Spaceweather news

Solar wind speed: 396.3 km/sec density: 9.0 protons/cm3 explanation | more data Updated: Today at 2200 UT X-ray Solar Flares 6-hr max: B6 2349 UT Oct12 24-hr: C1 1155 UT Oct12 explanation | more data Updated: Today at: 2359 UT Daily Sun: 12 Oct 16 All of these sunspots are quiet and stable. Solar flare activity remains very low. Credit: SDO/HMI Sunspot number: 56 What is the sunspot number? Updated 12 Oct 2016 Spotless Days Current Stretch: 0 days 2016 total: 21 days (8%) 2015 total: 0 days (0%) 2014 total: 1 day (<1%) 2013 total: 0 days (0%) 2012 total: 0 days (0%) 2011 total: 2 days (<1%) 2010 total: 51 days (14%) 2009 total: 260 days (71%) Updated 12 Oct 2016 The Radio Sun 10.7 cm flux: 99 sfu explanation | more data Updated 12 Oct 2016 Current Auroral Oval: Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 1 quiet 24-hr max: Kp= 1 quiet explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 9.3 nT Bz: 7.5 nT north explanation | more data Updated: Today at 2200 UT Coronal Holes: 12 Oct 16 Solar wind flowing from this broad coronal hole could reach Earth as early as Oct 15. Credit: NASA/SDO. Noctilucent Clouds NASA's AIM spacecraft has suffered an anomaly, and a software patch is required to fix it. As a result, current noctilucent cloud images will not return until late September 2016. Switch view: Europe, USA, Asia, Polar Updated at: 08-06-2016 16:55:02 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts Updated at: 2016 Oct 12 2200 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: 2016 Oct 12 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes 0-24 hr 24-48 hr ACTIVE 35 % 30 % MINOR 10 % 25 % SEVERE 01 % 05 % High latitudes 0-24 hr 24-48 hr ACTIVE 15 % 15 % MINOR 20 % 20 % SEVERE 20 % 20 %

Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 What's up in space           Directly under the Arctic Circle! Marianne's Arctic Xpress in Tromsø offers fjord, whale and wildlife tours by day, aurora tours by night. Book Now and get a 10% discount on combo day and night adventures.   EARTH-DIRECTED CME: A magnetic filament in the sun's northern hemisphere erupted on Oct. 8th, hurling a faint CME (movie) into space. NOAA analysts say the storm cloud could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on Oct. 13th. At this time of year, even a minor CME impact can spark bright polar auroras, so stay tuned. Free: Aurora Alerts. SURFING THE HELIOSPHERIC CURRENT SHEET: On Oct. 10th, Earth passed through a fold in the heliospheric current sheet.  The crossing sparked bright auroras around the Arctic Circle.  "The lights were fantastic," reports Helge Mortensen, who photographed the display over Kattfjordvannet, Norway: "This little pond had a thin layer of ice," he points out. "I guess winter is getting closer." Many people have never heard of the heliospheric current sheet. It is one of the biggest things in the solar system--a vast undulating system of electrical currents shaped like the skirt of a ballerina: picture. Earth dips in and out of it all the time. Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery URSUS STRATOSPHERUS: To fund their cosmic ray research, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus have flown 20 pairs of brown bears to the edge of space. Get your own pair for only $39.95--space helmets included. They make great gifts and Christmas stocking stuffers. Each adorable duo comes with a greeting card showing the bears in flight and certifying their trip to the stratosphere. More funky edge-of-space gifts may be found in the Earth to Sky store.  All proceeds support cosmic ray balloon launches and STEM education. THE INTERCONTINENTAL SWx BALLOON NETWORK: For the past 2 years, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus have been launching "space weather balloons" to measure cosmic rays in the atmosphere.  Regular flights over California show that atmospheric radiation is intensifying in response to changes in the solar cycle.  Now, our monitoring program is going global.  In recent months we have been developing launch sites in multiple US states as well as South America and Europe. This is what the Intercontinental Space Weather Balloon Network looks like in October 2016: Recent additions expand our coverage north of the Arctic Circle (Sweden) and closer to the core of the South Atlantic Anomaly (Argentina).  We also hope to add a site in Antarctica in early 2018. Why launch balloons from so many places? Deep-space cosmic rays bombard Earth from all directions, day and night. A single launch site is not enough to reveal the uneven shielding of our planet's magnetic field and the complicated response of our atmosphere to changes in solar activity.  Our first test of the network validated these ideas. During a 48 hour period from August 20th-22nd we launched 4 balloons in quick succession from southern Chile, California, Oregon, and Washington. The ascending payloads sampled atmospheric radiation (X-rays and gamma-rays, 10 keV - 20 MeV) from ground level to the stratosphere over a geographical range of more than 10,000 km. Here are the results: The curves show radiation levels vs. altitude for each of the four sites. Numbers in parentheses are magnetic latitude--a measure of distance from Earth's magnetic equator.  At a glance, we can see that atmospheric radiation is a strong function of magnetic latitude. Washington State at +53o registered more than twice the dose rate of southern Chile at -29o. Why is Washington so high? Of all the sites, it is closest to Earth's magnetic north pole, which provides less shielding against incoming cosmic rays. The more interesting question may be, Why is Chile so low? The Chilean balloon flew into the outskirts of the South Atlantic Anomaly, a zone of high space radiation. Bob Schaefer of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, who recently mapped the South Atlantic Anomaly from space, has a possible answer: "Earth's magnetic field lines over central South America are nearly horizontal, which deflects lower energy vertically downward particles before they make it to your balloon's detector." To explore these findings further, we are planning additional network launches every month from now on, adding new sites as often as possible. A launch planned from inside the Arctic Circle in January 2017 is especially noteworthy. Stay tuned for updates from the Intercontinental SWx Balloon Network.