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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 383.7 km/sec
density: 16.76 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 1146 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C2
2255 UT Dec12
24-hr: C9
0338 UT Dec12
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2350 UT
Daily Sun: 12 Dec 23
Expand: labels | no labels | Carrington
Sunspot AR3513 has a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 87
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 12 Dec 2023

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2023 total: 0 days (0%)
2022 total: 1 day (<1%)
2021 total: 64 days (18%)
2020 total: 208 days (57%)
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 Dec 2023


Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 18.35x1010 W Warm
Max: 49.4
x1010 W Hot (10/1957)
Min: 2.05
x1010 W Cold (02/2009)
explanation | more data: gfx, txt
Updated 12 Dec 2023

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 126 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 12 Dec 2023

Cosmic Rays Solar Cycle 25 is intensifying, and this is reflected in the number of cosmic rays entering Earth's atmosphere. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth are slowly declining--a result of the yin-yang relationship between the solar cycle and cosmic rays.

Oulu Neutron Counts

Percentages of the Space Age average:
today: -3.1% Low
48-hr change: -0.2%
Max: +11.7% Very High
(12/2009)
Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991)
explanation | more data
Updated 12 Dec 2023 @ 0700 UT

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2.33 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 4.00
unsettled
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.96 nT
Bz: 1.41 nT north
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 1146 UT
Coronal Holes: 12 Dec 23

Solar wind flowing from this coronal hole could reach Earth on Dec. 15.
Credit: SDO/AIA

Noctilucent Clouds
The northern season for NLCs began on May 26th. The first clouds were detected inside the Arctic Circle by the NOAA 21 satellite. An instrument onboard NOAA 21 (OMPS LP) is able to detect NLCs (also known as "polar mesospheric clouds" or PMCs). For the rest of the season, daily maps from NOAA 21 will be presented here:


Updated: Aug. 29, 2023

Each dot is a detected cloud. As the season progresses, these dots will multiply in number and shift in hue from blue to red as the brightness of the clouds intensifies.

What happened to NASA's AIM spacecraft, which has been monitoring NLCs since 2007? Earlier this year, the spacecraft's battery failed. As a result AIM is offline, perhaps permanently. There may be some hope of a recovery as AIM's orbit precesses into full sunlight in 2024. Until then, we will maintain AIM's iconic "daily daisy," frozen at Feb. 28, 2023, as a show of thanks for years of service and hope for future daisies:
Switch view:Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Polar
Updated Dec12
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2023 Dec 12 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
25 %
25 %
CLASS X
05 %
05 %
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 Dec 12 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
25 %
10 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
20 %
20 %
SEVERE
20 %
20 %
 
Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023
What's up in space
       
 

This is an AI Free Zone! 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.

 

THE GEMINID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is entering a stream of debris from "rock comet" 3200 Phaethon, source of the annual Geminid meteor shower. Last night, Dec. 11-12, NASA cameras recorded 23 Geminid fireballs over the USA. Many more are coming. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Dec. 13-14 with as many as 100 meteors/hour visible from dark sky sites. More: Observing tips; sky map.

THE BETELGEUSE OCCULTATION--WHAT HAPPENED? As reports trickle in from Europe and the Middle East, a consensus is emerging: The occultation of Betelgeuse by asteroid Leona may have been less dramatic than expected. "Observing with the naked eye, the drop in brightness was barely visible," reports Fabrizio Melandri from Terranova Da Sibari, Italy. Using his camera, he made a 1 minute star trail exposure to illustrate the change:

"You can notice the modest and brief drop in brightness of the star about halfway through the shot," says Melandri.

In Bursa, Turkey, astronomer Tunç Tezel says Betelgeuse dimmed by "two full magnitudes at least, but did not disappear. Apparently this was some kind of an annular eclipse, as Leona could not cover Betelgeuse completely."

Mohamad Sol positioned himself near the centerline in Hondón de las nieves, Spain, and took this video:

"With my naked eye, I could see a reduction in light from Betelgeuse for a maximum of two seconds," says Sol. "As the video shows, however, the star did not disappear."

Betelgeuse was supposed to dim at least 3 magnitudes when Leona passed in front of it. However, the rotating asteroid has an iregular shape, and probably did not cover as much of the star as expected. Stay tuned for reports from other observing sites. (Did you observe the occultation? Submit your images here.)

more images: from Antonio Piras of Assemini, Sardinia, Italy; from Sebastian Voltmer of Almodóvar del Río, Spain; from the Sormano Astronomical Observatory in Italy

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

CHRISTMAS GIFTS FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Christmas is coming. Are you looking for a far-out gift? Check out the Earth to Sky Store. It's filled with unique items that have flown to the edge of space onboard cosmic ray research balloons.

Carried aloft by giant helium balloons, these unique gifts have flown above 99.7% of Earth's atmosphere, experiencing space-like blasts of cosmic rays, extreme cold, and a wild ride parachuting back to Earth after the balloon explodes. Even Amazon doesn't carry items this far out.

Don't forget to enter coupon code "BUZZALDRIN" at checkout for a 10% holiday discount.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education

SUNDIVING COMET: By the time you finish reading this, the Solar System will have one less comet. SOHO coronagraphs caught the dirty snowball diving into the sun on Dec. 11th:


Note: The comet briefly dims when it passes behind a mechanical arm, which supports the coronagraph's occulting disk

The kamikaze comet is a member of the Kreutz sungrazer family. Named after a 19th century German astronomer who studied them in detail, Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a giant comet at least 2000 years ago. Several of these fragments pass by the sun and disintegrate every day. Most are too small to see. This fragment is a big exception.

By now the comet has been vaporized. The next batch of SOHO data will probably show a small cloud of debris and a decapitated tail emerging from behind the sun. R.I.P. comet!

Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter


Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter


Realtime Comet 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 Dec 12, 2023, the network reported 40 fireballs.
(21 Geminids, 14 sporadics, 5 sigma Hydrids)

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 December 12, 2023 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2023 XD
2023-Dec-07
1.9 LD
9.9
14
2023 XT
2023-Dec-07
2.1 LD
8.4
6
2023 XS10
2023-Dec-07
3 LD
12.7
25
2023 XG2
2023-Dec-07
1.5 LD
4.3
5
2023 XY
2023-Dec-07
14.4 LD
8.3
20
2023 XH
2023-Dec-07
4 LD
6.2
16
2023 XQ1
2023-Dec-07
2.6 LD
11.9
12
2023 XE2
2023-Dec-08
13.3 LD
5.9
18
2023 VF12
2023-Dec-08
13 LD
4.1
22
2023 XQ10
2023-Dec-08
0.6 LD
10.6
20
2023 XU5
2023-Dec-08
1 LD
8.6
13
2023 XD3
2023-Dec-08
2.1 LD
5.2
14
2023 WG
2023-Dec-08
17.6 LD
6.6
33
2023 XR
2023-Dec-08
14 LD
15.6
25
2023 XT3
2023-Dec-08
2.1 LD
14.9
10
2023 XC
2023-Dec-08
2.1 LD
5.8
7
2023 XW5
2023-Dec-09
0.2 LD
5.9
6
2023 XS3
2023-Dec-09
11.9 LD
6.2
22
2023 XB4
2023-Dec-09
0.8 LD
10.1
8
2023 XW2
2023-Dec-09
6.5 LD
9.6
13
2023 XP2
2023-Dec-10
5.8 LD
10.3
19
2023 WH
2023-Dec-10
11.9 LD
8.9
39
2020 HX3
2023-Dec-10
9.8 LD
15.7
13
2020 XC3
2023-Dec-10
20 LD
14.6
111
2023 XH3
2023-Dec-10
4.6 LD
15.1
14
2023 XT4
2023-Dec-10
4.4 LD
8.9
16
2023 XP1
2023-Dec-11
15.2 LD
9.6
40
2023 XH2
2023-Dec-11
5 LD
10.1
19
2010 XF3
2023-Dec-11
19.4 LD
4
46
2023 XN3
2023-Dec-12
13.8 LD
8.4
15
2023 WO3
2023-Dec-12
9.3 LD
9.3
42
2023 XZ2
2023-Dec-12
3.4 LD
6.7
10
2023 XO1
2023-Dec-12
4.3 LD
7.2
14
2023 XH7
2023-Dec-13
2.5 LD
19.8
11
2023 XU4
2023-Dec-14
3.9 LD
6.2
12
2023 XO10
2023-Dec-14
10.5 LD
16.5
18
2023 XB3
2023-Dec-14
13.9 LD
9.9
15
2023 XL4
2023-Dec-15
11.4 LD
6.5
22
2023 XK10
2023-Dec-15
17.7 LD
13.6
46
2023 XY2
2023-Dec-15
9.6 LD
13.4
34
2023 XK4
2023-Dec-15
3.4 LD
4.2
15
2023 XV2
2023-Dec-15
15.9 LD
6.5
22
2023 XJ10
2023-Dec-17
8.4 LD
16.1
28
2023 XH1
2023-Dec-17
15.2 LD
5.4
18
2023 XF2
2023-Dec-19
9.8 LD
8
22
2016 XD2
2023-Dec-19
18.8 LD
6.9
59
2023 XS
2023-Dec-19
11.5 LD
9.1
31
341843
2023-Dec-20
16.5 LD
5.3
344
2018 YJ2
2023-Dec-21
18.4 LD
13.1
154
2022 YG
2023-Dec-22
11.2 LD
5.1
17
2023 VD6
2023-Dec-23
10.6 LD
15.5
159
2023 XN10
2023-Dec-23
18.4 LD
9.9
67
2020 YO3
2023-Dec-23
3.6 LD
16.6
42
2010 UE51
2023-Dec-24
9 LD
1.3
7
2020 YR2
2023-Dec-25
13.8 LD
8
8
2023 XJ3
2023-Dec-25
16.5 LD
9.2
55
2020 KT4
2023-Dec-25
13.4 LD
7.3
76
2023 XO7
2023-Dec-26
6.3 LD
6.7
23
2021 AM6
2023-Dec-31
18.3 LD
6.6
17
2019 KK5
2024-Jan-03
10.6 LD
20.9
98
2002 AY1
2024-Jan-08
15.2 LD
17.3
230
2020 AC1
2024-Jan-11
19.3 LD
5.3
7
2023 WZ3
2024-Jan-11
16.2 LD
4
35
2021 CZ2
2024-Jan-16
8 LD
14.3
113
2021 BL3
2024-Jan-23
17.2 LD
23.4
41
2017 BG92
2024-Jan-25
11.8 LD
6.3
6
2011 CQ1
2024-Jan-26
11.3 LD
4.6
1
2007 EG
2024-Jan-30
16 LD
8.6
43
2008 OS7
2024-Feb-02
7.5 LD
18.2
285
2019 CC5
2024-Feb-04
19.2 LD
15
139
2023 SP1
2024-Feb-07
14.3 LD
11.8
256
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.

  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.
SolarMonitor.org
  information about sunspots based on the latest NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary
Starlink Satellite Statistics
  current counts of failed and deployed Starlink satellites from Jonathan's Space Page
The Aerospace Corporation
  Authoritative predictions of space junk and satellite re-entries
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
Live Aurora Webcam
  from Lights over Lapland
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather

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