SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 551.2 km/s
density: 10.4 protons/cm³
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1556 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B2 1355 UT Apr09
24-hr: B3 0030 UT Apr09
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1545 UT

Daily Sun: 08 Apr '06

Big sunspot 865 no longer poses a threat for Earth-directed solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI.

Sunspot Number: 57
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 08 Apr 2006

Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals no large sunspots on the far side of the sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 17.3 nT
B_z: 10.6 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1557 UT

Coronal Holes:

A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on April 10th. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras then. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope

SPACE WEATHER
NOAA
Forecasts
Solar Flares: Probabilities for a medium-sized (M-class) or a major (X-class) solar flare during the next 24/48 hours are tabulated below.
Updated at 2006 Apr 08 2203 UTC

FLARE	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
CLASS M	05 %	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 2006 Apr 08 2203 UTC
Mid-latitudes

	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
ACTIVE	25 %	20 %
MINOR	15 %	05 %
SEVERE	05 %	01 %

High latitudes

	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
ACTIVE	40 %	30 %
MINOR	25 %	10 %
SEVERE	15 %	05 %

What's Up in Space -- 9 Apr 2006
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Did you sleep through the auroras? Next time get a wake-up call. Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE.

AURORA WATCH: A brief but strong geomagnetic storm last night sparked auroras as far south as Colorado: gallery. Earth has since entered a solar wind stream, raising the possibility of more auroras tonight, mainly over Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia.

SPECTACULAR PROMINENCES: If you have a safely-filtered solar telescope, please point it at the sun today. There are some spectacular prominences leaping over the limb of our star. The orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) snapped this picture just hours ago:

These structures are huge. For example, dozens of planet Earths could fit beneath the arch on the image's righthand side. That particular prominence is erupting and will not survive long. Others around the limb appear stable, however, and should persist for days. Take a look!

more images: from Didier Favre of Brétigny, France; from Peter Paice of Belfast, Northern Ireland;

COMET UPDATE: Dying comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann continues to break apart. Astronomers are tracking at least 20 fragments approaching Earth for a harmless but beautiful close encounter in May: full story.

Fragment B, in particular, has brightened 15-fold since April 2nd, sprouting two jets in the process (IAU Electronic Telegram 464). These events signal a possible disruption of 73P-B into even more fragments. (continued below)

Above: On April 5th, photographer Pete Lawrence pointed his 3-inch telescope at fragment B and "saw the comet without any problem."

Amateur astronomers with backyard telescopes and CCD cameras can monitor the ongoing disintegration. 73P-B is now glowing like a 10th magnitude star in the constellation Bootes: sky map, ephemeris.

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 9 Apr 2006 there were 777 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

April-May 2006 Earth-asteroid encounters

ASTEROID	DATE (UT)	MISS DISTANCE	MAG.	SIZE (meters)
2000 PN9	March 6	7.9 LD	12	~2 km
2006 EH1	March 7	2.0 LD	18	~20 m
2006 EC	March 8	0.7 LD	16	~19 m

Notes: LD is a "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.

Essential Web Links

NOAA Space Environment Center -- The official U.S. government bureau for real-time monitoring of solar and geophysical events, research in solar-terrestrial physics, and forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances.

Atmospheric Optics -- the first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. See also Snow Crystals.

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory -- Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. (European Mirror Site)

Daily Sunspot Summaries -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Current Solar Images --a gallery of up-to-date solar pictures from the National Solar Data Analysis Center at the Goddard Space Flight Center. See also the GOES-12 Solar X-ray Imager.

Recent Solar Events -- a nice summary of current solar conditions from lmsal.com.

SOHO Farside Images of the Sun from SWAN and MDI.

The Latest SOHO Coronagraph Images -- from the Naval Research Lab

Daily images from the sun -- from the Big Bear Solar Observatory

List of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

Observable Comets -- from the Harvard Minor Planet Center.

What is the Interplanetary Magnetic Field? -- A lucid answer from the University of Michigan. See also the Anatomy of Earth's Magnetosphere.

Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from NASA's ACE spacecraft. How powerful are solar wind gusts? Read this story from Science@NASA.

More Real-time Solar Wind Data -- from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Proton Monitor.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003; 2004; 2005; Jan-Mar 2006;

Space Audio Streams: (University of Florida) 20 MHz radio emissions from Jupiter: #1, #2, #3, #4; (NASA/Marshall) INSPIRE: #1; (Stan Nelson of Roswell, New Mexico) meteor radar: #1, #2;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL