| | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 3 quiet 24-hr max: Kp= 4 unsettled explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 6.73 nT Bz: -0.74 nT south more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 1146 UT Coronal Holes: 21 Aug 22 There are no significant coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA Noctilucent Clouds Noctilucent cloud season is underway--but also nearing its end. AIM images show the polar ring of NLCs is contracting as northern summer winds down. Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar Updated Aug21 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2022 Aug 21 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 10 % | 10 % | 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: 2022 Aug 21 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 40 % | 35 % | MINOR | 25 % | 15 % | SEVERE | 05 % | 01 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 15 % | MINOR | 20 % | 25 % | SEVERE | 25 % | 30 % | | | | | | | | | | | | 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! | | | GEOMAGNETIC UNREST: A CME hit Earth's magnetic field on Aug. 20th at 1812 UT. The weak impact caused an episode of geomagnetic unrest (Kp=4) but not a full-fledged geomagnetic storm. Another similar CME is expected to arrive on Aug. 21st, and it could push Earth's magnetosphere over the threshold of minor G1-class storming. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras. Aurora alerts: SMS Text HELIANTHUS BOREALIS: Earth's magnetosphere is buzzing with activity. At least three CMEs have hit since Aug. 17th, none with great force, but together sufficient to spark multiple geomagnetic storms and substorms. On Aug. 20th, auroras spilled over the Canadian border into North Dakota: Photographer Elon Gane watched the lights spread over a field of Helianthus annuus--the common sunflower. "The auroras were faint to the naked eye but showed up very nicely in my camera!" says Gane. "They flashed up brightly for about 10 min at 1:30am--and that's when I took the shot." More auroras may be in the offing. Another CME is expected to graze Earth's magnetic field on Aug. 21st, and NOAA forecasters say there is a chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on both Aug. 21st and 22nd. Aurora alerts: SMS Text Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter STERLING SILVER FROLICKING DOLPHIN: 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 Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter 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 Aug 21, 2022, the network reported 25 fireballs. (25 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 August 21, 2022 there were 2288 potentially hazardous asteroids. | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | 2022 PJ1 | 2022-Aug-16 | 11 LD | 5.9 | 19 | 2022 PW | 2022-Aug-16 | 1.4 LD | 7.5 | 31 | 2022 QA | 2022-Aug-16 | 0.8 LD | 15.2 | 14 | 2022 QF | 2022-Aug-17 | 3.9 LD | 20.1 | 65 | 2022 QB | 2022-Aug-17 | 4 LD | 6.9 | 11 | 2022 PC | 2022-Aug-18 | 16.4 LD | 4.1 | 63 | 2022 QC | 2022-Aug-20 | 2.6 LD | 17.5 | 31 | 2022 QA1 | 2022-Aug-20 | 11 LD | 8.3 | 32 | 2019 AV13 | 2022-Aug-20 | 13.8 LD | 9.2 | 135 | 2022 QB1 | 2022-Aug-20 | 5.5 LD | 3.7 | 6 | 2020 QW3 | 2022-Aug-22 | 14.1 LD | 18.1 | 30 | 2022 QM | 2022-Aug-22 | 18.8 LD | 5.1 | 19 | 2022 QV | 2022-Aug-22 | 2.2 LD | 21.9 | 24 | 2015 QH3 | 2022-Aug-22 | 5.6 LD | 7 | 14 | 2022 QX | 2022-Aug-23 | 7.3 LD | 12.7 | 18 | 2022 QR | 2022-Aug-24 | 3.6 LD | 8.6 | 14 | 2017 BU | 2022-Aug-29 | 15.8 LD | 7 | 32 | 2021 CQ5 | 2022-Sep-01 | 8.7 LD | 13.5 | 7 | 2008 RW | 2022-Sep-12 | 17.5 LD | 10.2 | 98 | 2020 PT4 | 2022-Sep-15 | 19.7 LD | 10.8 | 39 | 2016 HF2 | 2022-Sep-29 | 19.2 LD | 5.6 | 21 | 2018 ER1 | 2022-Oct-02 | 14.7 LD | 4 | 27 | 2018 VG | 2022-Oct-05 | 18.5 LD | 6.7 | 12 | 2021 TJ10 | 2022-Oct-06 | 19.6 LD | 8.1 | 6 | 2006 SG7 | 2022-Oct-07 | 16.7 LD | 18.4 | 93 | 2013 TJ6 | 2022-Oct-07 | 11.7 LD | 14.4 | 32 | 2013 SL20 | 2022-Oct-14 | 6.2 LD | 12.1 | 45 | 2020 TO2 | 2022-Oct-15 | 1.4 LD | 12.6 | 18 | 2020 BD | 2022-Oct-16 | 12.1 LD | 11.4 | 20 | 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 | | BestCSGOGambling is the best site for everything related to CSGO gambling on the web | | To find reviews of new online casino sites in the UK try The Casino DB where there are hundreds of online casino reviews complete with bonuses and ratings. 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