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

SpaceWeather.com
Science news and information about the Sun-Earth environment.

SPACE WEATHER
Current
Conditions

Solar Wind
speed: 593.5 km/s
density: 3.4 protons/cm³
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1 1735 UT Feb17
24-hr: C1 1735 UT Feb17
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2245 UT

Daily Sun: 16 Feb '03
The Earth-facing side of the Sun is nearly blank. The one obvious sunspot, active region 282, does not pose a threat for strong solar flares. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

The Far Side of the Sun

This holographic image reveals perhaps one sunspot group on the far side of the Sun. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

Sunspot Number: 41
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 16 Feb 2003

Coronal Holes:

Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Image credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope.
More about coronal holes

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 10.6 nT
B_z: 1.8 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2246 UT

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 2003 Feb 17 2200 UTC

FLARE	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
CLASS M	05 %	05 %
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 2003 Feb 17 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes

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

High latitudes

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

What's Up in Space -- 17 Feb 2003
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AURORA WATCH: Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the Sun. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras. NOAA forecasters estimate a 10% to 20% chance of severe geomagnetic storms in Feb. 18th.

HOT COMET: Comet NEAT (C/2002 V1), which is perilously close to the Sun, has entered the field of view of SOHO coronagraphs. The comet has grown spectacularly bright in recent days and its tail is many times bigger than the Sun itself. (continued below)

Above: A SOHO coronagraph image of Comet NEAT and the Sun on Feb. 17, 2003. The horizontal line near the head of the comet is a digital imaging artifact caused by saturation of camera pixels. [more]

On Feb. 18th, the date of closest approach or "perihelion," Comet NEAT will lie just 0.1 AU from the Sun--well inside the orbit of Mercury. (The radius of Mercury's orbit is 0.4 AU.) Will the comet continue to brighten? Break apart? Or fizzle out? Stay tuned and find out.

MOON CORONA: Japanese photographer Sho Endo went outside on Saturday night to watch a close encounter between Jupiter and the Moon ... and saw this lovely Moon corona. Not to be confused with 22-deg. Moon halos, which are caused by ice crystals in high cirrus clouds, Moon coronas are smaller (only a few degrees across) and more often caused by airborne water droplets. (Ice crystals and pollen can cause Moon coronas, too.) "The color of the corona changed according to the state of clouds drifting by," says Endo. "The contrast with nearby Jupiter was beautiful."

WEB LINKS: NOAA FORECAST | GLOSSARY | SPACE WEATHER TUTORIAL | BECOME A SUBSCRIBER | SpaceWeather PHONE

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 are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On 17 Feb 2003 there were 495 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

Feb. 2003 Earth-asteroid encounters

ASTEROID

MISS DISTANCE

MAG.

2003 BR47

Feb. 3

21 LD

2002 VP69

Feb. 17

29 LD

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.

LEONIDS 2002: The Leonids have come and gone, but our meteor gallery keeps growing. Check out the latest additions, which include a stunning image of 44 meteors emerging from the radiant in Leo.
DAWN PLANETS: Just before dawn on Sunday, Dec. 1st, the planets Venus and Mars converged and formed a lovely triangle with the slender crescent Moon. [gallery]
SUMMER AURORAS: August was a good month for auroras. Visit our gallery and see what happened in the skies of Europe and North America.
NEARBY ASTEROID: Asteroid 2002 NY40 came so close to Earth on August 18th that people could see it through binoculars or small telescopes. [gallery]
PERSEIDS 2002: Sky watchers spotted plenty of bright shooting stars--including some colorful earthgrazers--during the 2002 Perseid meteor shower. [gallery]
AURORA SURPRISE: An unexpected geomagnetic storm began on August 1st as night fell across North America. Sky watchers spotted vivid auroras over both the United States and Canada.
CRESCENT SUN: See strange shadows, weird sunsets, eclipse dogs, crescent-eyed turkeys and extraordinary rings of fire photographed during the June 10th solar eclipse. [gallery]

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.

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.

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

The Sun from Earth -- daily images of our star 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.

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

Aurora Forecast --from the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute

Daily Solar Flare and Sunspot Data -- from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Lists of Coronal Mass Ejections -- from 1998 to 2001
What is an Iridium flare?

Vandenberg AFB missile launch schedule.

What is an Astronomical Unit, or AU?

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; Jan-Mar., 2002; Apr-Jun., 2002; Jul-Sep., 2002; Oct-Dec., 2002;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

Editor's Note: Space weather forecasts that appear on this site are formulated by Dr. Tony Phillips. They are not official statements of any government organ (including NASA) or guarantees of space weather activity. In fact, nothing that appears on spaceweather.com should be construed as an official government statement. Blame the webmaster instead!