Class C8.2 -- C3.0 flares and more AR 11678 HD

  
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New sunspot AR1678 has developed a delta-class magnetic field that harbors energy for strong explosions. NOAA forecasters estimate a 45% chance of M-flares and a 15% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours.

The Sun's AR11675 M1.9 is putting us on notice HD

  

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New sunspot AR1675 has unleashed the most intense flare of the year so far, an M1.9-class explosion at 1550 UT on Feb. 17th. First-look coronagraph images from SOHO and the twin STEREO probes suggest that this explosion did not produce a coronal mass ejection (CME). Geomagnetic storms are therefore unlikely. Earth's upper atmosphere, however, probably did experience a minor wave of ionization caused by the UV flash.

Russian Meteorite a 7thousand Ton Asteroid HD

  
No one saw it coming!
A small asteroid the size of a bus weighing 7 thousand metric tons struck the atmosphere over the city of Chelyabinsk and exploded. (2 nearby cities were also affected from the sonic boom, breaking windows.)


This morning February 16th - according to reports from news organizations and Russian authorities, as many as 1200 people received minor injuries from the shock wave. This is the most energetic recorded meteor strike since the Tunguska impact of 1908. It has been estimated that the asteroid was 30 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. 
The cost of the damage is estimated to be in the millions.

Yesterday’s report from Western Ontario’s University - Researchers including Prof. Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario along with NASA experts have conducted a preliminary analysis of the event. "Here is what we know so far," says Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "The asteroid was about 15 meters in diameter and weighed approximately 7000 metric tons. It struck Earth's atmosphere at 40,000 mph (18 km/s) and broke apart about 12 to 15 miles (20 to 25 km) above Earth's surface. The energy of the resulting explosion was in the vicinity of 300 kilotons of TNT."

But before you blame NASA for the oversight allow me to explain how observing for asteroids and other nasty stuff in space works.
NASA, CSA/ASC, ESA, SSP et al have organizations such as planet hunters and asteroid hunters. (Shoemaker NEO Grant from the Planetary Society) They in turn give grants to International scientists and astronomers to watch our space for unfriendly dirty snowballs and rocks. Once spotted, they in turn alert NASA, CSA/ASC, ESA. SSP et al.



Yesterday all eyes were following the Asteroid 2012 DA14 flying past Earth on Feb. 15th inside the orbit of many geosynchronous satellites. At closest approach, around 2:25 pm EST, the 45-meter wide space rock was only 17,200 miles above Indonesia. (No satellites were damaged by the flyby.) This one we knew of since last June 2012 thanks to amateur astronomers keeping their eyes in the skies. http://planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/3418.html

And, before many of us put our telescopes and/or binoculars away another fireball graced our skies over California 7:44p.m. 
It is still debatable whether or not the Russian asteroid and Asteroid 2012 DA14 are or are not connected. Now with the fireball it has been quickly announced it is a sporadic meteorite with no connections to the two other asteroids.

The threat from asteroids is very real, and something we need to pay serious attention to.
Excerpts from YouTube video of meteorite, NBC News, Hubble Space Telescope

Wish you all a very enjoyable weekend
Trudi

NASA to Broadcast Asteroid Flyby of Earth 2013 02 15 [HD]

  

Be sure not to miss it tomorrow. NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST) on Friday, Feb. 15, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named "2012 DA14." NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.

The half-hour broadcast from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., will incorporate real-time animation to show the location of the asteroid in relation to Earth, along with live or near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.

At the time of its closest approach to Earth at approximately 2:25 p.m. EST (11:25 a.m. PST/ 19:25 UTC), the asteroid will be about 17,150 miles (27,600 kilometers) above Earth's surface. Measuring approximately 50 meters wide, 2012 DA14 is about half the size of a football field. Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, astronomers have never seen an object this big come so close to our planet. The asteroid will actually pass closer to Earth than many manmade satellites.

The commentary will be available via NASA TV and streamed live online at http://www.nasa.gov/ntvand http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

Also, a Ustream feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will be streamed for three hours starting at 9 p.m. EST (8 p.m. CST). To view the feed and ask researchers questions about the flyby via Twitter, visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfcIn addition to the commentary, near real-time imagery of the asteroid's flyby before and after closest approach, made available to NASA by astronomers in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about noon EST (9 a.m. PST) and continuing through the afternoon athttp://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

2013 02 06 Double CME class C9.0 HD

  
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DOUBLE ERUPTION (UPDATED): Sunspot AR1667 erupted this morning (Feb. 6th @ 00:21 UT), producing a double-peaked C9-class solar flare that lasted more than ten hours from beginning to end. The slowly-unfolding explosion also hurled two CMEs into space. The clouds are not heading directly for Earth, but they could deliver glancing blows to our planet's magnetic field on Feb. 9-10. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend.