FARSIDE BLAST: A magnetic active region behind the sun's eastern limb erupted during the late hours of Jan. 6th. SOHO recorded the flying debris. In a few days the blast site will rotate onto the Earthside of the sun for closer inspection. Stay tuned.
INCOMING CME? A magnetic filament in the sun's northern hemisphere erupted on Jan. 5th and hurled a CME in the general direction of Earth. At first it appeared that the cloud would sail north of Earth and completely miss our planet. Subsequent work by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab suggests a different outcome: the CME might deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on Jan. 7th. Click to view an animated forecast track:
NOAA forecasters are estimating a 20% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Jan 7-8 when the CME is expected to arrive. High latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras. Storm alerts: text, voice.
BE ALERT FOR MOON HALOES: Across much of the United States, there's not much snow on the ground. There is, however, ice in the air. You can see it around the Moon:
"There was a remarkable halo around the Moon this Friday evening," says photographer Dan Bush of Albany, Missouri. "It was the most vivid and long lasting one I've seen in 15+ years."
Moon haloes are caused by ice crystals in cirrus clouds 5 to 10 km above the ground. Crystals catch the light of the Moon and bend its rays into a luminous ring, as shown above. With the full Moon only two days away, now is a good time to be alert for Moon haloes.
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Solar wind
speed: 455.9 km/sec
density: 4.7 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1456 UT
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X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1 1354 UT Jan07
24-hr: C2 0009 UT Jan07
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1400 UT
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Daily Sun: 07 Jan 12
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Sunspots 1390 and 1392 are crackling with low-level C-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
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Sunspot number: 118
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 06 Jan 2012
Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
Since 2004: 821 days
Typical Solar Min: 486 days
Updated 06 Jan 2012
The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 136 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 06 Jan 2012
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Current Auroral Oval:
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Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
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Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2 quiet
explanation | more data
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Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.0 nT
Bz: 0.7 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1457 UT
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Coronal Holes: 07 Jan 12
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A minor solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on Jan. 13-14. Credit: SDO/AIA.
