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A NEW SOURCE OF FLARES: A new sunspot emerging over the sun's southeastern limb exploded today, producing an M9-class solar flare (July 30 @ 1938 UT). Radiation from the almost-X-class flare caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over North America. As the sunspot turns toward Earth this week, we will get a better view of its magnetic field to evaluate its potential for more strong flares. CME Impact alerts: SMS Text
EARLY CME IMPACT: A coronal mass ejection (CME) struck Earth's magnetic field on July 30th at 0027 UT. The impact sparked a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm with photographic auroras as far south as Arizona:
"The auroras were not visible to the naked eye, but my camera was able to capture these faint red pillars from the south rim of the Grand Canyon," says photographer David Blanchard.
Faint auroras visible only to cameras is not what we expected from a potent Cannibal CME. But maybe this wasn't the Cannibal. A NOAA forecast model suggests an arrival time later on July 30th, so naked eye auroras might still be in the offing. Stay tuned. CME Impact alerts: SMS Text
more images: from Aaron Watson in the West Elk Mountains of Colorado; from Chris Almquist of Ely, MN; from Jake Stehli of Winona, Minnesota
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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ANATOMY OF A CANNIBAL CME: Over the weekend, the sun hurled multiple CMEs directly toward Earth. Individually, none of the CMEs was particularly impressive, but together they joined forces to form a potentially-potent "Cannibal CME." This NOAA model shows the process in action:
The model shows as many as four CMEs mashing together to form a single storm front. It begins on July 27th when two closely-spaced CMEs left the sun and immediately merged. Thus "cannibalized," they traveled toward Earth, snowplowing the solar wind in front of them. A third CME followed on July 28th. It raced through the void created by the first two, easily catching them. A fourth CME on July 29th will combine with the others after they pass Earth.
The combined effect of these CMEs (a triple-cannibal followed by one or two stragglers) could spark strong G3-class geomagnetic storms on July 30-31. If such a storm materializes, auroras should be visible at mid-latitudes across Europe and the USA. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
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SUNSPOT SUNSET: The source of all these CMEs is massive sunspot complex AR3764-67. Jan Koeman photographed them at sunset from the beach in Domburg, the Netherlands:
"As Solar Max comes nearer, the solar disk is peppered with amazing sunspots," says Koeman. "No filter was needed to image these, together with the windmills in the North Sea."
Caution: Even when the sun is hanging low and dimmed by haze and smoke, it is still dangerous. Sunlight magnified by optics can damage your eyes. If you want to photograph the sun without a solar filter, use the camera's LCD screen as a viewfinder. Never look through the optics!
GLOW-IN-THE-DARK AURORA PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the Glow-in-the-Dark Aurora Pendant. On July 8, 2024, it flew to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $99.95. For 3 hours, the necklace floated 106,444 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California while radiation sensors inside the balloon's payload gathered data for the students' cosmic ray monitoring project. It comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and explaining the Earth to Sky Calculus 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 Comet Photo Gallery
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Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
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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 Jul 30, 2024, the network reported 37 fireballs.
(21 sporadics, 4 alpha Capricornids, 4 Perseids, 4 southern Delta Aquariids)
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 July 30, 2024 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 |
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
| 2011 MW1 | 2024-Jul-25 | 10.1 LD | 8 | 120 |
| 2024 NV1 | 2024-Jul-25 | 14.1 LD | 10.2 | 33 |
| 2024 OJ | 2024-Jul-26 | 13.1 LD | 7.9 | 21 |
| 2024 MH1 | 2024-Jul-26 | 4.7 LD | 5.8 | 29 |
| 2011 AM24 | 2024-Jul-26 | 16.8 LD | 6.2 | 281 |
| 2024 NZ1 | 2024-Jul-28 | 19.5 LD | 12.7 | 56 |
| 523664 | 2024-Jul-28 | 14.9 LD | 23.7 | 680 |
| 2024 OK | 2024-Jul-28 | 6.9 LD | 4.6 | 12 |
| 2024 OH | 2024-Jul-29 | 19.2 LD | 12.6 | 41 |
| 2024 OF | 2024-Jul-29 | 18.7 LD | 10.1 | 65 |
| 2024 OO | 2024-Aug-01 | 5.2 LD | 11.3 | 28 |
| 2024 OE | 2024-Aug-01 | 3.9 LD | 9.3 | 61 |
| 2024 NS1 | 2024-Aug-02 | 5.3 LD | 7.6 | 46 |
| 2020 PN1 | 2024-Aug-02 | 18 LD | 5.5 | 29 |
| 2024 OC | 2024-Aug-04 | 19.4 LD | 10 | 132 |
| 2023 HB7 | 2024-Aug-05 | 14.7 LD | 6.1 | 32 |
| 2017 TU1 | 2024-Aug-05 | 10.1 LD | 10.1 | 22 |
| 2024 KH3 | 2024-Aug-10 | 14.6 LD | 11.4 | 191 |
| 2024 OS | 2024-Aug-13 | 20 LD | 7 | 28 |
| 2021 GY1 | 2024-Aug-16 | 17.7 LD | 6.3 | 59 |
| 2024 JV33 | 2024-Aug-19 | 12 LD | 11.1 | 205 |
| 2022 BF2 | 2024-Aug-19 | 19.7 LD | 16.4 | 91 |
| 2020 RL | 2024-Aug-27 | 12.2 LD | 8.2 | 34 |
| 2021 RA10 | 2024-Aug-28 | 6.8 LD | 4.9 | 29 |
| 2012 SX49 | 2024-Aug-29 | 11.2 LD | 4.3 | 20 |
| 2016 RJ20 | 2024-Aug-30 | 18.3 LD | 14.8 | 68 |
| 2021 JT | 2024-Sep-01 | 16.4 LD | 8.2 | 12 |
| 2021 RB16 | 2024-Sep-02 | 12.3 LD | 8.4 | 15 |
| 2007 RX8 | 2024-Sep-02 | 18.5 LD | 7 | 44 |
| 2022 SR | 2024-Sep-07 | 9.1 LD | 6.3 | 42 |
| 2023 SP2 | 2024-Sep-09 | 15.3 LD | 4.2 | 8 |
| 2016 TU19 | 2024-Sep-11 | 13.2 LD | 10.1 | 47 |
| 2019 DJ1 | 2024-Sep-15 | 10.4 LD | 4.9 | 15 |
| 2024 ON | 2024-Sep-17 | 2.7 LD | 8.8 | 310 |
| 2013 FW13 | 2024-Sep-18 | 8.5 LD | 15.6 | 162 |
| 2022 SW3 | 2024-Sep-19 | 6.8 LD | 9.2 | 37 |
| 2015 SH | 2024-Sep-19 | 11.6 LD | 5.9 | 9 |
| 2023 RX1 | 2024-Sep-20 | 10.1 LD | 1.1 | 3 |
| 2018 VG | 2024-Sep-20 | 13.4 LD | 7.3 | 12 |
| 2020 GE | 2024-Sep-24 | 1.7 LD | 2.2 | 8 |
| 2011 ST12 | 2024-Sep-27 | 17.6 LD | 7.4 | 19 |
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 |
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