You are viewing the page for Aug. 27, 2020
  Select another date:
<<back forward>>
SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids
 
Solar wind
speed: 411.7 km/sec
density: 4.7 protons/cm3
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A2
1818 UT Aug27
24-hr: A2
1254 UT Aug27
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2350 UT
Daily Sun: 27 Aug 20
The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 27 Aug 2020

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 6 days
2020 total: 162 days (68%)
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 27 Aug 2020


Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 2.96
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 27 Aug 2020

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 70 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 27 Aug 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: +9.3% High
48-hr change: -0.6%
Max: +11.7% Very High
(12/2009)
Min: -32.1% Very Low (06/1991)
explanation | more data
Updated 27 Aug 2020 @ 1600 UT

Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3
quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.4 nT
Bz: 1.3 nT north
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 2345 UT
Coronal Holes: 27 Aug 20

Solar wind flowing from these coronal holes could hit Earth's magnetic field on Aug. 29-30.
Credit: SDO/AIA

Noctilucent Clouds NLC season is underway. NASA's AIM spacecraft detected a blue cloud over the north pole on May 17th--one of the earliest starts in the spacecraft's14 year history. Check here for daily images from AIM.
Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar
Updated at:
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts
Updated at: 2020 Aug 27 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 Aug 27 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
20 %
40 %
MINOR
05 %
15 %
SEVERE
01 %
01 %
High latitudes
0-24 hr
24-48 hr
ACTIVE
15 %
15 %
MINOR
30 %
30 %
SEVERE
30 %
50 %
 
Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020
What's up in space
       
 

Safe aurora tours: Thinking of a visit to Norway? Marianne's Heaven on Earth Aurora Tours has a 7-seater minivan for families who don't require social distancing. See the Northern Lights or take a scenic day tour. Book here

 

SPIRAL LIGHTS ON MARS: NASA's MAVEN spacecraft has discovered a vast spiral of ultraviolet light swirling over the South Pole of Mars. A new paper just published in JGR Space Physics explains the chemistry of the aurora-like glow, but not its shape. Researchers say the spiral is a mystery. FULL STORY.

THE SUN IS SWALLOWING A COMET TODAY: A comet is plunging toward the sun--and it's not going well for the comet. New images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) show the supersonic snowball evaporating furiously as it approaches the sun on August 27th:

Discovered just yesterday, the comet is a Kreutz sungrazer--a fragment from the breakup of a giant comet many centuries ago. SOHO has discovered thousands of Kreutz sungrazers; tiny ones divebomb the sun almost every day. This fragment is bigger and brighter than usual, however.

"The comet made its closest approach to the sun today, Aug. 27th, at 15:58 UT," says Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. "It was only half a solar radius above the surface of the sun."

Looking at close-up images from SOHO's C2 coronagraph, Battams notes that the comet's tail is not typical. "It's more of a boulder-strewn debris trail," he says. "The comet is being entirely deconstructed by solar radiation in our solar system's most hostile environment!"

In the hours ahead, the comet might emerge from its close encounter--most likely headless, just a stretched-out tail dissipating into the sun's hot corona. R.I.P. comet? Movies will be updated as SOHO data become available.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

AURORAS VS. ARCTIC TWILIGHT: A solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field on August 26th. The impact sparked a competition: Auroras vs. Arctic twilight. The score was tied when Rayann Elzein took this picture from Utjsoki, FInland:

"The auroras are finally back at nearly 70°N latitude!" says Elzein. "The sky still does not become very dark after our long season of the midnight sun, but for a few minutes, it did get dark enough. The new aurora season is now officially launched here in the far north of Finnish Lapland, exciting months ahead!"

Another, similar stream of solar wind is due to arrive on Aug. 29-30, bringing a new mix of twilight and auroras. Stay tuned for Round 2. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free:
Spaceweather.com Newsletter

THE INFINITY PENDANT: Are you looking for a romantic gift? Nothing says "I Love You" like an Infinity Pendant from the edge of space. This authentic Swarovski crystal hitched a ride onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon, traveling 113,209 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:

You can have it for $179.95. The students of Earth to Sky are selling the pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Glittering with the colors of a rainbow, the heart-shaped crystal is wrapped in a silver-embossed infinity clasp, symbolizing unending love. Each one comes with a romantic card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again. 

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 August 26, 2020, the network reported 13 fireballs.
(11 sporadics, 2 Northern Delta Aquarids)

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 August 27, 2020 there were 2037 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2020 QQ4
2020-Aug-22
0.8 LD
7.6
6
2020 QF
2020-Aug-23
9 LD
6.9
13
2020 QR5
2020-Aug-23
0.8 LD
6.9
12
2020 QT4
2020-Aug-23
5.4 LD
8.3
31
2020 FA1
2020-Aug-23
18.4 LD
1.9
20
2020 QD1
2020-Aug-23
10.1 LD
13.5
16
2020 PP3
2020-Aug-24
16.2 LD
9.5
36
2020 PJ6
2020-Aug-24
13.9 LD
3.3
27
2020 QE5
2020-Aug-24
17.9 LD
9.1
29
2020 QE2
2020-Aug-25
20 LD
12.6
35
2020 QP1
2020-Aug-25
19.6 LD
8.7
20
2016 AH164
2020-Aug-26
15.7 LD
5.6
4
2020 PF3
2020-Aug-26
6.4 LD
9.6
24
2020 QQ2
2020-Aug-27
8.6 LD
6.2
16
2020 QA6
2020-Aug-27
6.3 LD
5.8
20
2020 QG5
2020-Sep-01
7.8 LD
14.2
25
2011 ES4
2020-Sep-01
0.3 LD
8.2
30
2020 PG6
2020-Sep-02
5.9 LD
6.6
14
465824
2020-Sep-06
19.4 LD
14
162
2020 PT4
2020-Sep-08
4.9 LD
12.6
37
2012 RM15
2020-Sep-12
14.9 LD
9.8
45
2017 US
2020-Sep-13
17.3 LD
5.9
21
2020 QL2
2020-Sep-14
17.9 LD
10.6
70
2014 QJ33
2020-Sep-18
11.5 LD
8.3
65
2017 SL16
2020-Sep-20
8.9 LD
6.4
25
2001 GP2
2020-Oct-01
6.1 LD
2.2
15
2010 UC
2020-Oct-04
14.6 LD
3.2
12
2019 SB6
2020-Oct-07
11.9 LD
7.6
16
2018 GD2
2020-Oct-13
16.4 LD
6.7
5
2017 UH5
2020-Oct-20
8.9 LD
5.9
18
2018 VG
2020-Oct-21
15.1 LD
6.7
12
2017 TK6
2020-Oct-24
17.3 LD
12.4
41
2008 GM2
2020-Oct-25
17.7 LD
3.6
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. 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

For stratospheric potential wins you can play Megaways slots. Check out the list of sites from Lioncasinos for reliable casino brands that offer these.

   

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

Spaceweather.com welcomes these supporters of science communication: RV Sales and CRAS, the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences and Windshield Replacement Phoenix and Plastic Surgeon Phoenix

   
Look no further to find the best real estate agency – Brett Cairns: RE/MAX Ocean Pacific Realty in Comox – for residential home sales
   
NASA Near Earth Asteroid Home Page
   
Chicago SEO Expert
   
Search Kelowna Real Estate Listings & Homes for Sale easily.
Find help on all Calgary Homes For Sale and Real Estate Listings. Great source for Edmonton Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale
The best place for soundcloud followers buy is definitely BRSM.IO

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.

Get a bonus when playing at a new casino in the UK. The Genie got you covered! 

Looking for a new online casino? Try Casimpo the new site dedicated to making online casino simple, or check out the new Avenger Slots Casino and Slot Strike Casino Sites with over 500 online slots and casino games. .

  These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters!
  more links...
       
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips.
©2019 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved.