Danger! Asteroid and Solar Flares (not really)!

Orbital path of QE2.

I love the name of this asteroid: QE2. Asteroid 1998 QE2 is expected to fly by the Earth on the last day of May. The headlines read: "Huge Asteroid to Fly Past Earth this Month." Although you can tell we're not in danger from the title, its still sounds more ominous than the truth: "Large asteroid won't come near us." Of course that doesn't sound as cool. What IS cool, though, is that QE2 has a diameter of 9 times the length of the famous Queen Elizabeth 2 Ocean liner. SO it IS way bigger than, say, the rock that slammed into Russia this year. But, and this is a BIG BUT, it will fly past us about 3.6 million miles away. That's pretty distant for Near Earth Objects. AND... AND... scientists will get a GOOD look at its surface. SO that's pretty neat. And I love it that people are paying attention.

Solar Flare emitted from Sun today.

I also love it that the news guys are paying attention to Solar Weather! TOday, we are being side-swiped by a pretty large burst of Solar radiation and particles which erupted from the Sun on the 15th. Folks living north of latitude 40 degrees might get some cool Northern Lights. As for me, naw, it's raining here at the command bunker in Utah. But another flare erupted today, and this one is pointed right at us. As with all solar storms, the radiation and particles can play havoc with our satellites and astronauts high up in orbit, so here's hoping our shields (Earth's Magnetic Field) will do its job and protect us.

More on solar conditions at SpaceWeather.com: http://www.spaceweather.com/

More on QE2 at JPL: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-163

Incoming Solar Storm

A mass ejection of matter from the Sun is caught exploding outward. SOHO satellite image.

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are not uncommon, but they don't always hit the Earth when they do. On April 11th the SOHO satellite (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) imaged an eruption of the year's strongest solar flare to date, which was soon accompanied by a CME. The CME is a gigantic mass of charged solar particles that can play havoc with our satellites, electrical grids, and people high in the atmosphere or in orbit. This CME is expected to hit the Earth sometime this weekend on the 13th. One benefit of these eruptions is that when the particles hit the Earth's magnetic field, they can result in magnificent Northern Lights displays. Of course here in Utah we have storms this weekend.

Today's solar disk. Sunspot group AR1719 is just above center to the right. Credit: SDO/HMI.

The flare and CME were sent out from sunspot AR1719. The Sun's activity has been a bit unusual of late, as it is approaching Solar Maximum in it's 11-year cycle, and the sunspot activity has been low. Some scientists believe we may experience a cycle with two peaks. You can read more about the irregularities of the current solar cycle at NASA Science News: 

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/01mar_twinpeaks/

and keep updates on the CME alerts at SpaceWeather.com:

http://www.spaceweather.com/

More Incoming Rocks & Snowballs

Asteroid at Center marked by cross hairs. Credit G. Masi and F. Nocentini.

Here comes another one! No need to fear though, they come and go all the time. This weekend it's visitor asteroid 2013 ET, passing us at about 380,000+ miles. It was only discovered on March 3 (picture above taken March 7). This brings up a good point about how important it is for our space programs to develop a better method for identifying these hurtling Earth-crashers far earlier, and having a defense ready to divert them or something. 2013 ET is set to pass by Saturday afternoon and is about the width of a football field. Bigger than the one that recently exploded above Russia. You can participate on a video webcast covering the passage. Check out Space.com's article here:

http://www.space.com/20126-asteroid-2013et-flyby-webcasts.html

Comet PANSTARRS as seen from Australia (NASA image)

Finally, we get to see a fairly visible comet! It's been a while. This one is comet PANSTARRS (2011 L4) which was discovered in 2011. It has recently become visible to the naked eye, and has just started to cross the hemispheric view into the northern hemisphere, so we can try spotting it from Utah (barring this drastic winter weather). Here's the link to NASA's page on viewing PANSTARRS:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/news/comet20130307.html

Happy viewing!

Into the Danger Zone

Launch of the Atlas V carrying the RBSP probes from 

pad SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral.

There are so many rocket launches these days from America, Russia, Japan, China and the European space agency that it's hard to keep up with everything that's going up! Most of the satellites launched into orbit are communication satellites or secret national defense satellites (read: SPY satellites). So it's a notable event when we get a launch that sends probes to explore a science project. In this case, NASA has launched a pair of satellites into one of the most dangerous areas of outer space: Earth's Van Allen Radiation Belts.

Computer graphic of the radiation belts around the Earth.

On August 30th, NASA launched the twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RRBSP) directly into an orbit intercepting the radiation belts. Named after Dr. James Van Allen, the scientist who discovered the belts (using Americans very first satellite, Explorer I), the donut-shaped belts are danger zones of highly-charged particles that can cause harm to satellites and astronauts placed into the wrong orbits. Even though we've known about these belts since their discovery at the beginning of the space age, we' don't understand a lot about how they work when they are hit by powerful blasts of solar wind and storms.

Graphic of the RBSP's flying into the danger zones.

Especially designed to be protected from the energetic particles, the RBSP's will orbit ( separate orbits) into the active zones of the Belts, and measure the interaction of particles when the belts encounter solar flares, solar storms, and the solar wind. They will detect and measure electric and magnetic fields, count energetic particles, and probe plasma waves in various frequencies. The mission is scheduled to last for two years. TO learn more, check out the report on the mission by SpaceFlight Now at http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av032/ .

Solar Storm Subsiding

Current solar disk with sunspot 1520. Credit: SDO/HMI & Spaceweather.com.

Well, we've come through a geomagnetic storm and it seems we're still here. The solar flare erupted from sunspot complex 1520 and much of the storm of radiation and particles hit the Earth's magnetic fields starting just after midnight on Saturday morning. Earth's magnetic field saved us and provided magnificent views of the Aurora Borealis as far south as Utah! Sadly, I saw none of that with the bright city lights and increasing clouds and storms in the area.

The CME event (coronal mass ejection) hitting the Earth lasted about 36 hours, and readings are getting lower. Further chance of another storm is lessening as the sunspot group continues to rotate toward the other side of the Sun. Check Spaceweather.com for photos of the northern lights and further information.

Venus Transit today

False-color image of the Sun. Solar Prominences visible along the edges of the horizons.

The big giant ball of nuclear fusion is presenting a special show today. Starting about 4:10 pm MDT (3:10 pm PDT) the planet Venus will slowly traverse (or TRANSIT) the face of the sun. If you still have your solar filters from seeing the recent eclipse, you should be able to see the tiny dot of a planet. Unfortunately, I suspect cloudy skies this afternoon in Utah, but if necessary, I can see it on the Internet.

Astronomy Photo of the day will have live updated images you can check on. Just go to 

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

to see large images of the event. Also, you can watch the event live on NASATV:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Happy Viewing!
Mark

Giant Sunspot faces Earth

Sunspot complex 1476 is all too apparent.

Although the Sun has been very quiet lately, there currently are some sunspots visible from Earth and one complex is enormous. Big enough to fit a dozen Earths side-by-side in its turbulent gap, sunspot complex AR1476 is now facing Earth as the Sun rotates. The massive energy feeding this magnetic storm emits fantastic radio noise, and you can hear it on Spaceweather.com's site at http://www.spaceweather.com/images2012/09may12/radioburst.mp3

According to Spaceweather.com, the complex has already today hurled a very large M-class solar flare that has missed the Earth, but things can still change. This sunspot is capable of emitting the very dangerous X-class Solar Flare, which can cause disruptions here on Earth. You can learn more about the X-class Flares here:

http://www.spaceweather.com/glossary/flareclasses.html?PHPSESSID=hthfbbj999df689fnmtq5onss4

We'll be keeping a close eye on this beauty of a magnetic storm on the surface of the Sun.

Dodging Solar Storms

Coronal Holes (false color). Credit: SDO/AIA. Thanks to Spaceweather.com.

Every morning I like to check the weather reports. Not just local weather, but also the "weather" in space. Not only do we face threats from Near-Earth-orbiting asteroids, rogue asteroids, meteor showers, and cosmic radiation, but we have a giant nuclear fusion generator only 93,000,000 miles away pumping out stellar winds and radioactive storms that could damage life on Earth. It's interesting that the active events in our solar system have been linked to weather descriptions on Earth.

Thanks to Dr. Tony Phillips, you can watch out for our interplanetary space weather, too. He's created the website http://www.spaceweather.com to bring you the latest news in space storms and potential hazards to Earth. Over the years, as I've visited the site each day, I've really come to understand better the overall picture of our solar system's "weather" cycles and how it all affects us here on planet Earth.

Take sunspots, for example:

Woops! No big Spots!

Every day you can monitor the surface of the Sun that faces the Earth. Sunspots are linked to magnetic solar storms which can emit large blasts of energy towards the Earth. More significantly, recent studies of sunspot populations over time has revealed that the amount of sunspots often has influence on the amount of cosmic radiation hitting the Earth, and even how much cloud cover we have, therefore impacting Global Warming. Forget about the minimal natural effect carbon dioxide has on the climate, the Sun is the real culprit!

And then there's coronal holes. As seen in the top picture, we study x-rays from the sun to monitor these gaping holes in the Sun's plasma, and we've learned how magnetic lines flowing from the holes directs the Solar Wind. That wind also has its affect upon our atmosphere. Thank goodness for our own magnetic fields, which shield us from the Sun's expulsion of solar particles.

Currently, it seems the surface of the Sun is quiet with regard to Sunspots, but coronal holes exist and solar flares could erupt towards Earth at any time. On Spaceweather.com, you can look at predictions for the Sun's interference with our magnetic fields, and when a large coronal mass ejection occurs, you can read warnings of when the storms will hit Earth and expected damage that could be done. Some storms have been able to knock out power grids, interfere with satellite communications, threaten radiation damage to astronauts, and worse. It was increased solar activity which caused the rapid loss of altitude of the famous Skylab space station in the early 1970's eventually causing it to enter the Earth's atmosphere far earlier than planned.

Of course we also get the magnificent Aurora Borealis, the Northern lights. With the change in seasons, we now approach the time when the rising Sun will be up in the Arctic circle for 6 months, and the night lights (interaction of solar particles with the Earth's magnetic fields) will not be visible again until Winter. The past winter has seen tremendous northern lights activity, even being spotted as far south as Northern Utah on rare occasions.

Make a visit to SpaceWeather.com. Check out why there may be little sunspot activity for now, how that may affect us on Earth, and how it relates to the Sun's 11-year cycle.

So don't just think about if there might be some rain this morning or if there's a dangerous storm front approaching. Watch out for spaceweather!

Solar Storm Attacks Earth!

False Color image of Solar Eruption.

Well, yes, it's a solar storm, and yes, it is hitting the Earth, so I call it an attack just for the effect. But the fact is, this Solar Flare that is hitting the Earth and causing fantastic Polar Lights could just as well cause interference in satellite communications. These disruptions could affect GPS navigation systems, high-flying aircraft travel, power grid transmission lines, and radio signals. Listen to news updates for anything serious though.

This all stems from what's called a CME, or "Coronal Mass Ejection" that occurred on the Sun yesterday and has begun hitting the Earth's magnetic field.

Shields Up!

You can get detailed information on the best site I know for tracking this storm, SpaceWeather, at: http://www.spaceweather.com/

Solar Storm hits hard today

False color image of Sun. Solar flare developing in upper right section.

A massive CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) should be hitting the Earth right now. Traveling at about 1400 miles per second, the solar energetic particles are hitting the Earth's magnetosphere (our shields) and interacting with high-flying orbital satellites. A storm this strong hasn't hit the Earth since 2005. There were concerns that some aircraft traveling at high altitude over the Arctic circle would have to divert. Our main concern is that some satellites may suffer damage or loss of signal quality during the event. Skywatchers with clear skies can be looking for magnificent aurora.

50 YA: Explorer X and the Solar Wind

Explorer 10 installation before launch.

While The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. raced against each other to put a man in space, science marched on. On April 19, 1961, the Explorer space probe sent back information that helped scientists understand better the interaction of the solar wind with magnetic fields. Ever since the discovery of Earth's Van Allen Radiation belt using our first probe, Explorer 1, NASA scientists had been gaining more and more information about what the space environment was like beyond Earth's orbit.

Thor-Delta on pad 17. (Actually Explorer 14 assembly)

With the placement of Explorer 10 in Earth's orbit on March 25, 1961, we learned that the strong solar wind actually was helping to extend the Sun's magnetic field out beyond Earth's orbit. The probe gathered a lot of information about our own magnetic field and the interaction of the solar wind and the Earth.

Experiment simulating solar wind / magnetic field interaction.

We've eventually learned that the solar wind and particles from the Sun can play havoc with our orbiting satellites. In fact, strong solar winds can even cause some spacecraft to eventually lower their altitude. This was the case with the abandoned Skylab space station, which eventually was lowered so much that it got caught by the atmosphere and burned up earlier than predicted.

Explorer 10 itself burned up on re-entry on June 1, 1968.

Solar Eruptions hit Earth

The Sun never sleeps...

Since February 15th there have been a series of eruptions on the surface of the Sun. These eruptions emphasize the fact that the Sun is becoming more active after a lengthy period of "inactivity" which featured incredibly low counts of sunspots and other surface activity. The Sun is approaching its regular activity pattern in the 11-year solar cycle.

The eruptions from the Sun, designated X-class solar flares, have sent wave after wave of charged solar particles toward the Earth. Thankfully, our magnetic field will protect us from the most dangerous effects of the blasts, and will result in some magnificent Aurora displays in the far North. However, the danger we face is disruption to the orbital communications networks that we depend on for our quality of life. Besides navigation and power systems, communications and space equipment may be at risk.

NASA is also monitoring the blasts to see if their strength can put astronaut lives at risk. In worst cases, the Astronauts have some areas on the ISS where they can be protected from the worst of the radiation, but there is always a danger. Further away from Earth, astronauts on missions away from our magnetic field would be in great danger. This risk has always been part of any planning for deep space missions.

We've been learning more and more about the dangers the Sun presents to our civilization's electronic lifelines. We have to learn how to build more radiation resistant systems to withstand any such future attacks.