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SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 429.6 km/sec
density: 6.0 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A2
2250 UT Apr26
24-hr: A2
2250 UT Apr26
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2350 UT
Daily Sun: 26 Apr 20
Small sunspot AR2760 is a member of old Solar Cycle 24. It poses no threat for strong solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 11
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 26 Apr 2020

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2020 total: 90 days (77%)
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 26 Apr 2020


Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 3.41
x1010 W Cold
Max: 49.4
x1010 W Hot (10/1957)
Min: 2.05
x1010 W Cold (02/2009)
explanation | more data: gfx, txt
Updated 25 Apr 2020

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 69 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 26 Apr 2020

Cosmic Rays Solar minimum is underway. The sun's magnetic field is weak, allowing extra cosmic rays into the solar system. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth in 2020 are near a Space Age peak.

Oulu Neutron Counts

Percentages of the Space Age average:
today: +10.9% Very High
48-hr change: +0.3%
Max: +11.7% Very High
(12/2009)
Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991)
explanation | more data
Updated 26 Apr 2020 @ 0700 UT

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.3 nT
Bz: -3.6 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 26 Apr 20

There are no significant coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun.
Credit: SDO/AIA

Noctilucent Clouds The northern hemisphere season for noctilucent clouds is coming soon--probably starting in mid- to late-May. Check here for daily images from NASA's AIM spacecraft.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at: 03-02-2020 17:55:02 UT
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2020 Apr 25 2200 UTC
FLARE
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
CLASS M
01 %
01 %
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: 2020 Apr 25 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
05 %
05 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
20 %
20 %
SEVERE
20 %
20 %
 
Sunday, Apr. 26, 2020
What's up in space
       
 

Solar minimum is here - but even now strangely beautiful auroras are dancing around the poles. Deep inside the Arctic Circle, the expert guides of Aurora Holidays in Utsjoki, Finland, can help you chase them. Book now!

 

OLD-CYCLE SUNSPOT: Just south of the sun's equator, a sunspot is growing: AR2760. Its magnetic polarity identifies it as a member of old Solar Cycle 24. This is probably one of the last old-cycle sunspots we will see as the sun continues tipping toward Solar Cycle 25. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.

METEOR SMOKE IN ACTION: The best meteor during this month's Lyrid meteor shower might not have been a Lyrid at all. On April 21st, Robert Barsa was outside the city of Košice, Slovakia, watching meteors fly out of the constellation Lyra when a flash lit up the sky from a completely different direction.

"I saw it in my peripheral vision," says Barsa. "As I looked reflexively above my head, I was speechless staring at a meteor much brighter than Venus."

"The fireball was moving very slowly with at least two outbursts," he says. "It reminded me of a decaying spaceship or satellite entering the atmosphere."

Barsa's video shows the remarkable behaviour of the meteor's debris twisting in rarefied winds more than 60 km above Earth's surface. "The smoky trail lasted for nearly an hour until it finally disappeared," he says. "Obviously, this was not a member of the Lyrids shower, but such bright 'uninvited guests' are always welcome."

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

THE STRANGE EFFECT OF COVID-19 ON RADIO ASTRONOMY: A strange quiet has descended over the shortwave radio spectrum--and the reason might be COVID-19. Amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft noticed the effect from his observatory in rural New Mexico. "The quiet comes partly from Solar Minimum, but I believe it also comes from the relative calm of the COVID-19 lockdown. There is so much less truck, airplane and general machine-generated noise," says Ashcraft.

On April 16th he recorded a radio storm on Jupiter. Aside from the gentle "swoosh" of Jupiter bursts, the recording is almost completely free of normal static:


Above: a Jupiter radio storm. Turn up the volume and listen or take a look at the dynamic spectrum.

The sounds you just heard are caused by natural radio lasers in Jupiter's magnetosphere. Electrical currents flowing between Jupiter's upper atmosphere and the volcanic moon Io can boost these emissions to power levels easily detectable by ham radio antennas on Earth.

Ashcraft has been monitoring natural radio emissions from Jupiter, the sun and meteors for many years--but never quite like now. "This may be a uniquely radio-quiet period in time," he says.

For more information about shortwave radio astronomy, and how you can do it yourself, check out NASA's Radio Jove Project.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

MOTHER'S DAY IS ONLY TWO WEEKS AWAY! Are you looking for an out-of-this world Mother's Day gift? Consider this: Every time the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launch a cosmic ray balloon, they include something extra in the payload--something Mom will love:

Every item in the Earth to Sky Store has flown to the edge of space and comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight. The interior of the card tells the story of the gift's journey from launch to landing. Mom-satisfaction guaranteed!

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 Apr. 26, 2020, the network reported 7 fireballs.
(7 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 April 26, 2020 there were 2018 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2020 HE6
2020-Apr-21
4 LD
15.7
27
2020 HX4
2020-Apr-21
17.8 LD
8
21
2020 HB
2020-Apr-21
5.8 LD
13.5
33
2020 HO1
2020-Apr-21
10.1 LD
6.1
15
2020 HM6
2020-Apr-22
0.4 LD
16
17
2020 GB3
2020-Apr-22
13.3 LD
5.4
18
2020 HF5
2020-Apr-22
0.4 LD
7.6
16
2020 HF6
2020-Apr-23
15.3 LD
8.7
18
2020 HO5
2020-Apr-23
2.5 LD
2.7
7
2020 HU5
2020-Apr-23
11.9 LD
21.9
40
2020 HP4
2020-Apr-23
6 LD
17.3
17
2020 HQ4
2020-Apr-24
6.8 LD
4.1
15
2020 HG5
2020-Apr-24
18.7 LD
3.4
26
2020 HW3
2020-Apr-24
14 LD
28.1
136
2020 HX3
2020-Apr-24
0.7 LD
15.1
13
2020 HN3
2020-Apr-26
2.3 LD
4.3
4
2020 HY5
2020-Apr-26
16.3 LD
20.8
26
2019 HS2
2020-Apr-26
13.6 LD
12.6
17
2019 GF1
2020-Apr-27
18.7 LD
3.2
12
2020 FM6
2020-Apr-27
14.3 LD
16.9
148
2020 HC5
2020-Apr-27
10 LD
9
15
2020 HP6
2020-Apr-27
0.3 LD
12.2
9
2020 HS1
2020-Apr-27
18 LD
2
26
2020 HT1
2020-Apr-28
11.1 LD
9.7
24
2020 HP
2020-Apr-28
14.1 LD
10.4
54
2020 HG3
2020-Apr-29
12.5 LD
11
22
2020 HJ6
2020-Apr-29
1.7 LD
16.5
17
52768
2020-Apr-29
16.4 LD
8.7
2457
2020 HK6
2020-Apr-29
3.1 LD
14.9
11
2020 HW2
2020-Apr-29
18 LD
9.8
38
2020 HO3
2020-Apr-30
17.5 LD
9.3
21
2020 GY2
2020-Apr-30
17.2 LD
16.3
66
2020 HB3
2020-Apr-30
13 LD
12.2
34
2020 HK3
2020-May-01
4.4 LD
23.4
53
2020 HF4
2020-May-01
9.1 LD
2.6
10
2020 DM4
2020-May-01
18.4 LD
6.4
158
2020 HU2
2020-May-01
7.4 LD
5.6
18
2020 HR6
2020-May-01
12.7 LD
12.2
20
2020 HZ4
2020-May-02
16.1 LD
18.8
51
2020 HN5
2020-May-03
9.6 LD
7.1
37
2020 HL1
2020-May-03
12.6 LD
12
31
2020 GE3
2020-May-04
19.1 LD
5.2
21
2020 HQ3
2020-May-04
10.8 LD
9.5
28
2020 HV4
2020-May-04
18.2 LD
10
76
2020 HL
2020-May-05
16.7 LD
9.1
35
2020 HL6
2020-May-06
2.1 LD
5.4
9
438908
2020-May-07
8.9 LD
12.8
282
2020 HM4
2020-May-07
10.8 LD
18.2
40
2016 HP6
2020-May-07
4.3 LD
5.7
31
2020 HB6
2020-May-08
9.8 LD
9.1
56
2020 HC6
2020-May-09
2.9 LD
6
35
388945
2020-May-10
7.3 LD
8.8
295
2000 KA
2020-May-12
8.9 LD
13.5
162
2020 HS6
2020-May-14
15.7 LD
22.9
123
478784
2020-May-15
8.5 LD
3.6
28
136795
2020-May-21
16.1 LD
11.7
892
163348
2020-Jun-06
13.3 LD
11.1
339
2013 XA22
2020-Jun-09
10.6 LD
6.5
98
2017 MF7
2020-Jun-14
3.7 LD
10.9
23
2018 PD22
2020-Jun-19
17.2 LD
14.6
56
441987
2020-Jun-24
9.8 LD
12.9
186
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

SOMETHING NEW! We have developed a new predictive model of aviation radiation. It's called E-RAD--short for Empirical RADiation model. We are constantly flying radiation sensors onboard airplanes over the US and and around the world, so far collecting more than 22,000 gps-tagged radiation measurements. Using this unique dataset, we can predict the dosage on any flight over the USA with an error no worse than 15%.

E-RAD lets us do something new: Every day we monitor approximately 1400 flights criss-crossing the 10 busiest routes in the continental USA. Typically, this includes more than 80,000 passengers per day. E-RAD calculates the radiation exposure for every single flight.

The Hot Flights Table is a daily summary of these calculations. It shows the 5 charter flights with the highest dose rates; the 5 commercial flights with the highest dose rates; 5 commercial flights with near-average dose rates; and the 5 commercial flights with the lowest dose rates. Passengers typically experience dose rates that are 20 to 70 times higher than natural radiation at sea level.

To measure radiation on airplanes, we use the same sensors we fly to the stratosphere onboard Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloons: neutron bubble chambers and X-ray/gamma-ray Geiger tubes sensitive to energies between 10 keV and 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

Column definitions: (1) The flight number; (2) The maximum dose rate during the flight, expressed in units of natural radiation at sea level; (3) The maximum altitude of the plane in feet above sea level; (4) Departure city; (5) Arrival city; (6) Duration of the flight.

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Approximately 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 radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 18% since 2015:

The data points in the graph above 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 Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes:

In this plot, dose rates are expessed 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 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.

Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

  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.
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
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather

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