GEOMAGNETIC STORM--NOW AND VENUS-JUPITER CONJUNCTION

 

GEOMAGNETIC STORM--NOW: A minor G1-class geomagnetic storm is underway on April 27th--the result of an unexpected crack in Earth's magnetic field. BsubZ values have dipped as low as -10 nT. This could set the stage for high-latitude auroras, especially in the southern hemisphere where autumn darkness favors visibility. Aurora alerts: SMS Text

VENUS-JUPITER CONJUNCTION: Set your alarm for dawn. Venus and Jupiter are converging for a tight conjunction in the early morning sky. Earlier today, Paolo Bardelli photographed the planets from Sumirago (Varese), Italy:

"After days of rain, finally a clear morning for an unmissable show!" says Bardelli.

At closest approach on April 30th, Venus and Jupiter will be just a fraction of a degree apart. They will "appear to nearly collide into each other," according to NASA. "Due to the glare from both planets, some observers will see them merge into one very bright, spectacular glow."

Sky maps: April 27, 28, 29, 30, May 1.

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A MASSIVE TWISTER ON THE SUN: Imagine a red-hot tornado of fire 10 times taller than our entire planet. Here it is:

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the massive twister flinging itself away from the sun during the early (UTC) hours of April 27th. The eruption produced a bright coronal mass ejection (CME), but the debris is expected to miss Earth. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text

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MOTHER'S DAY IS MAY 8TH: Are you looking for an out-of-this world Mother's Day gift? Consider this: Every time the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launch a cosmic ray balloon, they include something extra in the payload--something Mom will love:

Every item in the Earth to Sky Store has flown to the edge of space and comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight. The interior of the card tells the story of the gift's journey from launch to landing. Mom-satisfaction guaranteed!

Mother's Day Special: Use coupon code "SPACEMOM" at checkout for a 10% discount. Offer valid from now until Mother's Day (May 8, 2022) .

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


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  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 Apr 26, 2022, the network reported 23 fireballs.
(18 sporadics, 5 Lyrids)

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 April 27, 2022 there were 2276 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2022 HM
2022-Apr-21
0.6 LD
14.6
11
2022 GU3
2022-Apr-22
4.6 LD
8.7
25
2017 UR2
2022-Apr-22
19.4 LD
9.3
10
2022 HL1
2022-Apr-23
13.9 LD
12.9
29
2022 HQ
2022-Apr-23
8.7 LD
7
13
2022 HD
2022-Apr-24
3.7 LD
7.4
13
2022 HH1
2022-Apr-24
7.2 LD
5.2
11
2022 HA1
2022-Apr-24
17 LD
8.8
42
2020 VN1
2022-Apr-25
19.3 LD
2.3
9
2022 HK1
2022-Apr-25
4.4 LD
5.7
8
2022 HS1
2022-Apr-25
4.4 LD
5.8
13
2022 HB1
2022-Apr-26
0.5 LD
14.1
12
418135
2022-Apr-28
8.5 LD
10.4
466
2022 HX1
2022-Apr-30
6.5 LD
11.7
14
2022 HS
2022-May-01
6.7 LD
5.7
20
2017 XO2
2022-May-01
18.8 LD
12.4
125
2022 HW
2022-May-02
16.1 LD
16.1
47
2022 HW1
2022-May-03
9.9 LD
7.7
20
2022 HR1
2022-May-03
5.1 LD
13.3
24
2017 HG1
2022-May-04
18.2 LD
6
11
2022 HF1
2022-May-08
8.8 LD
17.1
64
467460
2022-May-09
14.9 LD
11.3
513
2019 JE
2022-May-11
4.9 LD
7.2
20
2012 UX68
2022-May-15
2.8 LD
8.2
54
388945
2022-May-15
15 LD
8.2
290
2013 UX
2022-May-17
16.8 LD
16.3
141
2021 WY
2022-May-18
16.9 LD
9
65
2022 HD1
2022-May-20
15.3 LD
6.8
60
7335
2022-May-27
10.5 LD
13.1
1058
2021 KO2
2022-May-30
3.1 LD
14.8
9
2020 DA4
2022-Jun-01
5.5 LD
8.9
26
2021 GT2
2022-Jun-06
9.5 LD
7.5
50
2018 LU2
2022-Jun-09
14.8 LD
10.7
16
2006 XW4
2022-Jun-12
5.9 LD
7.3
49
2022 GU6
2022-Jun-12
3.2 LD
8.4
85
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

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Almost 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 sensors that detect secondary cosmic rays, a form of radiation from space that can penetrate all the way down to Earth's surface. Our monitoring program has been underway without interruption for 7 years, resulting in a unique dataset of in situ atmospheric measurements.

Latest results (Nov. 2021): Our balloons have just measured a sudden drop in atmospheric radiation. It happened during the strong geomagnetic storms of Nov. 3-4, 2021. Here are the data:

This is called a "Forbush decrease," named after American physicist Scott Forbush who studied cosmic rays in the early 20th century.  It happens when a CME from the sun sweeps past Earth and literally pushes cosmic rays away from our planet. Radiation from deep space that would normally pepper Earth's upper atmosphere is briefly wiped out.

We have measured Forbush decreases before. For example, here's one from Sept. 2014. The Forbush Decrease of Nov. 3-4, 2021, was the deepest in the history of our 7-year atmospheric monitoring program. Radiation levels in the stratosphere over California dropped nearly 20%, more than doubling the previous record from our dataset. 

En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes, so we can sample radiation where planes fly. This plot shows how the Forbush decrease was restricted to the stratosphere; it did not affect lower levels of the atmosphere:

The dose rates shown above are expressed 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. The higher you fly, the more radiation you will absorb.

.Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. They can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. According to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan school of public health, crews of aircraft have higher rates of cancer than the general population. The researchers listed cosmic rays, irregular sleep habits, and chemical contaminants as leading risk factors. Somewhat more controversial studies (#1, #2, #3, #4) link cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

.Technical notes: 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.

Data points in the first graph ("Stratospheric Radiation") correspond to the peak of the Regener-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 Regener and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

  Essential web links
NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
  The official U.S. government space weather bureau
Atmospheric Optics
  The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.
Solar Dynamics Observatory
  Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.
STEREO
  3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
  Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.
SolarMonitor.org
  information about sunspots based on the latest NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary
Daily Sunspot Summaries
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts
  fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.
Aurora 30 min forecast
  from the NOAA Space Environment Center
Live Aurora Webcam
  from Lights over Lapland
Heliophysics
  the underlying science of space weather

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NASA Near Earth Asteroid Home Page

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