Intuitive fred888: Geomagnetic storm knocks out all ATM and Credit card transactions many places around the world yesterday

begin quote from:http://spaceweather.com/ Where I am now in Mt. Shasta for example, the Internet provider

went down locally caused by the storm so all ATM and Credit Card transactions had to be phoned in and couldn't be done automatically. This is one reason you want to be carrying some cash during this storm because you might not be able to make purchases as you are traveling or locally for awhile using ANY cards.
ONE DAY LATER: I TALKED TO ONE OF THE OWNERS OF THE INTERNET PROVIDER LOCALLY AND HE SAID HIS SERVICE NEVER WENT DOWN. BUT HE DID SAY SOME BUSINESSES WERE HAVING THEIR OWN PROBLEMS FOR WHATEVER THE REASON. HE DIDN'T KNOW.

Solar wind
speed: 552.0 km/sec
density: 6.7 protons/cm³
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 1610 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A6 1552 UT Jul22
24-hr: A6 1552 UT Jul22
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1600 UT

Daily Sun: 22 Jul 17

The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SDO/HMI

Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 22 Jul 2017

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 4 days
2017 total: 48 days (25%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
2015 total: 0 days (0%)
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%)
Updated 22 Jul 2017

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 69 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 22 Jul 2017

Current Auroral Oval:

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

Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 5 storm
explanation | more data

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 6.8 nT
B_z: -0.2 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 1610 UT

Coronal Holes: 22 Jul 17

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

Noctilucent Clouds NASA's AIM spacecraft, which monitors NLCs from space, recent moved into a new orbit around Earth. Daily data are currently unavailable while the spacecraft's pointing settles.

Switch view: Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, Polar

Updated at: 02-24-2017 17:55:02

SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts

Updated at: 2017 Jul 21 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: 2017 Jul 21 2200 UTC

Mid-latitudes

	0-24 hr	24-48 hr
ACTIVE	25 %	10 %
MINOR	10 %	01 %
SEVERE	01 %	01 %

High latitudes

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


		Saturday, Jul. 22, 2017
	What's up in space	Saturday, Jul. 22, 2017

Lights Over lapland is excited to announce that Autumn Aurora Adventures are available for immediate booking! Reserve your adventure of a lifetime in Abisko National Park, Sweden today!

GEOMAGNETIC STORM: A minor (G1-class) geomagnetic storm occurred on July 22nd between 0900 and 1200 UT due to the buffeting of Earth's magnetic field by a high-speed stream of solar wind. NOAA forecasters say there is a 45% chance of more minor storms today, dropping to 15% tomorrow as Earth exits the solar wind stream. Free: Aurora Alerts

CME SWEEPS ASIDE COSMIC RAYS: On July 16th, a CME hit Earth's magnetic field, sparking two days of geomagnetic storms and beautiful southern auroras. The solar storm cloud also swept aside some of the cosmic rays currently surrounding Earth. Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a space weather balloon to the stratosphere hours after the CME arrived. We detected a 7% decrease in X-rays and gamma-rays (two tracers of secondary cosmic rays). Neutron monitors in the Arctic and Antarctic recorded similar decrements. For instance, these data from the Bartol Research Institute show a nearly 8% drop in cosmic ray neutrons reaching the South Pole:

This is called a "Forbush Decrease," named after physicist Scott E. Forbush who first described it in the 20th century. Wherever CMEs go, cosmic rays are deflected by magnetic fields inside the solar storm clouds. As a result, when solar activity is high, cosmic radiation around Earth is relatively low--a yin-yang relationship that holds throughout all phases of the solar cycle.

Lately, cosmic rays around Earth have been intensifying as the solar cycle plunges toward minimum. The CME of July 16th reversed that trend--but only for a few days. Solar activity has returned to low levels and cosmic rays are on the rise again.
Why do we care about cosmic rays? For one thing, they penetrate commercial airlines, dosing passengers and flight crews so much that pilots are classified as occupational radiation workers. Some research shows that cosmic rays can seed clouds and trigger lightning, potentially altering weather and climate. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias in the general population.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery

SOLAR ECLIPSE SPACE PENDANTS: Would you like to support our Solar Eclipse Balloon Network? Here's one way: Buy a space pendant. This solar eclipse-themed necklace flew to the stratosphere on July 2, 2017, attached to the payload of an Earth to Sky Calculus space weather balloon:

The payload contained more just like it. If you buy one now for $79.95, we will fly it back to the stratosphere during the Great American Solar Eclipse on August 21, 2017, where it will be enveloped by the Moon's cool shadow above our launch site in Oregon. No additional charge! Just make a note in the COMMENTS BOX of the shopping cart: "Please fly my pendant into the eclipse!" Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again.

More items from the edge of space may be found in the Earth to Sky Store. All proceeds support atmospheric radiation monitoring and hands-on STEM education.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All proceeds support hands-on STEM education

MEANWHILE ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN: Three days ago, big sunspot AR2665 rotated off the solar disk, beginning a two-week transit of the farside of the sun. AR2665 may no longer be visible, but we know it's still active. On July 20th, a coronal mass ejection (CME) billowed over the edge of the sun, signaling an explosion in the sunspot's magnetic canopy:

This means another slice of the Solar System is having its cosmic rays scooped up. A Forbush Decrease is underway in the wake of the CME. Earth will not be affected this time, however, because the CME is moving in a completely different direction. In the environment of our planet, cosmic rays from deep space are once again penetrating without the push-back of solar explosions.

Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery

Realtime Aurora 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 Jul. 22, 2017, the network reported 14 fireballs.
(12 sporadics, 1 July Pegasid, 1 alpha Capricornid)

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 July 22, 2017 there were 1803 potentially hazardous asteroids.

Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid	Date(UT)	Miss Distance	Velocity (km/s)	Diameter (m)
2007 MB4	2017-Jul-16	14.5 LD	9.6	107
2017 NS5	2017-Jul-17	13.4 LD	22.6	247
2017 NX5	2017-Jul-18	10.2 LD	13.4	51
2017 BS5	2017-Jul-23	3.1 LD	5.8	54
2011 CC22	2017-Aug-04	15.5 LD	18.4	186
2014 OA339	2017-Aug-13	12.3 LD	10	47
3122	2017-Sep-01	18.5 LD	13.5	5376
2014 RC	2017-Sep-11	15.1 LD	8.9	16

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.

Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere

Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here:

This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California.

What is this all about? Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 13% since 2015:

Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

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