Coronal Magnetic Impact!

CME IMPACT! The first of possibly two incoming CMEs hit Earth's magnetic field today at approximately 1740 UT (1:40 pm EDT). As a result of the impact, a moderate (Kp=6) geomagnetic storm is underway. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras after nightfall.  http://www.spaceweather.com/ UPDATE: Northern Lights are being sighted now in Europe. Jesper Grønne sends this picture from Denmark: "It's not every day we see auroras at +56 degrees latitude," says Grønne. "This could be a good storm." In Lofoten, Norway, scientist Rob Stammes detected electrical currents flowing through the earth outside his laboratory. "At 17.40 UT, ground currents indicated the arrival of a CME: data. Three hours later a geomagnetic storm is active, strong enough for auroras." August 2010 Northern Lights Gallery [previous Augusts: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003] COMPLEX ERUPTION ON THE SUN: On August 1st, the entire Earth-facing side of the sun erupted in a tumult of activity. There was a C3-class solar flare, a solar tsunami, multiple filaments of magnetism lifting off the stellar surface, large-scale shaking of the solar corona, radio bursts, a coronal mass ejection and more. Click on the image to view just a fraction of the action: The movie recorded by extreme UV cameras onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory shows an enormous magnetic filament breaking away from the sun. Some of the breakaway material is now en route to Earth in the form of a coronal mass ejection (CME). Seeing the sun erupt on such a global scale has galvanized theinternational community of solar physicists. Researchers are still sorting out the complex sequence of events and trying to understand why they all happened at once. Stay tuned for more movies and analyses in the days ahead. Solar Eclipse Photo Gallery [NASA: South Pacific Eclipse] [animated map]           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 August 4, 2010 there were 1140 potentially hazardous asteroids. Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid Date(UT) Miss Distance Mag. Size 2010 KZ117 Aug 4 72.6 LD 18 1.0 km 6239 Minos Aug 10 38.3 LD 18 1.1 km 2005 NZ6 Aug 14 60.5 LD 18 1.3 km 2002 CY46 Sep 2 63.8 LD 16 2.4 km 2010 LY63 Sep 7 56.1 LD 18 1.2 km 2009 SH2 Sep 30 7.1 LD 25 45 m 1998 UO1 Oct 1 32.1 LD 17 2.1 km 2005 GE59 Oct 1 77 LD 18 1.1 km 2001 WN5 Oct 10 41.8 LD 18 1.0 km 1999 VO6 Oct 14 34.3 LD 17 1.8 km 1998 TU3 Oct 17 69.1 LD 15 5.3 km 1998 MQ Oct 23 77.7 LD 17 2.0 km 2007 RU17 Oct 29 40.6 LD 18 1.0 km 2003 UV11 Oct 30 5 LD 19 595 m 3838 Epona Nov 7 76.8 LD 16 3.4 km 2005 QY151 Nov 16 77.7 LD 18 1.3 km 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. Essential 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 and Heliospheric Observatory   Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. STEREO   3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory Daily Sunspot Summaries   from the NOAA Space Environment Center Current Solar Images   from the National Solar Data Analysis Center Science Central   more links...