Earth & Space Weather

May 22, 2013 - Solar and Terrestrial News [Spaceweather & Earthquakes] (Video)

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News and Events -- May 22, 2013
The geomagnetic field was quiet on May 21. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 346 and 536 km/s. A weak disturbance began after 16h UTC and has intensified early on May 22.

Solar flux measured at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 125.3 (increasing 10.6 over the last solar rotation). The background x-ray flux was at the class B6 level.

At midnight UTC the visible solar disk had 11 spotted active regions (in 2K resolution SDO images):
Region 11745 [N14W67] decayed slowly and was mostly quiet.
Region 11746 [S28W63] decayed slowly and quietly.
Region 11748 [N14W29] lost the magnetic delta structure. While there is polarity intermixing, the region is decaying slowly.
Region 11753 [N05E47] lost penumbral area while gaining a few spots.
Region 11754 [S19E38] was quiet and stable.
New region 11755 [N10E67] rotated into view on May 20 and was numbered the next day by SWPC. The region has polarity intermixing and could produce C and minor M class flares.
New region 11756 [S20E53] emerged on May 20 and was numbered by SWPC the following day. The region began to produce C flares late in the day.
Spotted regions not numbered by SWPC:
S2431 [S20E18] gained a leading penumbra spot.
S2432 [S17E41] decayed slowly and quietly.
New region S2436 [N05E33] emerged with penumbra spots.
New region S2437 [N15E27] emerged with a penumbra spot.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)
May 19-21: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO and STEREO imagery.
 

 

earthspace101- 5/22/13

 

 

 

 

 

Four Fireballs at Four in Last 24 Hours

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amsmeteors.org- 5/19/13, Mike Hankey

 

GFP Note: This story is two days old, but does show some interesting trends.

 

In the last 24 hours the AMS has received confirmed reports about 4 unique fireball events all occurring near 4:00 AM UTC time. The most recent event occurred in Arkansas and Missouri on May 19th near 3:37 UTC. At the same time 3:37 UTC 4 witnesses reported a fireball in Arizona. The distance between these two locations would inhibit witnesses from observing the same fireball from both locations. On May 18th two large fireball meteors were also spotted within an hour of each other, one over the central east coast and another in Colorado. Below is a table of the events in question.

Waxing moon near ringed planet Saturn on May 22

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earthsky.org - 5/22/13, Deborah Byrd

 

The waxing gibbous moon is near the ringed planet Saturn on May 22

 

You’ll find the bright moon near the planet Saturn on the evening of May 22, 2013, and the star Spica to the west (right) of the moon and Saturn. Although both Saturn and Spica shine brightly, they’ll be harder than usual to see tonight because of the lunar glare. Can you see them? Binoculars might help, if you have them.

The moon is in a waxing gibbous phase. It’s getting big in the sky, and will turn full on the night of May 24/25. In the Northern hemisphere, we often call this particular full moon the Flower Moon, Rose Moon or Strawberry Moon. The full moon will barely clip the Earth’s penumbral shadow, but this eclipse will be so shallow and faint that’ll be virtually impossible to observe.

Full Flower Moon shines from dusk till dawn on May 24/25

Severe weather moves to the east

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CNN - 5-21-2013, Josh Leves

 

cfni.org

 

 

The storm system behind Monday's Oklahoma twister brought strong rainstorms to parts of the South on Tuesday evening before heading toward the Great Lakes and the Tennessee Valley.

Tornado watches continued for portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. Those watches were set to expire by 10 p.m. CT Tuesday.

 

 

Read More: http://www.cnn.com

Oklahoma Tornado Aftermath Leaves Trail Of Destruction In Moore

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 Huffingtonpost - 5/21/2013, Carey Gillam and Ian Simpson

 

Trail Of Destruction In Moore

 

 

MOORE, Okla., May 21 (Reuters) - Emergency workers searched for survivors in the rubble of homes, schools and a hospital in an Oklahoma town hit by a powerful tornado, but officials on Tuesday sharply lowered the number of deaths caused by the storm.

The Oklahoma state medical examiner's office said 24 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage of Monday's storm, down from the 51 they had reported earlier. The earlier number likely reflected some double-counted deaths, said Amy Elliott, chief administrative officer for the medical examiner.

 

Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

 

Space Weather Update~ WHAT'S IN THE OFFING? A new sunspot is approaching

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RIGHT EXPLOSION ON THE MOON: Recently, a small boulder hit the Moon and exploded with as much energy as 5 tons of TNT. NASA scientists say the explosion was bright enough to see with the naked eye. [full story] [video]

 

WEEKEND CME STRIKES: Over the weekend, a pair of CMEs hit Earth--one on May 18th (0100 UT) and another on May 19th (2250 UT). The impacts, especially the first one, rattled Earth's magnetic field and sparked Northern Lights visible as far south as Colorado. Some of the brightest appeared over Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where photographer Chris Cook took this self-portrait:

 

"This is the first time since September 2005 that the lights have been visible from here," says Cook. " It was a beautiful display. During the peak, which lasted about 20 minutes, I could see red and pink pillars with my unaided eye." With only a short exposure, Cook's camera revealed the true depth of color shown above.

 

Volcanic activity worldwide 20 May 2013: Stromboli, Pavlov

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Volcano Discovery Monday May 20, 2013 19:04 PM

Thermal image of the crater area of Stromboli (INGV Catania)

Thermal image of the crater area of Stromboli (INGV Catania)

Stromboli (Eolian Islands, Italy): Over the past days, Stromboli has returned to normal levels of activity with frequent, mostly small to medium-sized explosions and low to medium tremor. Small lava overflows and frequent rockfalls still occur.

Pavlov (Alaska Peninsula, USA): The eruption continues with no significant changes. Small lava fountaining, explosions, and the explosive interaction of the lava flow with snow and ice generate a plume of steam, ash, and gas, occasionally reaching up to 22,000 ft. above sea level, and extending primarily southeast from the volcano over the North Pacific Ocean visible in satellite images.
Minor ash fall is likely occurring on the north, east and southeast flanks of the volcano and possibly on parts of Pavlof Bay and adjacent waters southeast of the volcano.
 

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