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: 428.9 km/s
density: 5.7 protons/cm³
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 0946 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: B2 0930 UT May18
24-hr: B2 0125 UT May18
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 0945 UT

Daily Sun: 16 May '03
None of these small sunspots pose a significant threat for strong solar flares. Image credit: SOHO/MDI

The Far Side of the Sun

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

Sunspot Number: 81
What is the sunspot number?
Updated: 17 May 2003

Coronal Holes:

Earth will enter a solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole on or about May 21st. Image credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope.
More about coronal holes

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 4.3 nT
B_z: 3.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 0947 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 May 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 May 17 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes

	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
ACTIVE	20 %	20 %
MINOR	10 %	15 %
SEVERE	01 %	05 %

High latitudes

	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
ACTIVE	35 %	35 %
MINOR	15 %	20 %
SEVERE	05 %	05 %

What's Up in Space -- 18 May 2003
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LUNAR ECLIPSE: On May 15th, sky watchers from North America to Europe saw the normally-bright full moon disappear inside Earth's shadow. It was the first lunar eclipse of 2003. The sunlit sky was still bright in western North America when the eclipse began on Thursday evening. Mike O'Leary captured this blue-sky picture of the fading moon over El Cajon, California.

More pictures: Lunar Eclipse Gallery

TRANSITS: Some people were watching carefully for a hard-to-see transit of the International Space Station (ISS) across the eclipsed moon on May 15th. John Nordlie of Bloomington, Minnesota, saw a transit--but it wasn't the ISS. "I was holding a digital camera above the eyepiece of my telescope," says Nordlie, "when this plane flew in front of the moon:"

Photographers of last week's Mercury transit also caught a remarkable number of airplanes flying in front of the Sun. The sky is a busy place.

AURORA OUTLOOK: Geomagnetic activity is subsiding as Earth exits a high-speed solar wind stream. The next promising dates to watch for auroras will be May 19th, when a solar wind gust could briefly buffet Earth's magnetic field, and May 21st-22nd, when our planet will enter a longer-lasting solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the sun. Would you like a phone call when auroras appear over your hometown? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE.

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 18 May 2003 there were 511 known Potentially
Hazardous Asteroids

May 2003 Earth-asteroid encounters

ASTEROID	DATE (UT)	MISS DISTANCE	MAG.
6489 Golevka	May 20	36 LD	16

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. 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.

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?

Mirages: Mirages in Finland; An Introduction to Mirages;

NOAA Solar Flare and Sunspot Data: 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; Jan-Mar., 2003; Apr-Jun., 2003;

Recent International Astronomical Union Circulars

Editor's Note: Space weather and other forecasts that appear on this site are formulated by Dr. Tony Phillips. They are not official statements of any government agency (including NASA) nor should they be construed as guarantees of space weather or other celestial activity.