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Solar wind speed: 358.3 km/sec density: 5.6 protons/cm3 explanation | more data Updated: Today at 0359 UT X-ray Solar Flares 6-hr max: X2 0027 UT Dec20 24-hr: X2 0027 UT Dec 20 explanation | more data Updated: Today at: 2359 UT Daily Sun: 20 Dec 14 Sunspots AR2241 and AR2242 have delta-class magnetic fields that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI Sunspot number: 120 What is the sunspot number? Updated 19 Dec 2014 Spotless Days Current Stretch: 0 days 2014 total: 1 day (<1 br=""> 2013 total: 0 days (0%) 2012 total: 0 days (0%) 2011 total: 2 days (<1 br=""> 2010 total: 51 days (14%) 2009 total: 260 days (71%) Update 19 Dec 2014 The Radio Sun 10.7 cm flux: 213 sfu explanation | more data Updated 19 Dec 2014 Current Auroral Oval: Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation Planetary K-index Now: Kp= 3 quiet 24-hr max: Kp= 3 quiet explanation | more data Interplanetary Mag. Field Btotal: 8.9 nT Bz: 7.6 nT south explanation | more data Updated: Today at 0359 UT Coronal Holes: 20 Dec 14 There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of he sun. Credit: SDO/AIA. Noctilucent Clouds As of Nov. 22, 2014, the season for southern hemisphere noctilucent clouds is underway. The south polar "daisy" pictured below is a composite of near-realtime images from NASA's AIM spacecraft. Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Penninsula, East Antarctica, Polar Updated at: 12-19-2014 09:55:04 SPACE WEATHER NOAA Forecasts Updated at: 2014 Dec 20 2200 UTC FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr CLASS M 85 % 85 % CLASS X 40 % 40 % Geomagnetic Storms: Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm Updated at: 2014 Dec 20 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes 0-24 hr 24-48 hr ACTIVE 30 % 40 % MINOR 30 % 20 % SEVERE 20 % 05 % High latitudes 0-24 hr 24-48 hr ACTIVE 10 % 10 % MINOR 25 % 25 % SEVERE 65 % 60 %

Sunday, Dec. 21, 2014 What's up in space Learn to photograph Northern Lights like a pro. Sign up for Peter Rosen's Aurora Photo Courses in Abisko National Park. WEEKEND MAGNETIC STORMS? NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% to 65% chance of minor geomagnetic storms this weekend when a pair of CMEs is expected to sideswipe Earth's magnetic field. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras after nightfall. Aurora alerts: text, voice X-FLARE (UPDATED): Big sunspot AR2242 erupted on Saturday, Dec. 20th @ 00:27 UT, producing an intense X1.8-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the explosion's extreme ultraviolet flash: A pulse of X-rays and UV radiation from the flare reached Earth minutes after the explosion. This "solar EMP" ionized our planet's upper atmosphere and blacked out HF radio communications over Australia and the South Pacific. Below 10 MHz, transmissions were strongly attenuated for more than two hours. The explosion also hurled a CME into space. Click to view a movie of the cloud as recorded by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory: Although the instigating flare was Earth-directed, it appears that the CME is not. The bulk of the cloud will sail far south of he sun-Earth line, missing our planet. Solar flare alerts: text, voice Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery RADS ON A PLANE, CONTINUED: Regular readers may remember last month's reports by Dr. Tony Phillips of radiation measurements inside commercial airplanes. During a cross-country trip between Reno NV and Washington DC, he absorbed a dose of ionizing radiation equal to about 3 dental x-rays. However, not every trip is so "radioactive." On Dec. 17th, he flew from Reno to San Francisco--a short hop over the Sierras to attend the American Geophysical Union meeting--and the dose was much less. These curves show his measurements during the flight: Compared to last month's travel, there was relatively little radiation on this flight. From take-off to landing, the total dose was only about 3% of a dental X-ray -- a hundred times less than before. Why so little? For one thing, the flight was brief, less than an hour long. Moreover, it was low. The cruising altitude of the small commuter jet was only 26,000 feet compared to as much as 39,000 feet for last month's cross-country flights. When it comes to "rads on a plane," altitude matters. The source of the radiation is cosmic rays from space; the closer you are to space, the more radiation you are going to absorb. Short, low flights like the Reno to San Francisco hop are best for avoiding exposure. The data come from a pair of radiation detectors routinely flown to the stratosphere onboard Earth to Sky Calculus Space Weather Buoys. The pager-sized devices are sensitive to ionizing radiation such as X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. Ideally, the two detectors should register the same dose rates throughout the flight. Slight differences between the two curves are an indication of the uncertainty in the measurements. It is important to note that the sensors Phillips carried onboard the plane do not detect one of the most important forms of radiation: neutrons. Neutrons provide much of the biologically effective radiation dose at altitudes of interest to aviation and space tourism. To account for these uncharged particles, the doses discussed above should be doubled or tripled. To improve our estimates of the total dose rate, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus are evaluating neutron detectors for future balloon missions and plane flights. Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery Realtime Meteor Photo Gallery All Sky Fireball Network Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com. On Dec. 20, 2014, the network reported 20 fireballs. (19 sporadics, 1 December Leonis Minorid) In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies] 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 December 21, 2014 there were 1524 potentially hazardous asteroids. Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid Date(UT) Miss Distance Size 2007 EJ Jan 12 68.9 LD 1.1 km 1991 VE Jan 17 40.6 LD 1.0 km 2004 BL86 Jan 26 3.1 LD 650 m 2008 CQ Jan 31 4.8 LD 36 m 2000 EE14 Feb 27 72.5 LD 1.6 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. Essential web links NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center The official U.S. government space weather bureau Atmospheric Optics The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. Solar Dynamics Observatory Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. STEREO 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. Daily Sunspot Summaries from the NOAA Space Environment Center Heliophysics the underlying science of space weather Space Weather Alerts more links... end quote from:  http://www.spaceweather.com/