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Weather for 27 Dec 2001 Auroras, the Moon and Saturn!

MOON AND SATURN:
Early-rising sky watchers across North America are in for a treat Friday morning. Between midnight and dawn on Dec. 28th, the not-quite-full Moon will glide in front of the ringed planet Saturn -- the second such encounter in less than a month. Click here for event times and photos.

SOLAR BLAST:

*Region 9742 received 12/25 at 00:01 UTC -- Learmonth, Australia.
*Region 9742 received 12/25 at 03:13 UTC -- Learmonth, Australia.
*Region 9742 received 12/25 at 09:15 UTC -- Learmonth, Australia.
*Large scale Magnetogram image of Region 9742 received 12/25 at 15:40 UTC -- Holloman AFB, New Mexico.
*Region 9742 received 12/25 at 16:47 UTC -- Holloman AFB, New Mexico.
*Region 9742 received 12/26 at 00:16 UTC -- Learmonth, Australia.
*Region 9742 received 12/26 at 03:19 UTC -- Learmonth, Australia.
*Region 9742 received 12/26 at 05:13 UTC -- Learmonth, Australia.
*Region 9742 received 12/26 at 06:02 UTC -- Learmonth, Australia.
*Region 9742 received 12/26 at 15:17 UTC -- Learmonth, Australia.
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Twisted magnetic fields above sunspot group 9742 erupted on Dec. 26th. The blast sparked an hours-long M7-class solar flare and hurled a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) into space. The CME, pictured right, was not squarely Earth-directed, but it could deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetosphere as early as Dec. 28th. Sky watchers (especially those at high latitudes) should be alert for Northern Lights.

A bright CME billows away from the Sun in this Dec. 26th SOHO coronagraph animation. The bright object to the right of the Sun is the planet Venus.

RADATION STORM:
Solar protons accelerated by Wednesday's solar flare and CME are streaming past Earth. The ongoing radiation storm peaked on Dec. 26th as an S2-class event; now it has subsided to S1 levels. Such storms do not affect people on Earth or astronauts in low-Earth orbit, but they do cloud spacecraft imaging systems -- see the SOHO coronagraph animation above.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS:
On Christmas Eve, 2001, Earth entered a solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the Sun. The sudden increase in solar wind speed triggered Northern Lights across the northern tier of US states. Photographer Lyndon Anderson captured this photo of auroras shimmering over North Dakota on Dec. 24th.
(Visit our aurora gallery for more)

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Current Conditions (updated: Today at 1746 UT)

Solar Wind velocity: 364.5 km/s
Density: 1.3 protons/cc.

X-ray Solar Flares (Updated: Today at 1740 UT)
6-hr max: M2 1655 UT Dec 27
24-hr: M2 1655 UT Dec 27

Radio Meteor Rate (Updated: 26 Dec 2001)
24 hr max: 22 per hr
(Listen to the Meteor Radar!)

Sunspot Count (updated: 26 Dec 2001)
Sunspot Number: 290

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From the Big Bang -- to the End of the Universe . . .
The Mysteries of Deep Space Timeline

It's been a long, strange trip for this universe we call home. Follow its development and take a peek at what's ahead with the interactive timeline above. Simply click on the text in the graphic timeline to learn more information about that event.

Beginning the Era of Matter Domination 300,000 years.

Earliest Life 3.8 Billion Years BP.

Albert Einstein Publishes Theory of Relativity 1905 AD

The Degenerate Era 100 Trillion to 1037 Years in the Future.




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Dan