2012-10-11 M1/M2 and Asteroid Flyby HD

  
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Solar Flares
6-hr max: C4 0804 UT Oct11
24-hr: C4 0804 UT Oct11
GOES X-ray Flux plot (updates every 5 minutes)
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/xray_5m.html
Sunspot number: 71
5 active regions.
NE limb view from region 11589
http://www.solarmonitor.org/region_pop.php?date=20121011&type=saia_00193&......
For the past two weeks, solar activity has been relatively low. Now, a change is in the offing. The farside of the sun is peppered with sunspots, and some of them are beginning to turn toward Earth. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed this pair of active regions advancing over the eastern limb during the early hours of Oct. 11th:
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2012/11oct12/eastlimb.jpg
Underlying each nest of glowing magnetic loops is a dark sunspot that poses a threat for solar flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of M-class solar flares and a 5% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours.
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3 quiet
Estimated 3-hour Planetary Kp-index
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/kp_3d.html
Newly-discovered asteroid 2012 TC4 will fly past Earth on Oct. 12th only 96,000 km (0.25 LD) away. There is no danger of a collision, but the 16 meter-wide space rock will be close enough to photograph through backyard telescopes as it brightens to approximately 14th magnitude.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkGQ9uwdTn4&feature=g-all-u
Sources:NOAA/ http://www.spaceweather.com
ASTEROID FLYBY: Newly-discovered asteroid 2012 TC4 will fly past Earth on Oct. 12th only 96,000 km (0.25 LD) away. There is no danger of a collision, but the 16 meter-wide space rock will be close enough to photograph through backyard telescopes as it brightens to approximately 14th magnitude. NASA hopes to ping this this object with radar, refining its orbit and possibly measuring its shape. Stay tuned for updates.