CME TARGETS EARTH, MARS: A coronal mass ejection could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field today, May 14th. The cloud is passing by en route to Mars. NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% to 25% chance of minor geomagnetic storms during the next 24 hours. Magnetic storm alerts: text, phone.
CHINESE SPACE STATION TRANSITS THE SUN: Solar photographers have grown accustomed to winged spaceships flying in front of the sun. For years, silhouettes of space shuttles and the International Space Station have flitted across the solar disk, producing photo-ops of rare beauty. Now China's space station, the Tiangong-1 ("Heavenly Palace 1"), is joining the show. On May 11th, perhaps for the first time, Thierry Legault of Paris, France, caught the newcomer transiting the sun:
"Orbiting Earth at 16,500 mph, the Chinese station flitted across the sun in only 0.9s," says Legault, who captured the split-second transit using a solar-filtered Takahashi FSQ-106 refractor and a Canon 5D Mark II digital camera.
At the moment, the silhouette of the 19,000 pound Tiangong-1 is dwarfed by its older cousin, the 990,000 pound ISS. Tiangong-1 will grow a little larger in the summer of 2012 when the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft docks with it. Chinese astronauts will be on board for their first visit to the outpost. The Chinese space agency says this is just the first step toward the development of a much larger space station planned for launch in 2020. Stay tuned for more--and bigger--silhouettes.
You can see Tiangong-1 with the naked eye shining in the night sky as brightly as the stars of the Big Dipper. Check your smartphone or SpaceWeather's Simple Satellite Tracker for sighting opportunities.
Solar wind
speed: 427.0 km/sec
density: 2.4 protons/cm3
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1626 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1 1338 UT May14
24-hr: C4 0738 UT May14
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at: 1600 UT
Daily Sun: 14 May 12
Sunspot 1476 is decaying, but it still has a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI
Sunspot number: 138
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 13 May 2012
Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
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 13 May 2012
The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 131 sfu
explanation | more data
Updated 13 May 2012
Current Auroral Oval:
Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3 quiet
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 2.9 nT
Bz: 0.7 nT south
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1627 UT
Coronal Holes: 14 May 12
There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.
