS: Yesterday, when the sun came up over Guam, the sky divided itself into dozens of pie-shaped wedges. "It was the best display of crepuscular rays that I have ever seen," says Jared Aicher, who took this picture facing the sunrise:

Crepuscular rays are shadows, immense tubes of darkness stretching hundreds of miles. They are cast by clouds.

"As the sun broke the eastern horizon, thunderstorms were building east of Guam in the mid-Pacific," says Aicher. "Towering cumulus clouds blocked the low angle rays of the rising sun, which cast the shadows. Mother Nature at her finest!"

Observing tip: If you ever see crepuscular rays this magnificent, turn around and look directly away from the sun. You might see anti-crepuscular rays, too.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

NEED BABY YODA, YOU DO: Baby Yoda has been to the stratosphere. The future Jedi left Earth onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon. Here he is floating Force-free 107,611 feet above Earth's surface:

You can have Baby Yoda for $119.95. The students are selling these adorable bobbleheads to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. They make great birthday, Christmas, and graduation gifts. Each one comes with a greeting card showing Yoda in flight and telling the story of its journey 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
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter
.


  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 Sept. 12, 2020, the network reported 24 fireballs.
(21 sporadics, 3 September epsilon Perseids)

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 September 12, 2020 there were 2037 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2020 RM1
2020-Sep-07
1.4 LD
9.5
18
2020 RU2
2020-Sep-07
5.7 LD
21.6
19
2020 RV
2020-Sep-08
18.8 LD
15
25
2020 RO2
2020-Sep-08
2.7 LD
15.8
11
2020 PT4
2020-Sep-08
4.9 LD
12.6
38
2020 RX1
2020-Sep-08
1.4 LD
9.2
11
2020 RJ
2020-Sep-08
3.3 LD
9.3
23
2020 RY1
2020-Sep-09
4 LD
10.5
18
2020 RE2
2020-Sep-09
5 LD
20.8
27
2020 RT2
2020-Sep-09
1.2 LD
9.4
9
2020 RL2
2020-Sep-09
20 LD
11.7
40
2020 RD2
2020-Sep-10
11.7 LD
26.1
74
2020 RW
2020-Sep-10
15.8 LD
8.4
38
2020 RT1
2020-Sep-11
18.5 LD
8.6
46
2020 RM
2020-Sep-11
2.7 LD
6.6
14
2020 RA1
2020-Sep-11
8.6 LD
10
30
2020 RG2
2020-Sep-11
3.4 LD
14
13
2020 RF2
2020-Sep-11
18.8 LD
19.1
29
2012 RM15
2020-Sep-12
14.9 LD
9.8
45
2020 RB1
2020-Sep-13
11.7 LD
7.7
16
2020 RL1
2020-Sep-13
5.2 LD
4.8
14
2020 RH2
2020-Sep-13
8.6 LD
8.9
15
2017 US
2020-Sep-13
17.3 LD
5.9
21
2020 QL2
2020-Sep-14
17.9 LD
10.6
69
2020 RJ2
2020-Sep-16
3.5 LD
3.9
5
2020 RN1
2020-Sep-17
18.5 LD
9.8
31
2014 QJ33
2020-Sep-17
6.7 LD
8.7
65
2017 SL16
2020-Sep-20
8.9 LD
6.4
25
2020 RA2
2020-Sep-23
18.4 LD
5.4
23
2020 RO
2020-Sep-25
15.3 LD
11.8
78
2001 GP2
2020-Oct-01
6.1 LD
2.2
15
2010 UC
2020-Oct-04
14.6 LD
3.2
12
2020 RR2
2020-Oct-06
16.3 LD
4.1
30
2020 RK2
2020-Oct-07
9.9 LD
6.8
51
2019 SB6
2020-Oct-07
11.9 LD
7.6
16
2020 RO1
2020-Oct-09
17.5 LD
3.2
31
2018 GD2
2020-Oct-13
16.4 LD
6.7
5
2017 UH5
2020-Oct-20
8.9 LD
5.9
18
2018 VG
2020-Oct-21
15.1 LD
6.7
12
2017 TK6
2020-Oct-24
17.3 LD
12.4
41
2008 GM2
2020-Oct-25
17.7 LD
3.6
8
2020 QD5
2020-Oct-26
10.1 LD
8.6
80
2020 OK5
2020-Oct-29
6.4 LD
1.3
27
2018 VP1
2020-Nov-02
1.1 LD
9.7
2
2020 HF4
2020-Nov-03
16.2 LD
2.9
11
2010 JL88
2020-Nov-05
10.5 LD
15.7
16
2019 XS
2020-Nov-07
15.4 LD
9.4
51
2018 VS4
2020-Nov-09
14.9 LD
10.1
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

SOMETHING NEW! We have developed a new predictive model of aviation radiation. It's called E-RAD--short for Empirical RADiation model. We are constantly flying radiation sensors onboard airplanes over the US and and around the world, so far collecting more than 22,000 gps-tagged radiation measurements. Using this unique dataset, we can predict the dosage on any flight over the USA with an error no worse than 15%.

E-RAD lets us do something new: Every day we monitor approximately 1400 flights criss-crossing the 10 busiest routes in the continental USA. Typically, this includes more than 80,000 passengers per day. E-RAD calculates the radiation exposure for every single flight.

The Hot Flights Table is a daily summary of these calculations. It shows the 5 charter flights with the highest dose rates; the 5 commercial flights with the highest dose rates; 5 commercial flights with near-average dose rates; and the 5 commercial flights with the lowest dose rates. Passengers typically experience dose rates that are 20 to 70 times higher than natural radiation at sea level.

To measure radiation on airplanes, we use the same sensors we fly to the stratosphere onboard Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloons: neutron bubble chambers and X-ray/gamma-ray Geiger tubes sensitive to energies between 10 keV and 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

Column definitions: (1) The flight number; (2) The maximum dose rate during the flight, expressed in units of natural radiation at sea level; (3) The maximum altitude of the plane in feet above sea level; (4) Departure city; (5) Arrival city; (6) Duration of the flight.

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Approximately 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 radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 18% since 2015:

The data points in the graph above 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 Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes:

In this plot, dose rates are expessed 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 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.

Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

  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
NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts
  fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.
Aurora 30 min forecast
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather

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