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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 381.0 km/sec
density: 2.43 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 1145 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C2
2019 UT Dec20
24-hr: M1
1406 UT Dec20
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2350 UT
Daily Sun: 20 Dec 22
Expand: labels | no labels
Sunspot complex AR3169-3171 is crackling with C-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 132
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 20 Dec 2022

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
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 20 Dec 2022


Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 15.54
x1010 W Neutral
Max: 49.4
x1010 W Hot (10/1957)
Min: 2.05
x1010 W Cold (02/2009)
explanation | more data: gfx, txt
Updated 20 Dec 2022

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 152 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 20 Dec 2022

Cosmic Rays Solar Cycle 25 is beginning, 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: +0.4% Elevated
48-hr change: -2.0%
Max: +11.7% Very High
(12/2009)
Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991)
explanation | more data
Updated 20 Dec 2022 @ 1700 UT

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2.00 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2.00
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 11.14 nT
Bz: -0.52 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 1146 UT
Coronal Holes: 20 Dec 22

Solar wind flowing from this pair of coronal holes could graze Earth's magnetic field on Dec. 21-22.
Credit: SDO/AIA

Noctilucent Clouds
The southern hemisphere season for noctilucent clouds has begun. NASA's AIM spacecraft detected the first electric-blue puffs over Antarctica on Dec. 1st.
Switch view:Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Polar
Updated Dec20
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2022 Dec 20 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
30 %
30 %
CLASS X
10 %
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: 2022 Dec 20 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
40 %
25 %
MINOR
25 %
10 %
SEVERE
05 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
20 %
MINOR
20 %
25 %
SEVERE
15 %
20 %
 
Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022
What's up in space
       
 

Never miss another geomagnetic storm. Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and you'll receive a text message when magnetic storms erupt. Aurora tour guides and professional astronomers use this service. You can, too!

 

CHANCE OF MINOR STORMS THIS WEEK: NOAA forecasters say there is a chance of minor G1-class geomagnetic storms on Dec. 21st when a side-by-side pair of solar wind streams are expected to graze Earth's magnetic field. The gaseous material is flowing from a double hole in the sun's atmosphere. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.

UNIQUE PHOTO OF A SOLAR PROMINENCE: This may be the only photo of its kind. On Dec. 13th, Jamie Shepherd of Lochearnhead, Scotland, photographed a solar prominence--without a solar telescope, without a solar eclipse, and without a coronagraph. All it took was the edge of a mountain:

"Around the winter solstice, if I step outside my front door, I can see the sun rising from behind a large rocky outcrop, the lower summit of Stùc a' Chròin," explains Shepherd. "It's just the right shape and distance to cover the sun, like my own solar eclipse, every Christmas."

"Other than a sunrise though, can any eclipse phenomena be seen? It's not easy to catch a clear sky at that time of day in December, but this year I was lucky. I took a burst of pictures with a hand-held telephoto just as the sun appeared. Amazingly, a pink prominence could be made out."

"Just to be sure," continues Shepherd, "I stacked the pictures in a sequence to show the prominence tracking to the right as the sun rose. Confirmation came from an Australian National Solar Observatory image just 10 minutes prior. I have added it below in the stack."

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

SUNSPOT ARCHIPELAGO: Sunspots are islands of magnetism floating on the surface of the sun. Today there is an entire archipelago:

Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau photographed the island chain from Santa Fe, Argentina. "This is sunspot complex AR3169-AR3171," he says. "It just appeared over the sun's northeastern limb."

This is an active and photogenic sunspot group. It is crackling with C-class solar flares emanating from blast sites up and down its 200,000 km-long sprawl. These dimensions make AR3169-AR3171 an easy target for backyard solar telescopes. Don't have a solar filter? Try the projection method instead.

more images: from Thomas Jorgenson of Oro Valley, AZ

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.

These unique gifts have floated 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 "SPACESANTA" at checkout for a 10% holiday discount.

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 Dec 20, 2022, the network reported 23 fireballs.
(18 sporadics, 3 December Leonis Minorids, 1 Geminid, 1 Monocerotid)

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 20, 2022 there were 2320 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2015 RN35
2022-Dec-15
1.8 LD
5.9
85
2022 XO
2022-Dec-15
8.4 LD
8.6
20
2022 YO1
2022-Dec-17
0.1 LD
15.4
4
2022 YM1
2022-Dec-17
1.6 LD
2.7
5
2022 WU11
2022-Dec-17
11.7 LD
10.6
31
2016 YE
2022-Dec-18
18.6 LD
4.8
23
2022 YJ
2022-Dec-18
0.7 LD
24.8
6
2022 YS1
2022-Dec-18
8 LD
26
55
2022 WX5
2022-Dec-18
20.1 LD
4.2
35
2022 YC
2022-Dec-18
1 LD
5
5
2022 XC1
2022-Dec-18
8.3 LD
7.1
21
2022 YQ
2022-Dec-19
4.2 LD
14.7
8
2014 HK129
2022-Dec-20
6.7 LD
11.6
216
2017 XQ60
2022-Dec-21
18.8 LD
16
45
2022 YK
2022-Dec-22
3.2 LD
2.8
7
2022 YG
2022-Dec-22
6.3 LD
5.5
17
2022 UD9
2022-Dec-22
4.6 LD
10.3
159
2022 RD2
2022-Dec-22
13.9 LD
1.1
7
2022 YN
2022-Dec-23
20 LD
6.8
25
2022 YB
2022-Dec-23
10.3 LD
5.8
27
2022 YO
2022-Dec-24
3.5 LD
9.3
13
2022 XN
2022-Dec-24
8.5 LD
11
47
2022 XM1
2022-Dec-24
9.7 LD
12.7
31
2022 YL1
2022-Dec-25
7.7 LD
12.2
51
2013 YA14
2022-Dec-25
2.7 LD
10.5
68
2022 TE14
2022-Dec-25
11.2 LD
7
127
2018 YK2
2022-Dec-26
15.8 LD
15.1
98
2022 YB1
2022-Dec-26
5.7 LD
14.8
26
2022 YG1
2022-Dec-27
11.3 LD
16
26
2022 WV9
2022-Dec-27
6.5 LD
7.2
46
2010 XC15
2022-Dec-27
2 LD
10.1
182
2022 XL1
2022-Dec-27
7.6 LD
8.4
30
2022 YL
2022-Dec-27
7.9 LD
5.7
19
2021 AE
2022-Dec-28
16.5 LD
15
23
2022 YR1
2023-Jan-01
16.3 LD
6
21
2021 NF
2023-Jan-02
17.9 LD
11.3
40
2011 WR41
2023-Jan-03
15.8 LD
8.9
34
2019 AY3
2023-Jan-04
16.8 LD
19.7
62
2022 YN1
2023-Jan-06
18.3 LD
5.5
59
2021 TL
2023-Jan-09
14.2 LD
8.5
75
2014 LJ
2023-Jan-14
4.8 LD
3.5
7
2012 BV13
2023-Jan-16
12.2 LD
6.7
134
2020 BP
2023-Jan-20
5.2 LD
16.9
26
2019 BO2
2023-Jan-24
12.1 LD
16.2
21
2019 BZ4
2023-Jan-24
16.5 LD
5.6
20
2020 BZ14
2023-Jan-26
8.8 LD
6.7
54
2022 SO113
2023-Jan-29
10.5 LD
3.5
73
2017 DU34
2023-Feb-02
13.3 LD
11.2
16
367789
2023-Feb-03
4.7 LD
9.9
149
2020 OO1
2023-Feb-04
4.8 LD
7.7
19
2022 CX1
2023-Feb-09
17.4 LD
13.2
14
2021 EP4
2023-Feb-13
19 LD
6.1
5
199145
2023-Feb-16
12 LD
24.6
756
2022 RG
2023-Feb-16
8.2 LD
3
24
2020 DG4
2023-Feb-17
1.4 LD
6.9
8
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

To get the best views of the cosmos, check out the Phoenix Window Glass Replacement experts for all your window and glass needs

To get an up close view of the heavenly bodies surrounding Earth, think about selling your junk car for cash and buying a high quality telescope.
Spaceweather.com welcomes these supporters of science communication: RV Sales and Arizona SEO and Arizona Business Directory and C8 Corvette | Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyer | Phoenix SEO
NASA Near Earth Asteroid Home Page

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