Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid Date(UT) Miss Distance Velocity (km/s) Diameter (m)

2020 RE8 2020-Sep-23 18.1 LD 10.6 31

2020 SG6 2020-Sep-23 0.6 LD 10 5

2020 RA2 2020-Sep-23 18.4 LD 5.4 22

2020 SN 2020-Sep-24 8.9 LD 6.9 38

2020 SC4 2020-Sep-24 15.2 LD 7.4 17

2020 ST3 2020-Sep-24 2.4 LD 4.8 4

2020 SW 2020-Sep-24 0.1 LD 7.8 5

2020 SN5 2020-Sep-24 0.5 LD 13.5 8

2020 SN3 2020-Sep-24 1.7 LD 5.8 4

2020 SS4 2020-Sep-24 5.1 LD 8.6 49

2020 RO 2020-Sep-25 15.3 LD 11.8 78

2020 SS5 2020-Sep-25 1.6 LD 12.3 39

2020 SH4 2020-Sep-25 4.2 LD 18.6 14

2020 SM 2020-Sep-25 15.6 LD 18.4 59

2020 SQ4 2020-Sep-26 0.9 LD 12.9 6

2020 RF4 2020-Sep-26 11.7 LD 13.8 42

2020 SJ6 2020-Sep-27 19.8 LD 13.1 39

2020 RF5 2020-Sep-27 14.1 LD 3.9 54

2020 SU4 2020-Sep-27 12.6 LD 9.1 65

2020 SO4 2020-Sep-27 6.8 LD 7.6 13

2020 SY4 2020-Sep-28 1.9 LD 16.1 12

2020 PM7 2020-Sep-29 7.5 LD 8.3 118

2020 SV5 2020-Sep-30 3.4 LD 13.7 20

2020 SQ 2020-Sep-30 5.7 LD 5.9 12

2020 SO2 2020-Sep-30 18.1 LD 14.8 39

2020 SM4 2020-Oct-01 8.2 LD 7.6 10

2020 SU5 2020-Oct-01 5.4 LD 9.4 16

2020 RJ3 2020-Oct-01 15.3 LD 15.5 71

2001 GP2 2020-Oct-01 6.1 LD 2.2 15

2020 RZ3 2020-Oct-02 15.6 LD 13.3 37

2020 SY3 2020-Oct-03 16.6 LD 7.8 24

2010 UC 2020-Oct-04 14.6 LD 3.2 12

2020 RV2 2020-Oct-05 14.9 LD 4.2 26

2020 RR2 2020-Oct-06 16.3 LD 4.1 28

2020 RK2 2020-Oct-07 10 LD 6.7 49

2019 SB6 2020-Oct-07 11.9 LD 7.6 16

2020 SX3 2020-Oct-08 4.4 LD 10.9 50

2020 RO1 2020-Oct-09 17.4 LD 3.2 29

2018 GD2 2020-Oct-13 16.4 LD 6.7 5

2020 RM6 2020-Oct-15 13 LD 7.7 39

2017 UH5 2020-Oct-20 8.9 LD 5.9 18

2020 SG3 2020-Oct-20 19.5 LD 5.3 34

2018 VG 2020-Oct-21 15.1 LD 6.7 12

2017 TK6 2020-Oct-24 17.3 LD 12.4 41

2008 GM2 2020-Oct-25 17.7 LD 3.6 8

2020 QD5 2020-Oct-26 10.1 LD 8.6 80

2020 OK5 2020-Oct-29 6.4 LD 1.3 27

2018 VP1 2020-Nov-02 1.1 LD 9.7 2

2020 HF4 2020-Nov-03 16.2 LD 2.9 11

2010 JL88 2020-Nov-05 10.5 LD 15.7 16

2019 XS 2020-Nov-07 15.4 LD 9.4 51

2018 VS4 2020-Nov-09 14.9 LD 10.1 25

2020 ST1 2020-Nov-14 19.1 LD 8.1 163

2019 VL5 2020-Nov-15 8.5 LD 8.2 23

2017 WJ16 2020-Nov-23 5 LD 4.8 49

2018 RQ4 2020-Nov-26 8.1 LD 7.4 15

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.

Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere

SOMETHING NEW! We have developed a new predictive model of aviation radiation. It's called E-RAD--short for Empirical RADiation model. We are constantly flying radiation sensors onboard airplanes over the US and and around the world, so far collecting more than 22,000 gps-tagged radiation measurements. Using this unique dataset, we can predict the dosage on any flight over the USA with an error no worse than 15%.

E-RAD lets us do something new: Every day we monitor approximately 1400 flights criss-crossing the 10 busiest routes in the continental USA. Typically, this includes more than 80,000 passengers per day. E-RAD calculates the radiation exposure for every single flight.

The Hot Flights Table is a daily summary of these calculations. It shows the 5 charter flights with the highest dose rates; the 5 commercial flights with the highest dose rates; 5 commercial flights with near-average dose rates; and the 5 commercial flights with the lowest dose rates. Passengers typically experience dose rates that are 20 to 70 times higher than natural radiation at sea level.

To measure radiation on airplanes, we use the same sensors we fly to the stratosphere onboard Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloons: neutron bubble chambers and X-ray/gamma-ray Geiger tubes sensitive to energies between 10 keV and 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

Column definitions: (1) The flight number; (2) The maximum dose rate during the flight, expressed in units of natural radiation at sea level; (3) The maximum altitude of the plane in feet above sea level; (4) Departure city; (5) Arrival city; (6) Duration of the flight.

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 18% since 2015:

The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Regener-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes:

In this plot, dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x.

The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

Essential web links

The official U.S. government space weather bureau

The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.

Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.

3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory

Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.

from the NOAA Space Environment Center

fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.

from the NOAA Space Environment Center

the underlying science of space weather

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