Space Weather

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SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions

http://www.spaceweather.com/

[Racheal59]

Cool! thx for sharing.

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http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/412910.html

Huge asteroid could be on collision course with Mars
By JOHN JOHNSON JR.
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES | An asteroid similar to the one that flattened forests in Siberia in 1908 could plow into Mars in the next few weeks, scientists say.

Researchers attached to NASA’s Near-Earth Objects Program, who like to call themselves the Solar System Defense Team, have been tracking the asteroid for days.

The scientists based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, Calif., put the chances that it will hit the Red Planet at about one in 300. That is better odds than any known asteroid has ever had of hitting Earth since the Siberian strike, the scientists said.

The unnamed asteroid is about 160 feet across, which puts it in the range of the famous Siberian rock. The largest impact in recent history, that explosion felled 80 million trees in an area of 830 square miles.

Concerns about another strike on Earth led to the creation of the Near-Earth Objects Program and the pursuit of research into possible ways of deflecting a killer asteroid.

Scientists say it is unclear what the effects of such an impact on Mars would be. The Martian atmosphere is so thin that an asteroid would probably plummet all the way to the surface instead of breaking up above ground, as happened in the Siberian event.

It would probably create a large crater and send dust high into the atmosphere, scientists said. Depending on where it hit, the plume could be visible through telescopes on Earth.

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http://www.spaceweather.com/

NEW YEARS COMET: After a 13.6 year absence, Comet 8P/Tuttle is once again traveling through the inner solar system and on Jan. 1st and 2nd it makes its closest approach to Earth--only 24 million miles away. The emerald-colored comet will brighten to a predicted magnitude of 5.8, visible to the unaided eye from dark-sky sites and a fine target for backyard telescopes: sky map.

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http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...698526,00.html

Finally, the bad news: 2007 WD5 has only a 1-in-75 chance of actually hitting Mars, which means astronomers would be wise to be pessimistic. But the possibility of impact calls to mind a loosely related incident that occurred almost exactly 100 years ago, when something exploded above the Tunguska region of Siberia, flattening trees in a 25-mile radius, their trunks pointing outward from the epicenter of the blast. Scientists are pretty sure it was a comet or asteroid — about the same size as 2007 WD5, as it happens — that disintegrated from its own shock wave as it plowed through the atmosphere. (UFO enthusiasts have long been convinced it was a flying saucer that somehow made it across trillions of miles of interstellar space safely, only to blow up above Russia.) The scientific explanation would account for the aerial explosion, and also the fact that no crater has been found.

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SOLAR ACTIVITY: On Dec. 31st around 0110 UTC, something exploded just behind the sun's eastern limb. The blast unleashed a C8-class solar flare and hurled a bright CME into space. These events may signal the impending return of large sunspot 978, which has spent the past two weeks transiting the far side of the sun.

Almost a full day after the explosion, astrophotographer Gary Palmer of Los Angeles trained his SolarMax90 on the eastern limb of the sun and saw "no more flares, but plenty of undulating plasma."



The blast site is still seething with activity. But what is it? An old sunspot? An unstable magnetic filament? We should get a better view later today or tomorrow as the sun's rotation brings the tempest over
the limb into a direct line of sight from Earth. Stay tuned for updates


http://www.spaceweather.com/

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METEOR SHOWER: Earth is about to pass through a debris stream from near-Earth asteroid 2003 EH1, producing the annual Quadrantid meteor shower. Forecasters expect a brief but intense peak of 50+ meteors per hour over Earth's northern hemisphere sometime between 0200 UTC and 0700 UTC on Friday morning, Jan. 4th. (Subtract 5 hours to convert UTC to EST.) The timing favors observers in the eastern USA, Europe and western parts of Asia: sky map.
http://www.spaceweather.com/

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SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 321.6 km/sec
density: 1.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1044 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A6 0550 UT Jan03
24-hr: A6 0550 UT Jan03
explanation | more data

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http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2...excitement.htm

Is a New Solar Cycle Beginning?
http://spaceweather.com/

SOLAR CYCLE 24 BEGINS: Solar physicists have been waiting for the appearance of a reversed-polarity sunspot to signal the start of the next solar cycle. The wait is over. On Jan. 4th, a magnetically reversed sunspot emerged at solar latitude 30 N, shown in this photo taken by Greg Piepol of Rockville, Maryland:

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this is some concern about this one
on this board that is
(2007 TU24)
but i do not personally see tis as an issue

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2007%20TU24;orb=1





http://www.spaceweather.com/

Jan. 2008 Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid Date(UT) Miss Distance Mag. Size
2005 WJ56 Jan. 10 10.9 LD 11 1.2 km
2008 AF3 Jan. 13 1.0 LD 14 27 m
1685 Toro Jan. 24 76 LD 13 6.2 km
2007 TU24 Jan. 29 1.4 LD 10 400 m


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.

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TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE: On Wednesday evening, February 20th, the full Moon over Europe and the Americas will turn a delightful shade of red. It's a total lunar eclipse—the last one until Dec. 2010. When should you look? Click here for an animated timetable.


unhttp://www.spaceweather.com/

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PACIFIC FIREBALL: On Tuesday morning, Feb. 19th, at approximately 5:30 a.m. Pacific time, people in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana witnessed a spectacular fireball. It exploded not once but twice in midair, casting shadows and rivaling city lights. Many onlookers wondered if spy satellite USA 193 had been shot down. No, it was a small asteroid breaking up in Earth's atmosphere, a surprisingly common event. Reports of meteorites hitting the ground remain unconfirmed; stay tuned for updates.

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http://www.wired.com/science/discove...t_spaceweather

http://www.space.com/scienceastronom...ots-erupt.html


Sunspots Erupt Suddenly

The sun goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. The last peak, when sunspots were common and flares frequent, was in 2001 and 2002. The new cycle, Solar Cycle 24, began recently, scientists figure, based on a sunspot with reversed polarity appearing. But pinning down exactly when the shift occurred has proven challenging — it might have been in 2006, sun-watching scientists reported initially, or perhaps 2007, they later said.


Though forecasts vary wildly, some scientists predict Solar Cycle 24 will be intense. If so, "it could have significant impacts on telecommunications, air traffic, power grids and GPS systems," according to a NASA statement issued in December.

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http://www.spaceweather.com/

NOAA Forecasts


Updated at: 2008 Apr 07 2203 UTC
FLARE 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
CLASS M 01 % 01 %
CLASS X 01 % 01 %

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NOAA Forecasts

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/



NOAA Scales Activity
Range 1 (minor) to 5 (extreme)
NOAA Scale Past 24 hours Current
Geomagnetic Storms none
Solar Radiation Storms none
Radio Blackouts none

[lighthouse]

this is an interesting article
and it is scientific
get pased the mayan stuff
i find it hard to believe a bunch of blood thirsty
savages did that calendar
maybe it is pre flood
who knows
they knew about solar flares which we did not know about until the 17thy century
they invented the concept of 0 etc

so i have done s study on this you may find the following of interest

http://www.viewzone.com/endtime.html

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It's all about the Sun

It's ironic (or maybe not) that the Mayan Calendar is often called the "sun stone." While the calendar does have "solar" days, acknowledging the 365 days it takes for Earth to rotate around the Sun, it is also true that the Sun plays a key role in the final day of the "long count." To understand what will happen to the Sun on December 21, 2012, we need to review some scientific terms like "ecliptic," "barycenter," and "sunspots." These are important in the discussion that follows. We'll start with the most difficult one first.

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What is the Barycenter?

You've no doubt heard that Earth revolves around the sun. Well, actually, that's not quite true!

Have you heard the term "center of gravity"? It's a technical-sounding term for something pretty simple. It's the exact center of all the material (that is, mass) that makes up the object. For example, if you have a straight stick, like a ruler or yardstick, there's a place at the middle where you can balance it on your finger. That's its center of gravity.



But the center of gravity may or may not be the point that is exactly in the middle, distance-wise, of the object. Some parts of the object may be heavier (denser) than others. If you have something like a sledge hammer that is heavier on one end than the other, the center of gravity will be much closer to the heavy end than the lighter end.



To get an idea of where the center of gravity is, rest the ends of any object like the ruler or a pencil on one finger from each hand. Slowly move your fingers together without dropping the object. Your fingers will meet underneath the object's center of gravity. You can balance the object on one finger at that special place.

The actual center of gravity could be close to the surface or deep inside, depending on whether the object is flat like a ruler or a dinner plate, or "three-dimensional," like a box or a ball. And if you let the object spin (like when you throw it), it will try to spin about that point.

In the case of the Earth and the sun, both bodies actually revolve, or spin, around the very center of the mass (similar to center of gravity) between them. This point is called the "barycenter." Earth and the sun are "connected" by the gravity pulling them together. It's just like the light end and heavy end of the sledge hammer. Compared to the size of the sun, Earth is about like a flea on a cat! So the center of mass between the Earth and the sun is almost--but not quite--the very center of the sun.

In the case of a planet the size of Jupiter, which is 318 times as massive as Earth, the barycenter of Jupiter and the sun is a bit further from the sun's center. So, as Jupiter revolves around the sun, the sun itself is actually revolving around this slightly off-center point, located just outside its center. Thus, a planet the size of Jupiter will make the sun (or any star) appear to wobble a tiny bit. This picture shows you that the center of mass and barycenter can be slightly different points. It isn't meant to be very accurate!



We can take advantage of this bit of knowledge and look for large planets in other solar systems by learning to detect this type of tiny wobble in the star's position.

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For now, let's forget all the small planets and focus on Jupiter. It makes one complete trip around the Sun every 11.861773 years. There's a new theory put forth by Dr. Rollin Gillespie which shows that Jupiter, and to a smaller degree the other less massive planets, may trigger the 11 year cycle of sunspots and solar flares.

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The barycenter is not a single point in the Sun. Because the Sun is a rotating gaseous sphere, the barycenter forms a vertical, cylindrical "sleeve" that is partially inside and outside the main solar body. All of the planets have such a "sleeve," one inside the other, depending on their relative mass and the location of their barycenters. The particular sleeve representing the mass of Jupiter intersects the solar surface at 35.9 degrees North and South. This is precisely where sunspot and flare activity begin and end during each 11 year cycle.

The new cycle has already begun with the recent observation of a solar spot with reverse polarity. But some surprising activity on March 27, 2008, shows some huge eruptions with M-class radiation at about the equatorial region of the Sun. [ See Solar Map]. These surprising eruptions suggests a barycenter of disturbance from an object even more massive than Jupiter, placing the "sleeve" outside the Sun. Could this be the beginning of the Galaxy's effects (keep reading to learn more about this) on our Sun?

Scientists have noted that when Jupiter and Saturn are aligned on the same side of the Sun, the solar activity is at its minimum; when they are on opposite sides of the Sun the solar activity is at its maximum. The positions on December 21, 2012 are ideal for extreme solar activity.