Spotless Days Current Stretch: 0 days 2022 total: 0 days (0%) 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 24 Feb 2022
Thermosphere Climate Index today: 11.24x1010W Cool Max: 49.4x1010 W Hot (10/1957) Min: 2.05x1010 W Cold (02/2009) explanation | more data:gfx, txt Updated 24 Feb 2022
Cosmic RaysSolar 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: +5.7% High 48-hr change: +0.3% Max: +11.7% Very High (12/2009) Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991) explanation |more data Updated 24 Feb 2022 @ 1700 UT
Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 1 quiet 24-hr max: Kp= 3 quiet explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 6.7 nT Bz: -5.1 nT south more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 24 Feb 22
Solar wind flowing from this equatorial coronal hole could reach Earth on Feb. 28-March 1. Credit: SDO/AIA
Noctilucent CloudsThe southern hemisphere season for noctilucent clouds has begun. NASA's AIM spacecraft detected the first electric-blue puffs over Antarctica on Dec. 14th.
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 Feb 24 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
10 %
15 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
20 %
MINOR
20 %
25 %
SEVERE
20 %
20 %
Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022
What's up in space
Lights Over Lapland has a full catalogue of exciting adventures in Abisko National Park, Sweden! Check out our daytime and evening activities and book your adventure!
POSSIBLE FARSIDE SUNSPOTS: NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft is monitoring a pair of ultraviolet hotspots behind the sun's eastern limb. These may be active sunspots. We'll find out for sure this weekend when the sun's rotation turns them toward Earth. Solar flare alerts:SMS Text.
BE ALERT FOR ZODIACAL LIGHTS: It's one of the most delicate and beautiful things in the night sky, yet most people have never seen it. We're talking about Zodiacal Lights. "Now is the time to look," says astrophotographer Petr Horálek, who created this image to whet your appetite:
"This composite shows Zodiacal Light from both hemispheres," explains Horálek. "My friend, great TWAN photographer Juan Carlos Casado, took the northern photo from the IAC La Palma Observatory in Feb. 2020. I took the southern photo from ESO's La Silla Observatory in April 2016. Stitched together they show the entire night sky using Earth's horizon to block the bright sun."
See the pale triangles of light at the center? Those are Zodiacal Lights.
For centuries, astronomers wondered what they were. Now we know: Zodiacal Light comes from Mars. Giant dust storms on the Red Planet leak into space, filling the plane of the Solar System with tiny grains. We can see this Marsdust because it scatters sunlight, producing a triangular glow.
February, March and April are among the best months to see Zodiacal Lights because the plane of the Solar System juts over the horizon almost vertically, putting the triangle on full display. But you have to have a very dark sky; New Moons are recommended.
"New Moon dates close to the equinox are when Zodiacal Lights are best seen all around the world," says Horálek. "In the northern hemisphere, visibility is best in the evening after sunset (look west). In the southern hemisphere, visibility is best in the morning before sunrise (look east)."
The next New Moon: March 2nd. Mark your calendar and enjoy the show.
A DRAGONFLY IN THE STRATOSPHERE: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the Sterling Silver Space Dragonfly. On Jan 12th, this winged pendant flew 113,451 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, hitching a ride onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon:
You can have it for $172.95. The dragonfly's heart is a Celtic love knot, and its wings are decorated with blue marquise crystals--all plated with 14k white gold. It's an exquisite ensemble for birthdays, anniversaries or any other romantic occasion.
The students are selling dragonfly pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
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 Feb 24, 2022, the network reported 11 fireballs. (11 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]
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 February 24, 2022 there were 2269 potentially hazardous asteroids.
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.
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