This is an AI Free Zone! Text created by 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. | | |
GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): A lopsided halo CME is expected to graze Earth's magnetic field on Sept. 25-26. The impact could cause a G1-class geomagnetic storm. NOAA's model predicts a strike on Sept. 25th; NASA's model predicts the 26th. The difference gives a sense of the uncertainty in this low-confidence forecast. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
BRIGHT MORNING COMET: The week has barely begun, and Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) has already tripled in brightness. "The change of the comet compared to yesterday has been exponential," reports Frank A. Rodriguez, who saw the comet today just before sunrise over Gran Canaria island:
"This is a one-second exposure at ISO 1000," he says. "Despite the brightness of the dawn sky, I was able to see the comet using averted vision."
The view is about to improve. Every day this week, the comet will climb higher in the morning sky, peaking in altitude between Sept. 26th and 29th. For some observers, the comet will be as high as 16 degrees above the horizon, well clear of the brightest twilight. An altitude chart prepared by Nick James of the British Astronomical Association can help you plan your observation; locations in the tropics and near the equator are favored.
This morning in Chile, Yuri Beletsky worried that low clouds would block his view. "We got really lucky when the comet suddenly appeared just above the cloud deck," he says.
"This is a stack of five 15 second exposures from my Nikon D810a camera," he says. "The view was spectacular."
Clearly, Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is living up to the hype. Later this week the comet will pass by the sun near the orbit of Mercury where it will receive a brightening dose of solar heat. Then it will proceed toward Earth for a close encounter (0.47 AU) and possible daytime apparition during the second week of October.
Ready to take your own photo? Experienced observers say the comet is now about as bright as a star of magnitude +3.5, which makes it an easy target for cameras and telescopes. Set your alarm for dawn and point your optics here.
more images: from Chris Schur of Payson, AZ; from Chaim Scowcroft of Oahu, Hawaii; from David Marshall of Christ Church, Barbados; from Victor Rivera of Isabela, Puerto Rico; from Alberto Quijano Vodniza of Pasto, Colombia; from Raymond Pickard of Bathurst NSW, Australia; from Michael Mattiazzo of Swan Hill, Australia;
Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
STERLING SILVER MOONCAT: This cat has experienced a severe geomagnetic storm. A CME hit Earth's magnetic field during on Sept. 16th. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus quickly launched a cosmic ray balloon into the resulting storm, with the Sterling Silver Mooncat hitching a ride:
You can have it for $199.95. Curled around a genuine blue moonstone, the sterling silver cat floated through the stratosphere for almost 3 hours during the storm, gathering radiation data for the students' monitoring program. The Mooncat comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and explaining the radiation experiment.
The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are selling space jewelry to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Don't wait for Christmas--get yours now!
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
Realtime Noctilucent Cloud 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 Sep 24, 2024, the network reported 13 fireballs.
(13 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 September 24, 2024 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 |
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
| 2022 SW3 | 2024-Sep-19 | 6.6 LD | 9.2 | 37 |
| 2015 SH | 2024-Sep-19 | 11.6 LD | 5.9 | 9 |
| 2024 RJ1 | 2024-Sep-20 | 15.4 LD | 8.9 | 42 |
| 2024 RD15 | 2024-Sep-20 | 18.7 LD | 8.2 | 16 |
| 2024 RH14 | 2024-Sep-20 | 7.2 LD | 11.7 | 21 |
| 2024 RB10 | 2024-Sep-20 | 19 LD | 12.8 | 73 |
| 2024 QV5 | 2024-Sep-20 | 13.9 LD | 10.6 | 35 |
| 2024 RB22 | 2024-Sep-20 | 8.6 LD | 2.8 | 44 |
| 2023 RX1 | 2024-Sep-20 | 10.1 LD | 1.1 | 3 |
| 2018 VG | 2024-Sep-20 | 13.4 LD | 7.3 | 12 |
| 2024 RY15 | 2024-Sep-21 | 2.3 LD | 13.6 | 28 |
| 2024 SD | 2024-Sep-21 | 0.3 LD | 13.9 | 7 |
| 2024 RZ21 | 2024-Sep-21 | 11.7 LD | 18 | 35 |
| 2024 SH | 2024-Sep-23 | 16.3 LD | 11.7 | 41 |
| 2020 GE | 2024-Sep-24 | 1.7 LD | 2.2 | 8 |
| 2024 RO11 | 2024-Sep-24 | 19.2 LD | 19.1 | 39 |
| 2024 SG | 2024-Sep-25 | 2.9 LD | 8.9 | 15 |
| 2024 RK7 | 2024-Sep-25 | 17.8 LD | 6.3 | 32 |
| 2024 SF | 2024-Sep-25 | 12.1 LD | 23.1 | 56 |
| 2024 RW25 | 2024-Sep-27 | 16.1 LD | 9.8 | 26 |
| 2024 RP15 | 2024-Sep-27 | 17.6 LD | 9.9 | 29 |
| 2011 ST12 | 2024-Sep-27 | 17.6 LD | 7.4 | 19 |
| 2024 SE | 2024-Sep-28 | 7.6 LD | 10.9 | 45 |
| 2024 SC | 2024-Sep-30 | 4.2 LD | 17.7 | 95 |
| 2024 RN15 | 2024-Oct-01 | 8.4 LD | 7.2 | 29 |
| 2024 RH45 | 2024-Oct-01 | 5 LD | 8.1 | 39 |
| 2024 RO2 | 2024-Oct-02 | 4.2 LD | 9.2 | 36 |
| 2024 RJ16 | 2024-Oct-02 | 18.2 LD | 6.9 | 24 |
| 2024 RJ32 | 2024-Oct-05 | 7.7 LD | 6.6 | 45 |
| 2023 GM1 | 2024-Oct-05 | 15.4 LD | 5.2 | 13 |
| 2014 VA | 2024-Oct-05 | 18.1 LD | 6.3 | 46 |
| 2022 SU21 | 2024-Oct-06 | 17.5 LD | 21.1 | 45 |
| 671076 | 2024-Oct-07 | 12.8 LD | 8.6 | 120 |
| 2016 JG38 | 2024-Oct-08 | 13.2 LD | 12 | 56 |
| 2018 QE | 2024-Oct-09 | 1.7 LD | 4.4 | 10 |
| 363027 | 2024-Oct-12 | 9.3 LD | 16.6 | 419 |
| 2020 GE1 | 2024-Oct-12 | 20.1 LD | 4.3 | 14 |
| 2022 UX1 | 2024-Oct-12 | 19.9 LD | 9.9 | 9 |
| 2008 UU95 | 2024-Oct-12 | 13.5 LD | 15.6 | 66 |
| 2021 TK11 | 2024-Oct-14 | 8 LD | 10.6 | 7 |
| 2022 TB41 | 2024-Oct-15 | 10 LD | 6 | 4 |
| 2019 UH14 | 2024-Oct-17 | 8.3 LD | 10.4 | 62 |
| 2015 HM1 | 2024-Oct-24 | 14.4 LD | 10.9 | 32 |
| 363305 | 2024-Oct-24 | 11.8 LD | 4.9 | 186 |
| 2021 UE2 | 2024-Oct-24 | 13.6 LD | 7.1 | 40 |
| 2023 TG14 | 2024-Oct-24 | 6.6 LD | 6.9 | 24 |
| 2007 UT3 | 2024-Oct-26 | 17.7 LD | 10.4 | 23 |
| 2020 WG | 2024-Oct-28 | 8.7 LD | 9.4 | 160 |
| 2021 CV1 | 2024-Oct-30 | 14.4 LD | 23.6 | 38 |
| 2023 KX3 | 2024-Oct-31 | 18.8 LD | 2.4 | 25 |
| 2022 UD21 | 2024-Oct-31 | 11.4 LD | 11.8 | 27 |
| 2016 VA | 2024-Nov-01 | 1.5 LD | 21.2 | 11 |
| 2023 VS | 2024-Nov-04 | 15.2 LD | 4.3 | 4 |
| 2022 JM | 2024-Nov-06 | 19.7 LD | 6.2 | 6 |
| 2019 WB7 | 2024-Nov-11 | 17.3 LD | 5.7 | 47 |
| 2020 UL3 | 2024-Nov-12 | 4.1 LD | 10.5 | 81 |
| 2020 AB2 | 2024-Nov-13 | 18.9 LD | 7.2 | 14 |
| 2019 VU5 | 2024-Nov-14 | 12 LD | 23.3 | 46 |
| 2019 VL5 | 2024-Nov-14 | 9.6 LD | 8.5 | 24 |
| 2023 WK3 | 2024-Nov-18 | 16.1 LD | 14.5 | 272 |
| 2012 KO11 | 2024-Nov-20 | 6.2 LD | 9.4 | 43 |
| 2020 VX4 | 2024-Nov-20 | 10.5 LD | 10.5 | 11 |
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. See also, all satellite statistics. |
| | 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 |
 | Got a chipped or cracked windshield that prevents you from seeing space weather events while driving? Get windshield replacement from SR Windows & Glass with free mobile auto glass service anywhere in the Phoenix area. |
| BestCSGOGambling is the best site for everything related to CSGO gambling on the web |
| | These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! |
| | | | | | |
