SUPER-SIZED ECLIPSE: On Saturday morning, Dec. 10th, sky watchers in the western United States and Canada will witness a total lunar eclipse swollen to super-sized proportions by the Moon illusion. Get the full story from Science@NASA.
LOCAL STARSCAPE: With no flares of significance in days, the sun is strangely quiet. Nevertheless, the view remains dynamic. Rogerio Marcon sends this picture of the local starscape on Dec. 2nd:
Using a telescope tuned to the red glow of solar hydrogen, Marco captured 20 billion sq. km of seething plasma and magnetic filaments; also included in the field is the dark core of sunspot 1364 (lower right). It doesn't look very quiet. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of M-class solar flares in the next 24 hours. Solar flare alerts: text, phone.
PHOBOS GRUNT UPDATE: Russia's Mars probe, Phobos-Grunt, remains stuck in low Earth orbit after its main engines failed to fire on Nov. 8th. Russian and ESA antennas have made intermittant radio contact with the probe, but this has not allowed Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, to re-establish control. Unless matters improve, Phobos-Grunt will re-enter the atmosphere in January or February 2012 and become a brilliant fireball over some part of Earth
Until then, it is possible to see the doomed probe slicing brightly through the night sky:
Veteran satellite tracker Marco Langbroek took this picture from his home in Leiden, the Netherlands, on Nov. 30th. "This image was shot at 17:40 UT (30 Nov 2011) when the Phobos-Grunt was visible at 20 degrees elevation low in the west," he says. "The space probe was about magnitude +4. I also observed it one pass earlier in very deep twilight at 16:08 UT (sun at -5 degrees only with only brightest stars visible), when it made a 45 deg elevation pass. It was bright then, and an easy naked eye object nothwithstanding the bright blue sky. It was brighter than Altair, showed no brightness variation, and was very fast."
Ready to see for yourself? Spaceweather.com's online Satellite Tracker is following Phobos-Grunt. Flyby predictions may also be found on your smartphone.
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Solar wind
speed: 396.2 km/sec
density: 4.9 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1256 UT
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X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1 1123 UT Dec03
24-hr: C1 1123 UT Dec03
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1300 UT
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Daily Sun: 03 Dec 11
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New sunspot 1365 is growing rapidly. Credit: SDO/HMI
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Sunspot number: 106
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 02 Dec 2011
Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
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 02 Dec 2011
The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 157 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 02 Dec 2011
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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= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3 quiet
explanation | more data
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Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.1 nT
Bz: 2.8 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1256 UT
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Coronal Holes: 03 Dec 11
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Earth is inside a minor solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole. Credit: SDO/AIA.
