SOLAR WEATHER
and some interesting space stuff

2009

compiled by Dee Finney

updated  -   11-30-09

JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH - APRIL - MAY  - JUNE - JULY -
 

AUGUST - SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER - NOVEMBER - DECEMBER

 

THIS COMPILATION IS BEING DONE IN HONOR OF KENT STEADMAN
OF  www.cyberspaceorbit.com  who left his earthly abode in 2008

2008 SOLAR WEATHER

PAGE 11 - NOVEMBER 2009

On January 6, 2009 there were 1014 potentially hazardous asteroids.
On February 2, 2009, there were 1019 potentially hazardous asteroids.
On March 2nd, there were 1033 potentially hazardous asteroids.
On April 8th, there were 1050 potentially hazardous asteroids.
On May 3, there were 1054 potentially hazardous asteroids.
On June 2, there were 1061 potentially hazardous asteroids
On July 23rd, there are 1067 potentially hazardous asteroids.
On August 31st, there are 1068 potentially hazardous asteroids.
On September 21, there are 1069 potentially hazardous asteroids.
On October 18, there are 1078 potentially hazardous asteroids.
On November 1, there are 1077 potentially hazardous asteroids.
On November 18, there are 1080 potentially hazardous asteroids
 
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.
 
Oct. 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2001 CV26
Oct. 8
9.8 LD
13
2.2 km
2009 TJ
Oct. 13
10.8 LD
18
130 m
2009 TM8
Oct. 17
0.9 LD
17
10 m
2009 TF8
Oct. 17
7.6 LD
19
20 m
2009 TH8
Oct. 19
4.5 LD
18
45 m
2009 UE
Oct. 19
2.5 LD
19
40 m
2009 UD
Oct. 20
2.0 LD
17
17 m
1999 AP10
Oct. 20
29.7 LD
13
2.7 km
2009 TO8
Oct. 21
7.4 LD
19
27 m
2009 UJ
Oct. 22
6.8 LD
19
25 m


 


 

On November 3, 2009 there were 1077 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Nov. 2009 Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Mag.
Size
2009 UW87
Oct. 31
1.6 LD
18
11 m
2009 UK14
Nov. 1
9.1 LD
20
29 m
2006 JY26
Nov. 2
6.7 LD
22
10 m
2000 XK44
Nov. 4
28.8 LD
13
1.1 km
2000 UJ1
Nov. 7
43.3 LD
15
1.2 km
2000 TO64
Nov. 10
44.2 LD
14
1.9 km
2009 UK20
Nov. 12
6.5 LD
20
20 m
2009 VX

Nov 12

2.6 LD

17

26 m

2009 VR

Nov 13

6.6 LD

21

10 m

2009 VC1

Nov 18

6.0 LD

19

21 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.

 

 

 

 

NEBULA - THE RIGHT HAND OF APOLLO

TOWARD THE END OF TIME
IT'S THE DANGER OF THE SUN

Explore the Sunspot Cycle

 

11-30-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 271.8 km/sec
density: 1.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Nov30
24-hr: A0
0125 UT Nov30
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

UPSIDE-DOWN RAINBOWS: 'tis the season for upside-down rainbows. Just yesterday, one appeared over Dothan, Alabama:

"I've never seen anything like it before," says photographer Maria Doty. "It was a very unusual sight and the colors were bright."

The technical name for this phenomenon is circumzenithal arc or "CZA" for short--and it's no rainbow. CZAs are formed by sunlight shining through plate-shaped ice crystals in high clouds. Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley calls it "the most beautiful of all ice haloes." First timers often describe the CZA as an 'upside down rainbow' and "someone has also likened it to 'a grin in the sky,'" he adds.

Circumzenithal arcs typically appear in late autumn and early winter when the air is icy and the sun is low. "The CZA forms only when sun is less than 32.3° high," notes Cowley. As winter solstice approaches, "upside down rainbows" will become increasingly common. Look for them!

 

11-29-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 301.6 km/sec
density: 0.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2343 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Nov29
24-hr: A0
2340 UT Nov29
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-28-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 342.7 km/sec
density: 0.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2045 UT Nov28
24-hr: A0
2045 UT Nov28
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

EXTRATERRESTRIAL AURORAS: Lately, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has been monitoring some lovely Northern Lights--on Saturn! Saturn's auroras tower 750 miles above the planet's atmosphere, forming a ring of shimmering light wider than Earth itself. Mission scientist Andy Ingersoll discusses the findings in a 40 MB video from NASA.

 

11-27-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 331.0 km/sec
density: 0.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2335 UT Nov27
24-hr: A0
2335 UT Nov27
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-26-09 - No sunspot today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 385.5 km/sec
density: 2.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1847 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
1345 UT Nov26
24-hr: A0
1345 UT Nov26
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1845 UT

 

11-25-09 - No sunspot today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 429.7 km/sec
density: 0.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2155 UT Nov25
24-hr: A3
0055 UT Nov25
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-24-09 -  Sunspot 1033 has disappeared

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 449.5 km/sec
density: 4.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1836 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Nov24
24-hr: A2
1655 UT Nov24
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
Monster Waves on the Sun are Real 11.24.2009

 

November 24, 2009: Sometimes you really can believe your eyes. That's what NASA's STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft are telling researchers about a controversial phenomenon on the sun known as the "solar tsunami."

Years ago, when solar physicists first witnessed a towering wave of hot plasma racing along the sun's surface, they doubted their senses. The scale of the thing was staggering. It rose up higher than Earth itself and rippled out from a central point in a circular pattern millions of kilometers in circumference. Skeptical observers suggested it might be a shadow of some kind—a trick of the eye—but surely not a real wave.

"Now we know," says Joe Gurman of the Solar Physics Lab at the Goddard Space Flight Center. "Solar tsunamis are real."

The twin STEREO spacecraft confirmed their reality in February 2009 when sunspot 11012 unexpectedly erupted. The blast hurled a billion-ton cloud of gas (a "CME") into space and sent a tsunami racing along the sun's surface. STEREO recorded the wave from two positions separated by 90o, giving researchers an unprecedented view of the event:

see caption

Above: A solar tsunami seen by the STEREO spacecraft from orthogonal points of view. The gray part of the animation has been contrast-enhanced by subtracting successive pairs of images, resulting in a "difference movie." [larger movie] [more information]

"It was definitely a wave," says Spiros Patsourakos of George Mason University, lead author of a paper reporting the finding in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. "Not a wave of water," he adds, "but a giant wave of hot plasma and magnetism."

The technical name is "fast-mode magnetohydrodynamical wave"—or "MHD wave" for short. The one STEREO saw reared up about 100,000 km high, and raced outward at 250 km/s (560,000 mph) packing as much energy as 2400 megatons of TNT (1029 ergs).

Solar tsunamis were discovered back in 1997 by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). In May of that year, a CME came blasting up from an active region on the sun's surface, and SOHO recorded a tsunami rippling away from the blast site. 

"We wondered," recalls Gurman, "is that a wave—or just a shadow of the CME overhead?"

SOHO's single point of view was not enough to answer the question—neither for that first wave nor for many similar events recorded by SOHO in years that followed.

The question remained open until after the launch of STEREO in 2006. At the time of the February 2009 eruption, STEREO-B was directly over the blast site while STEREO-A was stationed at right angles —"perfect geometry for cracking the mystery," says co-author Angelos Vourlidas of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. (diagram)

see captionThe physical reality of the waves has been further confirmed by movies of the waves crashing into things. "We've seen the waves reflected by coronal holes (magnetic holes in the sun's atmosphere)," says Vourlidas. "And there is a wonderful movie of a solar prominence oscillating after it gets hit by a wave. We call it the 'dancing prominence.'"

Right: The dancing prominence (circled). Watch it bounce up and down after getting hit by a faint but powerful solar tsunami: 4 MB gif animation, 54 MB Quicktime movie.

Solar tsunamis pose no direct threat to Earth. Nevertheless, they are important to study. "We can use them to diagnose conditions on the sun," notes Gurman. "By watching how the waves propagate and bounce off things, we can gather information about the sun's lower atmosphere available in no other way."

"Tsunami waves can also improve our forecasting of space weather," adds Vourlidas, "Like a bull-eye, they 'mark the spot' where an eruption takes place. Pinpointing the blast site can help us anticipate when a CME or radiation storm will reach Earth."

And they're pretty entertaining, too. "The movies," he says, "are out of this world."

Editor's note: Scroll down to the "more information" section for a selection of solar tsunami movies.

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
 

more information
A selection of solar tsunami movies:

The original research reported in this story may be found in the August 1st edition of Astrophysical Journal Letters: "'Extreme Ultraviolet Waves' are Waves: First Quadrature Observations of an Extreme Ultraviolet Wave from STEREO," by Spiros Patsourakos and Angelos Vourlidas, vol. 700, page L182.

More links:

Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO)

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)

Solar Tsunami Reflection from a Coronal Hole
 

 

11-23-09 - Sunspot 1033  - 2/rd the way across the sun
 
SOLAR ACTIVITY: For a change, there is something to see on the sun. Two new-cycle active regions are putting on a show for astronomers with backyard solar telescopes. Alan Friedman sends this picture from Buffalo, New York:

SUNSPOT 1033

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 358.6 km/sec
density: 2.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
1750 UT Nov23
24-hr: A0
1230 UT Nov23
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-22-09   Sunspot 1033  

Sunspot 1033 is a member
of new Solar Cycle 24.
Credit: SOHO/MDI

Solar wind
speed: 524.8 km/sec
density: 0.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 0153 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
1805 UT Nov21
24-hr: A1
0705 UT Nov21
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2355 UT

Earth is inside a solar wind
stream flowing from the indicated
coronal hole.
Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope
 

 

11-21-09 - Sunspot 1033  -  1032 has already faded away

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 493.1 km/sec
density: 1.8 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2342 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
1805 UT Nov21
24-hr: A1
0705 UT Nov21
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

NORTHERN LIGHTS: A solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field and causing bright auroras around the Arctic Circle. Last night in Tromsø, Norway, sky watcher Thomas Hagen looked up and saw this:

"It was stunning!" he says. "I photographed the display using a Canon 40D set at ISO 800 for 4 seconds."

Arctic people should take note of those settings. The solar wind is still blowing and the auroras could return tonight. NOAA forecasters estimate a 20%-30% chance of high-latitude geomagnetic activity.

UPDATED: November Northern Lights Gallery
[previous Novembers: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2003

 

11-20-09  Two sunspots  - 1032 and 1033

SOLAR ACTIVITY: The sun is coming to life. There are several new-cycle active regions scattered across the solar disk and the limb of the sun has some very photogenic prominences. Readers with solar telescopes should dust off their optics and take a look

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 450.4 km/sec
density: 3.0 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A3
2140 UT Nov20
24-hr: A3
2140 UT Nov20
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-19-09 Two new sunspots -  1032 and 1033 - very small

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 336.5 km/sec
density: 2.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A2
2010 UT Nov19
24-hr: A4
1105 UT Nov19
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

GREAT WESTERN FIREBALL: Yesterday, Nov. 18th, something exploded in the atmosphere above the western United States. Witnesses in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho say the fireball "turned night into day" and issued shock waves that "shook the ground" when it exploded just after midnight Mountain Standard Time. The fireball was so bright it actually turned the night sky noontime blue, as shown in this image from KSL TV in Utah:

Although the fireball appeared during the Leonid meteor shower, it was not a Leonid. Infrasound recordings of the blast suggest a small asteroid hitting Earth's atmosphere and exploding with an energy of 0.5 to 1 kiloton of TNT. Experts liken the event to the Park Forest fireball of 2003, which scattered dozens of meteorites across a suburb of Chicago. Meteorites are likely from this fireball as well. Stay tuned for developing information about the possible fall zone.

more fireball images: from KSL TV in Utah; from KTVB News in Idaho; from Thomas Ashcraft near Santa Fe, New Mexico; from Marsha Adams of Sedona, Arizona;

Approximately 6 hours after the fireball, people in Utah and Colorado got another surprise. As the sun rose over those states, a twisting electric-blue cloud appeared in the dawn sky:

"These curious clouds on the horizon caught my attention just before sunrise," says photographer Don Brown of Park City, Utah. "They were strangely bright relative to the rest of the sky."

The cloud strongly resembles artificial noctilucent clouds formed at high altitudes by rocket and shuttle launches. Yet there was no (officially reported) rocket launch at dawn on Nov. 18th. Could the cloud be associated with the fireball? The geographical coincidence is certainly striking. Debris from the fireball should have dissipated by sunrise, but the cloud remains unexplained and a connection to the fireball cannot yet be dismissed. Readers, if you have more information about this event, let us know.

more mystery cloud images: from Lisa Cain of New Castle, Colorado; from Daniel Owen of Monarch, Utah; from John Omohundro of Grand Junction, Colorado; from Jeff Kendrick of Salt Lake City, Utah; from Allan Jeffers of Denver, Colorado; from Scott Stringham of Salt Lake City, Utah; from Sean O'Leary of West Jordan, Utah;

UPDATED: 2009 Leonid Meteor Gallery
[
previous Leonids: 1998, 2001, 2002, 2006]

 

11-18-09 - No sunspots today

A solar wind stream flowing
from the indicated coronal hole
should reach Earth on
Nov. 20th or 21st.
Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 283.4 km/sec
density: 1.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1325 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
0850 UT Nov18
24-hr: A0
0850 UT Nov18
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1325 UT

LEONID METEOR UPDATE: As forecasters predicted, observers in Asia witnessed a surge of Leonid meteors during the late hours of Nov. 17th. Preliminary counts from the International Meteor Organization exceed 150 meteors per hour:

The surge occurred when Earth passed through a double-stream of debris from Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. We call it a "double-stream" because it consists of dust ejected from the comet on two occasions, in 1466 AD and 1533 AD. Earth is exiting the double-stream now, but we're not out of it yet. Be alert for Leonids between midnight and dawn: sky map.

more Leonid images: from Chris Peterson of Guffey, Colorado; from Andreas Gada of Oak Heights, Ontario; from Runar Sandnes of Reed, Norway; from Victor van Wulfen of Sutherland, South Africa; from Olivier Staiger in the Swiss Alps; from Malcolm Park of Grafton, Ontario, Canada;

Leonid resources:

LISTEN: The Air Force Space Surveillance Radar is scanning the skies above Texas, and when a Leonid passes over the facility--ping!--there is an echo. Tune into Spaceweather Radio for a live audio feed.

2009 Leonid Meteor Gallery
[
previous Leonids: 1998, 2001, 2002, 2006]

GOODBYE SUN: "The last week has been special with the sun rising in the south and setting in the south only an hour later," reports Fredrik Broms of Kvaløya, Norway. "But today (Nov. 16) the sun barely made it above the horizon." He photographed the few visible rays using a Nikon D3:

"Now sky watchers around the Arctic Circle enter the long polar night when the sun doesn't rise at all. How long this period lasts depends on your latitude. Here in northern Norway, the sun won't be back until the end of January."

"Goodbye sun, until 2010!"

 

11-17-09 - Sunspot 1031

Tiny sunspot 1031 is a member of new Solar Cycle 24.
 
Credit: SOHO/MDI

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 295.8 km/sec
density: 0.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A3
2300 UT Nov17
24-hr: A7
1300 UT Nov17
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-16-09 Sunspot 1031 - very small

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 321.4 km/sec
density: 0.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2339 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
1915 UT Nov16
24-hr: A1
0805 UT Nov16
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-15-09

SUNSPOT CORPSE: Sunspot 1029 has returned from the farside of the sun--and it is not impressive. All that remains of the former behemoth is a bright magnetic froth. Readers with solar telescopes should target the northeastern limb of the sun to see a sunspot corpse.

SOLAR PROMINENCE: Yesterday, Alan Friedman of Buffalo, New York, trained his telescope on the sun and waited for sunspot 1029 to reappear. But that wasn't going to happen. It was shaping up to be a dull observing session when something completely different popped into view:

"This magnificent looping prominence stole the show from the corpse of sunspot 1029," says Friedman. "It was the most dramatic prominence I have seen in many months."

The same prominence was putting on a show this morning, Nov. 15th, when the sun rose over the Philippines. "I was elated when I was able to see it clearly visible in the field of my eyepiece!" reports James Kevin Ty from Manila. "I quickly set up my PST (Personal Solar Telescope) and was able to monitor the prominence for more than 2 hours."

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 363.1 km/sec
density: 1.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2155 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A1
1905 UT Nov15
24-hr: A2
0245 UT Nov15
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2155 UT

 

11-14-09 - Sunspot 1029 coming around the corner again

EMERGING SUNSPOT: Amateur astronomers are reporting that old sunspot 1029 is back. The sun's rotation is bringing it into view over the sun's northeastern limb. Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments. images: from Stephen Ames of Hodgenville, Kentucky; from Stefano Sello of Pisa, Italy; from Howard Eskildsen of Ocala, Florida

WATER ON THE MOON: Last month when NASA's LCROSS spacecraft hit the Moon and failed to produce a bright flash, many observers thought the experiment was a dud. Think again. NASA has announced that LCROSS discovered water at the bottom of crater Cabeus near the Moon's south pole.

The primary evidence is spectral. When LCROSS's Centaur rocket hit the ground, it produced a faint cloud of vapor. High above, the LCROSS mothership analyzed the cloud using its near-infrared spectrometer. Some of the bumps and wiggles in the spectrum perfectly match the infrared signature of H2O:

The red curve traces what the spectrum would have looked like if the debris cloud had been made of nothing but moondust and pure water vapor. Points with error bars are the actual data. Clearly, water is present, but that's not all. "Along with the water in Cabeus, there are hints of other intriguing substances," says Anthony Colaprete, the mission's principal investigator the NASA's Ames Research Center. "The possibility of contamination from the Centaur rocket [has been] ruled out," so any unidentified compounds are likely native to the Moon.

What are these mystery substances? Remember, LCROSS targeted a "cold trap" where materials have been freezing and accumulating for billions of years. It could be almost anything. Researchers are still studying the spectra for clues. "Full understanding of the LCROSS data may take some time," notes Colaprete. "The data are so rich."

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 367.6 km/sec
density: 1.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2230 UT Nov14
24-hr: A2
0415 UT Nov14
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-13-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 302.0 km/sec
density: 5.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
1930 UT Nov13
24-hr: A1
0915 UT Nov13
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

STUCK ON MARS: NASA is about to begin transmitting commands to its Mars rover Spirit as part of an escape plan to free the venerable robot from a Martian sand trap. Officials say there is little hope of freeing Spirit, with a best case senario of "severe wheel slippage" and "barely detectable forward progress." On the bright side, Spirit is stuck in a very interesting spot. Science@NASA has the full story.

SOLAR ACTIVITY: Friday the 13th could be a lucky day for astrophotographers. A photogenic scene is developing on the sun's northeastern limb, where a magnetic thicket of hot plasma is rising into view. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) made this movie of the action on Nov. 12th and 13th:

The swelling limb-glow heralds the approach of sunspot 1029, the biggest and most active sunspot of the year. Sunspot 1029 spent the past two weeks transiting the farside of the sun, invisible from Earth, but now it is about to reappear. Friday the 13th kicks off a 2- to 3-day photo-op as the sun's rotation slowly turns the active region back toward Earth. Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments.

Archival images of sunspot 1029: from Jimmy Eubanks of Boiling Springs, South Carolina; from Dave Gradwell of Birr, Ireland; from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Paul Haese of Blackwood, South Australia

 

11-12-09 - No sunspots today

This is 1029 on the backside

AROUND THE BEND: The "green sun" pictured below is an ultraviolet-wavelength photo taken just hours ago by NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft. What lies beneath the circled thicket of hot plasma and magnetic fields? It could be the most active sunspot of the year.

The circle marks the location of sunspot 1029. In late October, sunspot 1029 materialized on the Earth-facing side of the sun and quickly established itself as the biggest active region of 2009. It produced more than ten C-class solar flares, single-handedly quadrupling the number of such eruptions since the year began. For the past 11 days, however, sunspot 1029 has been out of sight transiting the farside of the sun.

The sunspot is still invisible from Earth, but STEREO-B can see it because the spacecraft is stationed over the sun's eastern horizon. The glaring knot of extreme ultraviolet activity hides the sunspot's underlying dark core from STEREO's UV telescopes, and this limits how much we know about it. Has sunspot 1029 broken apart and diminished during its long farside transit? Or is it still its old active self? Answers will be revealed in 3 days when solar rotation turns sunspot 1029 toward white-light cameras on Earth.

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 289.0 km/sec
density: 0.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2255 UT Nov12
24-hr: A0
2255 UT Nov12
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-11-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 277.9 km/sec
density: 1.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Nov11
24-hr: A0
0000 UT Nov11
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-10-09 - No sunspots today - Sunspot 1030 appeared and quickly faded away

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 339.1 km/sec
density: 1.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Nov10
24-hr: A0
1740 UT Nov10
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

SUNSET FIREBALL: If only photographers had faster reflexes.... On Saturday, Nov. 7th, around 5 p.m. Pacific time, a brilliant fireball raced4 across the sky of California's San Francisco Bay, where tens of thousands of people saw it. So far, however, not a single photo of the fireball has emerged. The meteor disappeared into the sunset before anyone could raise his or her camera. When shutters finally started clicking, all that remained was a trail of debris:

"Pepper Dela Cruz took this picture outside the Miramar Restaurant in Half Moon Bay on the San Francisco Peninsula just as the sun was setting," says Doug Moore, who submitted the photo on Pepper's behalf. "It shows debris from the fireball, which lasted for several minutes before dissipating."

The origin of the fireball is still uncertain. Meteor expert Peter Jenniskens of NASA's Ames Research Center believes it was "a small, random asteroid that crashed into our atmosphere. The remains [of the space rock] probably landed in the Pacific Ocean," he says.

More fireballs are in the offing. Earth is passing through a stream of debris from Comet 2P/Encke, and this is causing the annual Taurid meteor shower, which peaks between now and Nov. 12th. The shower only produces about 5 meteors per hour, but what the display lacks in number, it makes up for in dazzle. Taurids tend to be fireballs, slow and very bright. The best time to look is during the hours around midnight when the constellation Taurus is high overhead: sky map.

Note: Based on the time of day and other factors, Jenniskens says "the Bay Area fireball was probably not a Taurid."

 

11-9-09 - Sunspots 1029 returns today - its on the farside stereo camera

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 382.8 km/sec
density: 2.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1506 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
1500 UT Nov09
24-hr: A0
0205 UT Nov09
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1500 UT

ASTEROID NEAR MISS: On Nov. 6th at 2132 UT, asteroid 2009 VA barely missed Earth when it flew just 14,000 km above the planet's surface. That's well inside the "Clarke Belt" of geosynchronous satellites. If it had hit, the ~6-meter wide space rock would have disintegrated in the atmosphere as a spectacular fireball, causing no significant damage to the ground. 2009 VA was discovered just 15 hours before closest approach by astronomers working at the Catalina Sky Survey.

RETURNING SUNSPOT: The most active sunspot of the year, sunspot 1029, has spent the past week transiting the far side of the sun. It is still invisible from Earth, but the active region is coming into range of cameras onboard NASA's STEREO-B probe. The spacecraft beamed back this extreme ultraviolet image just hours ago:

A farside eruption on Nov. 5th (movie) suggests that the sunspot is still active. In late October, the last time we saw it on the Earth-facing side of the sun, sunspot 1029 unleashed more than 10 C-class solar flares, single-handedly quadrupling the total number of flares in all of 2009. The sun's rotation will turn the active region back toward Earth about four days from now. Until then, STEREO-B will keep us informed. Stay tuned.

BONUS: weekend solar images: from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Alan Friedman of Buffalo, New York; from Jan Timmermans of Valkenswaard, The Netherlands

October Northern Lights Gallery
[
previous Octobers: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001]


Explore the Sunspot Cycle

11-8-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 436.2 km/sec
density: 3.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Nov08
24-hr: A0
2340 UT Nov08
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-7-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 273.6 km/sec
density: 2.1 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Nov07
24-hr: A0
1410 UT Nov07
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

MAGNETIC FILAMENT: Today, amateur astronomers are monitoring a picturesque magnetic filament looping around the western limb of the sun. Jan Timmermans sends this picture from his backyard observatory in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands:

The portion of the filament seen in front of the sun looks dark, because it is cooler than the inferno below. But note how the filament glows in projection against the black space beyond the limb. The glow comes from plasma trapped inside the filament--not as bright as the surface of the sun, but definitely brighter than the void.

"The image clearly shows that the only difference between a 'dark' filament and a 'bright' prominence is where they are located: inside or outside the solar disk," notes Timmermans. (diagram)

more images: from Alan Friedman of Buffalo, New York; from Stephen Ames of Hodgenville, Kentucky;

 

11-6-09 - Sunspot 1030

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 276.1 km/sec
density: 1.6 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Nov06
24-hr: A0
2340 UT Nov06
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-5-09 Small sunspots

Sunspots are trying to emerge at the circled locations. They do not yet show up in SOHO white light images, but the active regions are clear in this magnetic map. Photo credit: SOHO/MDI

more images: from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex; from Robert Arnold of Isle of Skye, Scotland
 

CME OF 11-5-09

FARSIDE EXPLOSION: Yesterday, something exploded on the far side of the sun. The blast hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) over the sun's limb, recorded by coronagraphs on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Click on the image to launch a 14-hour time lapse movie:

The source of the eruption is probably sunspot 1029, which is transiting the far side of the sun. Last week, when sunspot 1029 was visible from Earth, it quickly grew into the biggest and most active sunspot of the year, unleashing ten C-class solar flares in just a few days. Apparently, the action hasn't stopped. The sun's rotation will turn the sunspot back toward Earth about a week from now. If the sunspot holds together that long, we could experience some solar activity. Stay tuned.

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 287.3 km/sec
density: 0.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2343 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Nov05
24-hr: A0
0935 UT Nov05
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

 

11-4-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 298.7 km/sec
density: 2.3 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2346 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2045 UT Nov04
24-hr: A0
2045 UT Nov04
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

MERCURY'S COMET-LIKE TAIL: The ultrathin atmosphere of Mercury is blown back by solar radiation pressure, forming an enormous comet-like tail. NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft flew through that tail on Sept. 29th and found it less enormous than it used to be. The following diagram compares the situation in Oct. 2008 vs. Sept. 2009:

Red traces the distribution of sodium atoms detected by a spectrometer onboard MESSENGER. "The neutral sodium tail, so prominent in our first two flybys of Mercury, is now significantly reduced in extent," announced planetary scientist Ron Vervack at a NASA press conference yesterday.

The material in Mercury's tail comes from the surface of the planet itself, which is blasted by solar wind and micrometeorites. During MESSENGER's recent flyby of Mercury, the net effect of solar radiation pressure was small, and the sodium atoms were not accelerated away from the sun as they were during the earlier flybys, resulting in a diminished planetary tail. That's space weather. Get the full story from Science@NASA.

 

11-3-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 317.3 km/sec
density: 0.2 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1725 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
1410 UT Nov03
24-hr: A0
1410 UT Nov03
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1730 UT

NOT-SO-BLANK SUN: Today, the sunspot number is zero, which means the sun is blank, right? Wrong. This morning, NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft photographed sunspot 1029 seething with activity over the sun's western horizon:


Photo credit: STEREO Extreme Ultra Violet Telescope (195 A)

This impressive sunspot, which rotated over the sun's western limb three days ago, does not add to the sunspot number because it is no longer visible from Earth. Astronomers only count spots that are on the Earth-facing side of the sun. That's how it's been done since Rudolph Wolf invented the sunspot number in 1848. In those days, only one side of the sun was visible from Earth, so the tradition was established.

Now, however, for the first time in the history of astronomy, NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft are seeing over the sun's horizon, tracking sunspots that officially "don't count." The two spacecraft are moving toward opposite sides of the sun, and by February 2011 the entire sun will be under their watchful eyes. Perhaps it is time to start thinking about a "whole sun" sunspot number. As today's image shows, the sun is not always as blank as it appears to be.

BLUE ICE ON THE RED PLANET: Wake up before dawn, go outside, and look straight up. That eerie red "star" staring back down at you is Mars. The red planet is approaching Earth for a close encounter in January 2010 and it is already brighter than a first-magnitude star.

Next, point a telescope at the red planet and you'll see a surprising splash of icy blue:

"Mars' north polar cap is big enough and bright enough to be seen though most backyard telescopes at medium to high power," says Joel Warren of Amarillo, Texas, who took the picture, above, on Halloween using an 11 inch Celestron telescope.

On Mars, northern winter has just ended and clouds which normally hover over the martian arctic are breaking up, allowing the planet's great ice cap to be seen. "This apparition will offer observers the best view of the North Polar Region to be had in many years," notes Warren.

more images: from Peter Garbett of Sharnbrook, UK; from Rolando Ligustri of Italy using a remotely-controlled telescope in New Mexico; from Ed Lomeli of Sacramento, California;

 

11-2-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 362.4 km/sec
density: 0.5 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2345 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A0
2340 UT Nov02
24-hr: A2
0230 UT Nov02
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT
 
11-1-09 - No sunspots today

Current conditions

Solar wind
speed: 333.0 km/sec
density: 1.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 2344 UT

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: A4
1850 UT Nov01
24-hr: B4
0140 UT Nov01
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 2340 UT

PARTING SHOT: On its way over the sun's western limb on Oct. 31st, sunspot 1029 unleashed a C-class solar flare and a coronal mass ejection (CME). The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory photographed the billion-ton CME billowing past Mercury:

The blast reinforces sunspot's 1029's position as the most active sunspot of 2009. Last week alone, the sunspot produced ten C-class solar flares, more than tripling the number of flares in the previous 10 months. Sunspot 1029 is a member of long-overdue Solar Cycle 24. Is it also a herald of more active times to come?

SEE OCTOBER PAGE FOR LARGER IMAGE.

A solar wind stream flowing from
 the indicated coronal hole should
reach Earth on or about Nov. 6th.
Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope

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