Space Weather

[lighthouse]

Daily Sun: 09 Feb 09

The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI


http://www.spaceweather.com/




Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm
Updated at: 2009 Feb 09 2201 UTC
Mid-latitudes 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 05 % 05 %
MINOR 01 % 01 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

High latitudes 0-24 hr 24-48 hr
ACTIVE 05 % 05 %
MINOR 01 % 01 %
SEVERE 01 % 01 %

[WickIsTrimmed]

Is this normal? Does this inactivity indicate a lull before the storm?

[seekingtruth1]

i have no idea - I think I was posting in teh wrong thread...hahahaha

and no i wasnt smoking weed listening to teh allman brothers...posting in the wrong section.....

i lov eteh Allman brothers...sweet Melissa...lalalalala

[Rockofages]

When i was meditating upon God's word and praying sometime back, i was reading the following verses, and i felt in my Spirit that the following verses indicate America, with all the space news in this thread i thought it would be appropriate to post it here.
Obadiah Chapter1:
3. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
4. Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

If solar storm threat is true, i believe verse 4 will be fulfilled, considering the dependence of America on satellites.

[lighthouse]

http://www.spaceweather.com/

FIREBALL MANIA: Runners in Sunday's Austin marathon were astonished when a brilliant fireball raced across the Texas sky in broad daylight. The extremely-bright meteor descended at 11 am CST on Feb. 15th less than a day after the FAA reportedly warned U.S. pilots to watch for "falling space debris" from the recent satellite collision between Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251.

[lighthouse]

Fireball mania started on Friday the 13th, around 10 p.m. EST, when people in central Kentucky heard loud booms, felt their houses shake, and saw a fireball streaking through the sky: reports. "The world appeared to explode--in green!" said one eyewitness. Once again, this appears to be a natural event caused by a meteoroid. Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 collided at a speed of about 10 km/s or 22,000 mph. None of the surviving fragments should have been big enough to shake houses in Kentucky. Furthermore, US Space Command, which monitors objects in Earth orbit, has not announced a reentry over Kentucky on Feb. 13th.

Just hours before the Kentucky event, around 20:03 UT on Feb. 13th, multiple cameras in Italy recorded a fireball some 10 times brighter than a full Moon



Ferruccio Zanotti of Ferrara, Italy, recorded that same fireball and two others. Italian scientists are plotting the trajectory of the brightest fireball to estimate where it might have hit the ground; a meteorite hunt will soon be underway.

Although it is tempting to attribute the Kentucky and Italian fireballs to debris from the Feb. 10th collision of the Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 satellites, they also seem to be meteoroids, not manmade objects.

Are we experiencing a "fireball shower?" Not necessarily. Meteoroids hit Earth every day. The daily fireballs they produce, however, are seldom reported: 70% streak over uninhabited ocean; half appear in glaring daylight; many are missed because people are asleep, at work, or not looking up. This current spate of fireballs could simply be a few ordinary, random meteoroids that have attracted extraordinary attention because of the recent satellite collision. The jury is still out.

Stay tuned for updates!

[lighthouse]

SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 444.8 km/sec
density: 3.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2105 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0 2105 UT Feb16
24-hr: A0 2105 UT Feb16
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2105 UT

[lighthouse]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,494944,00.html

Strange Green Comet Passing by Earth Next Week

WASHINGTON — An odd, greenish backward-flying comet is zipping by Earth this month, as it takes its only trip toward the sun from the farthest edges of the solar system.

The comet is called Lulin, and there's a chance it can be seen with the naked eye — far from city lights, astronomers say. But you'll most likely need a telescope, or at least binoculars, to spot it.

The best opportunity is just before dawn one-third of the way up the southern sky. It should be near Saturn and two bright stars, Spica and Regula.

On Monday at 10:43 p.m. EST, it will be 38 million miles from Earth, the closest it will ever get, according to Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object program.

[George]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,494944,00.html

Strange Green Comet Passing by Earth Next Week

WASHINGTON — An odd, greenish backward-flying comet is zipping by Earth this month, as it takes its only trip toward the sun from the farthest edges of the solar system.

The comet is called Lulin, and there's a chance it can be seen with the naked eye — far from city lights, astronomers say. But you'll most likely need a telescope, or at least binoculars, to spot it.

The best opportunity is just before dawn one-third of the way up the southern sky. It should be near Saturn and two bright stars, Spica and Regula.

On Monday at 10:43 p.m. EST, it will be 38 million miles from Earth, the closest it will ever get, according to Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object program.

COSMIC COINCIDENCE:

What are the odds? On Tuesday morning, Feb. 24th, Saturn and Comet Lulin will converge in the constellation Leo only 2 degrees apart. At the same time, Comet Lulin will be making its closest approach to Earth (38 million miles), while four of Saturn's moons transit the disk of the ringed planet. Oh, and the Moon will be New, providing dark skies for anyone who wishes to see the show. All you need now ... is a telescope.

SPEEDING COMET:

"On Feb. 21st, Comet Lulin was visible to the naked eye with identical brightness as star b Vigo HP58510 with a magnitude of 5.35," reports Eddie Irizarry of the Sociedad de Astronomía del Caribe in Puerto Rico. "But what caught our attention most was Lulin's noticeable speed. Using a telescope, take a good look at the stars that surround Comet Lulin; then look again just 10 minutes later and you will see how Lulin's position has changed. It is amazing how fast this comet is moving!"

http://www.spaceweather.com/

[lighthouse]

SATURN PHOTO-OP: Something is about to happen on Saturn that is so pretty, even Hubble will pause to take a look. Backyard astronomers can see it, too. Four of Saturn's moons will transit Saturn and cast their shadows on the planet's cloudtops at the same time. The action begins at 3 a.m. PST on Tuesday, Feb. 24th: full story.

COMET LULIN AT ITS BEST: Tonight, Comet Lulin is making its closest approach to Earth. At a distance of only 38 million miles, Lulin may be seen with the naked eye. It looks like a faint patch of gas next to Saturn in the constellation Leo. Point your telescope at that patch and you will see a lovely green comet. The best time to look is around 1 o'clock in the morning when the comet hangs high in the southern sky: finder chart.
http://www.spaceweather.com/

[lighthouse]

The sun is blank--no sunspots.

SPACE WEATHER
Current conditions
Solar wind
speed: 453.1 km/sec
density: 2.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1045 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0 1040 UT Feb24
24-hr: A0 1040 UT Feb24
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1040 UT

[Beautiful Feet]

4. Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

Amazing verse! I never read it quite like that before. The eagle is our national symbol and we are very dependent on our "nest" in space.

[Rockofages]

Amazing verse! I never read it quite like that before. The eagle is our national symbol and we are very dependent on our "nest" in space.

Well there was a news in another thread that a global warming satellite of US just fell off the cliff.

[lighthouse]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,503164,00.html


Surprise Asteroid Makes Near-Miss of Earth

Monday, March 02, 2009


Wait! Did you hear that whooshing sound?

A small asteroid buzzed by Earth Monday, though only real astronomy geeks in the Pacific would have noticed.

The rock, estimated to be no more than 200 feet wide, zoomed past our planet at an altitude of 40,000 miles at 1:44 p.m. universal time — or 8:44 EST.

Dubbed 2009 DD45, it was discovered only on Friday by Australian astronomers.

Forty thousand miles may sound like a lot, but it's only about one-seventh of the way to the moon, and less than twice as far out as many telecommunications satellites.

Had 2009 DD45 hit the Earth, it would have exploded on or near the surface with the force of a large nuclear blast — not very reassuring when you consider humanity had only about three days' notice.

According to the Australian news Web site Crikey, the asteroid is likely to be drawn in by Earth's gravity, meaning it may return for many more near misses in the future.

[caligal]

[caligal]

[lighthouse]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509613,00.html

Close Call: Newly Discovered Asteroid Whizzes Past Earth

Wednesday, March 18, 2009


PASADENA, California — Scientists say a newly discovered asteroid whizzed harmlessly past Earth on Wednesday, the second close encounter in a month.

The small space rock dubbed 2009 FH flew within 49,000 miles of the Earth's surface at 8:17 a.m. EDT.

Don Yeomans, who heads NASA's Near-Earth Object Program, says there was never any chance of an impact.

The asteroid, measuring 43 feet and 95 feet across, was spotted Monday night by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona.

An asteroid this size usually comes this close to Earth every few months.

Wednesday's flyby was farther away than another asteroid close call earlier this month. That asteroid was about the size of one that blasted Siberia a century ago came within 41,000 miles of Earth.

[caligal]

Is it normal for the sun to be blank this long? I check this thread everyday.Thanks for keeping it current.

[lighthouse]

no it is not normal

Daily Sun: 20 Mar 09

The sun is blank--no sunspots. Credit: SOHO/MDI


Sunspot number: 0
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 18 Mar. 2009


http://www.spaceweather.com/

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 March 20, 2009 there were 1043 potentially hazardous asteroids.

[lighthouse]

http://www.spaceweather.com/

SUNDAY FIREBALL: According to news reports, people from Maryland to Virginia witnessed bright lights in the sky and heard rumbling explosions before 10 pm local time on Sunday, March 29th. It was probably a meteoritic fireball, but eyewitness accounts do not yet rule out the reentry of space junk. If you witnessed or photographed the event, please submit a report.

SOLAR ACTIVITY: With no sunspots to break the monotony, the face of the sun has been blank and quiet for nearly a month. The edge of the sun is another matter. "There are plenty of prominences dancing around the solar limb," reports Pete Lawrence, UK

VOLCANIC CLOUDS: Alaska's Mt. Redoubt volcano has erupted no fewer than 19 times since March 22nd, and several of the larger blasts have hurled plumes of ash and gas into the lower stratosphere. The GOME-2 (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment) sensor onboard Europe's MetOp-A satellite has been tracking Redoubt's sulfur dioxide clouds




The sun is blank--no sunspots.


On March 30, 2009 there were 1049 potentially hazardous asteroids.