WEEKEND GEOMAGNETIC UNREST: For the next few days, Earth is expected to skim through a number of minor solar wind streams associated with a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere. This will likely stir magnetic unrest around Earth's poles, albeit not full-fledged geomagnetic storms. Intermittent Arctic auroras are possible this weekend. Aurora Alerts: text, email.
CLOSE ASTEROID FLYBY: On Jan. 8th, asteroid 2019 AS5 flew past Earth only 8600 km above our planet's surface. Nine hours after the flyby, it was discovered by the the Mt. Lemmon Survey telescope in Arizona. This diagram, from Charles Bell's Asteroids and Comets Facebook group, shows 2019 AS5 inside the region of space were swarms of GPS and other geosynchronous satellites are orbiting:
If the 1 to 2 meter-wide space rock had hit Earth (and it almost did) it would have caused a brilliant fireball in the atmosphere with sonic booms and scattered meteorites on the ground--but no serious damage.
Earth's gravity significantly bent the asteroid's orbit during the flyby. To illustrate this effect, the Minor Planet Center has created an interactive 3D diagram of the encounter, which flung 2019 AS5 away from our planet after its brief visit. Free: SWx Newsletter.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
NEW! SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Spaceweather.com is proud to announce our new and improved space weather alert system. Sign up now and you'll never miss another solar storm in 2019. Subscribers receive instant text messages when there are solar flares, geomagnetic storms, and CMEs about to strike Earth. And if you sign up for the PRO PLAN, you'll receive a type of alert available no where else--"Magnetic Crack" alerts. Keep reading after the graphic to learn more:
PRO PLAN subscribers get a text message whenever a crack is opening in Earth's magnetosphere. Magnetic cracks are caused by south-pointing magnetic fields ("BsubZ") in the solar wind, which partially cancel Earth's magnetic defenses. Solar wind pours in through these cracks to fuel bright auroras and geomagnetic storms. Veteran aurora chasers know that watching "BsubZ" is the best way to anticipate geomagnetic activity. Now your cell phone can do this job for you, alerting you when cracks are forming in the invisible magnetic field overhead.
Get started for as little as $4.95 per month.
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