 | | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 2 quiet 24-hr max: Kp= 3 quiet explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 7.59 nT Bz: 6.06 nT north more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 1146 UT Coronal Holes: 31 Aug 22  Solar wind flowing from this equatorial coronal hole should reach Earth on Sept. 4-5. Credit: SDO/AIA Noctilucent Clouds Noctilucent cloud season is underway--but also nearing its end. AIM images show the polar ring of NLCs is contracting as northern summer winds down. Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar Updated Aug30 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts | | Updated at: 2022 Aug 31 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 25 % | 25 % | CLASS X | 05 % | 05 % | 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 Aug 31 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 10 % | 10 % | MINOR | 01 % | 01 % | SEVERE | 01 % | 01 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 20 % | MINOR | 15 % | 20 % | SEVERE | 15 % | 10 % | | | |  | | | | | | | | Never miss another geomagnetic storm. Sign up for Space Weather Alerts and you'll receive a text message when magnetic storms erupt. Aurora tour guides and professional astronomers use this service. You can, too! | | | ARTEMIS LAUNCH THIS SATURDAY: NASA's massive Artemis I rocket may be going to the Moon this week, after all. Mission controllers say they will try again to launch on Saturday, Sept. 3rd at 2:17 pm EDT. A problem with engine temperatures that halted the first launch attempt on Monday may have been solved by simply shuffling the order of pre-launch procedures--an elegant solution if it works. Get the full story from NASA. A BIG CME IS ABOUT TO HIT VENUS: A CME billowed away from the farside of the sun yesterday, Aug. 30th, and it was spectacular. Coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) recorded a full halo storm cloud:  If Earth were in the crosshairs, we would be bracing for a strong geomagnetic storm. Instead, Venus will absorb the blow. NASA models show the CME making a direct hit on the second planet. The Venus impact on Sept. 1st (~0600 UT) will not cause a geomagnetic storm. It can't. Venus has no internally-generated global magnetic field. Rather, the impact will erode some atmosphere from Venus's unprotected cloudtops--a process that does not occur on Earth.  Above: A NASA model of the CME. Venus is the green dot. Earth is the yellow dot. The source of the CME is probably active sunspot AR3088, which left the Earthside of the sun two days ago. This sunspot was extremely active while we could see it from Earth. Now Venus is in the line of fire. Coincidentally, the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft is currently very close to Venus. That means it can study the CME as it passes by. If explosions from AR3088 continue apace, Solar Orbiter could get great data in the next week as potentially many storm clouds wash over the spacecraft. Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter OPAL CRESCENT VENUS PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Nothing says "I love you" like a Venus Pendant from the edge of space. This one flew to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon on Jan. 8, 2022:  You can have it for $142.95. The opal crescent is framed by sterling silver with a matching hypoallergenic chain. It comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere. Why is it a crescent? Because Venus itself was a crescent on the date of the flight. On Jan. 8, 2022, the second planet was at inferior conjunction with the sun. From Earth it looked like a slender crescent--the most beautiful phase of the Goddess of Love. Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store All sales support hands-on STEM education Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter Realtime Aurora 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 Aug 30, 2022, 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 August 31, 2022 there were 2288 potentially hazardous asteroids.  | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | 2022 QP4 | 2022-Aug-26 | 3.7 LD | 7.7 | 13 | 2022 QP6 | 2022-Aug-27 | 2 LD | 13.6 | 14 | 2022 QQ4 | 2022-Aug-27 | 15.5 LD | 7.2 | 32 | 2022 QP3 | 2022-Aug-28 | 14.4 LD | 7.9 | 30 | 2022 QX4 | 2022-Aug-29 | 4.8 LD | 8.8 | 41 | 2017 BU | 2022-Aug-29 | 15.8 LD | 7 | 32 | 2022 QX1 | 2022-Aug-31 | 5.4 LD | 21.1 | 41 | 2022 QB8 | 2022-Aug-31 | 18.9 LD | 10.6 | 23 | 2022 QZ6 | 2022-Aug-31 | 3.3 LD | 11.2 | 36 | 2022 QS7 | 2022-Aug-31 | 13.1 LD | 7.7 | 21 | 2022 QT7 | 2022-Sep-01 | 1.2 LD | 7.7 | 6 | 2021 CQ5 | 2022-Sep-01 | 8.7 LD | 13.5 | 7 | 2022 QB2 | 2022-Sep-01 | 10.3 LD | 15.9 | 33 | 2022 QN5 | 2022-Sep-02 | 2.4 LD | 13.5 | 22 | 2022 QJ7 | 2022-Sep-05 | 14.8 LD | 12 | 26 | 2022 QU5 | 2022-Sep-05 | 19.2 LD | 7.1 | 31 | 2022 QC7 | 2022-Sep-06 | 12.2 LD | 9.1 | 22 | 2022 QB22 | 2022-Sep-09 | 14.2 LD | 17.5 | 57 | 2022 QF2 | 2022-Sep-11 | 19.1 LD | 8.4 | 44 | 2008 RW | 2022-Sep-12 | 17.5 LD | 10.2 | 98 | 2020 PT4 | 2022-Sep-15 | 18.8 LD | 10.8 | 39 | 2022 QD1 | 2022-Sep-16 | 19.4 LD | 9.5 | 72 | 2022 QH8 | 2022-Sep-22 | 10.6 LD | 15.3 | 55 | 2016 HF2 | 2022-Sep-29 | 19.2 LD | 5.6 | 21 | 2018 ER1 | 2022-Oct-02 | 14.7 LD | 4 | 27 | 2018 VG | 2022-Oct-05 | 18.5 LD | 6.7 | 12 | 2021 TJ10 | 2022-Oct-06 | 19.6 LD | 8.1 | 6 | 2006 SG7 | 2022-Oct-07 | 16.7 LD | 18.4 | 93 | 2013 TJ6 | 2022-Oct-07 | 11.7 LD | 14.4 | 32 | 2013 SL20 | 2022-Oct-14 | 6.2 LD | 12.1 | 45 | 2020 TO2 | 2022-Oct-15 | 1.4 LD | 12.6 | 18 | 2020 BD | 2022-Oct-16 | 12.1 LD | 11.4 | 20 | 2022 QM6 | 2022-Oct-17 | 19.8 LD | 4.2 | 69 | 2016 TH94 | 2022-Oct-25 | 19.1 LD | 13.5 | 43 | 2019 AN5 | 2022-Oct-27 | 20 LD | 6.8 | 213 | 2004 UT1 | 2022-Oct-29 | 4 LD | 6.3 | 17 | 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 | | 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 |  | BestCSGOGambling is the best site for everything related to CSGO gambling on the web |  | 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. 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