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

SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 581.6 km/sec
density: 0.6 protons/cm³
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1526 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B7 0925 UT Jul30
24-hr: B8 0915 UT Jul30
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1520 UT

Daily Sun: 30 Jul 10

Sunspot 1089 is decaying and poses a declining threat for C-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Resolutions: 4096, 1024, 256

NOTE: In a new development, the Daily Sun now comes from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Click on the image to see the difference. Comments welcomed.

Sunspot number: 31
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 29 July 2010

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2010 total: 35 days (17%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 803 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days
explanation | more info
Updated 29 July 2010

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 85 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 29 July 2010

Current Auroral Oval:

Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES

Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2 quiet
explanation | more data

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 4.0 nT
B_z: 2.0 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1526 UT

Coronal Holes:

Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: SDO/AIA

SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts

Updated at: 2010 Jul 29 2201 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: 2010 Jul 29 2201 UTC

Mid-latitudes

	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
ACTIVE	30 %	30 %
MINOR	10 %	10 %
SEVERE	01 %	01 %

High latitudes

	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
ACTIVE	40 %	40 %
MINOR	20 %	20 %
SEVERE	05 %	05 %

What's up in Space

July 30, 2010

ANDROID FLYBYS: Our field-tested satellite tracker is now available for Android phones. Features: Global predictions and flyby alarms! Learn more.

CELESTIAL TRIANGLE: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look west. Venus, Saturn, and Mars have converged to form a skinny triangle in the sunset sky. Saturn and Mars are especially close together, only 2^o apart for the next few nights. Sky maps: July 30, 31, August 1, 2.

triangle images: from Adrian New of San Antonio, Texas; from Carlos Caccia of Intendente Alvear, La Pampa, Argentina

DEJA VU ERUPTIONS: On July 28th, magnetic fields on the sun's eastern limb became unstable and erupted, producing a towering prominence of surpassing beauty. On July 29th, it happened again. Click on the image to play a movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO):

movie formats: 7.5 MB gif, 1.4 MB iPad, 0.6 MB iPhone

Neither eruption produced a bright flash of X-radiation. For that reason, solar activity on July 28th and 29th was officially classified by NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center as "low" to "very low." It might be time to change the classification scheme. X-rays have long been used as a key measure of solar activity, but SDO is revealing many forms of activity that do not emit strong X-rays. The spectacular eruptions of the past two days are good examples. Click here and here for déjà vu.

SUMMER LIGHTS: A high speed solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, and this is causing geomagnetic activity around the poles. Zoltan Kenwell of Edmonton, Alberta, witnessed this display on July 27th:

"It was a beautiful night on the Alberta prairies," says Kenwell. "Aurora activity was subtle, but definitely present. The full Thunder Moon was lighting up the canola fields and the arrival of a few noctilucent clouds just put the icing on the cake!"

High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras as the solar wind continues to blow.

more images: from Vincent Calkins of St. Albert, AB Canada

Solar Eclipse Photo Gallery
[NASA: South Pacific Eclipse] [animated map]

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 July 30, 2010 there were 1140 potentially hazardous asteroids.

Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid	Date(UT)	Miss Distance	Mag.	Size
2010 KZ117	Aug 4	72.6 LD	18	1.0 km
6239 Minos	Aug 10	38.3 LD	18	1.1 km
2005 NZ6	Aug 14	60.5 LD	18	1.3 km
2002 CY46	Sep 2	63.8 LD	16	2.4 km
2010 LY63	Sep 7	56.1 LD	18	1.2 km
2009 SH2	Sep 30	7.1 LD	25	45 m
1998 UO1	Oct 1	32.1 LD	17	2.1 km
2005 GE59	Oct 1	77 LD	18	1.1 km
2001 WN5	Oct 10	41.8 LD	18	1.0 km
1999 VO6	Oct 14	34.3 LD	17	1.8 km
1998 TU3	Oct 17	69.1 LD	15	5.3 km
1998 MQ	Oct 23	77.7 LD	17	2.0 km
2007 RU17	Oct 29	40.6 LD	18	1.0 km
2003 UV11	Oct 30	5 LD	19	595 m
3838 Epona	Nov 7	76.8 LD	16	3.4 km
2005 QY151	Nov 16	77.7 LD	18	1.3 km

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.