Celebrating Astronaut Alan Shepard's 100th Birthday

Images

Friday, 17 November 2023

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., attired in his Mercury pressure suit, poses for a photo on May 5, 1961, prior to his launch in a Mercury-Redstone 3 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral on a suborbital mission – the first U.S. manned spaceflight.

Image Credit: NASA

Planetary Positions

27.04.2024 at 07:05:13 UTC

Planet	Longitude
The Sun	07 Tau 30' 50"
The Moon	15 Sag 37' 49"
Mercury	16 Ari 06' 31"
Venus	27 Ari 18' 28"
Mars	27 Pis 24' 49"
Jupiter	23 Tau 15' 35"
Saturn	16 Pis 18' 24"
Uranus	22 Tau 10' 36"
Neptune	28 Pis 48' 57"
Pluto	02 Aqu 05' 48"

Solar Status

BZ Status:	13
Proton Density:	2.37
Proton Speed:	445.4 k/sec
KP Status:	3.00

Type	Apr 27	Apr 28	Apr 29
Active	35%	35%	25%
Minor	25%	20%	10%
Moderate	10%	5%	1%
Strong	1%	1%	1%
Kp Index Prediction
00-03UT	3.67	3.67	2.67
03-06UT	3.00	3.33	2.00
06-09UT	3.00	3.33	2.33
09-12UT	3.00	3.00	2.67
12-15UT	3.00	3.00	2.33
15-18UT	3.33	3.33	2.33
18-21UT	3.33	2.00	2.33
21-00UT	3.67	2.00	2.33
Solar Activity
Solar activity declined to low levels. Regions 3638 (S18, L=231), 3639 (N30W90, Axx/alpha) and 3647 (S13, L=217) produced C-class flare activity during the period, the largest a C6.6 at 26/0636 UTC from Region 3639. Region 3654 (S08W08, Eai/beta-gamma) remained the largest region on the disk, but was quiet. The region did indicate some slight area decay. Minor development was observed in Region 3658 (S23W60, Dro/beta). The remaining regions were either stable or in decay. No Earth-directed CMEs were detected in available imagery.
Solar Wind
Solar wind conditions became weakly enhanced at around 26/0018 UTC. Total magnetic field strength reached a peak of 13 nT at 26/1510 UTC, while the Bz component was sustained southward most of the period, by as much as -11 nT 26/1250 UTC. Solar wind speed peaked at 387 km/s at 26/0116 UTC and slowly decreased to low speeds near 305 km/s near the end of the period. The phi angle was predominately negative through about 26/1500 UTC when the orientation switched to positive.
Energetic Particle
The greater than 2 MeV electron flux was at normal to moderate levels, while the greater than 10 MeV proton flux was steady at background levels.

Celebrating Astronaut Alan Shepard's 100th Birthday

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