The Day-Date-Moon Ticker
M29/6.1M, T30/V10.8, W31/MC,V8, Th1/6.0M, F2, Sa3/6.4M,7.1M, Su4, M5/MC, T6/MC, W7/MC(2),GS32, Th8

Explanatory Notes
The Ticker above is chronological, with symbols for day, date, moon phase and/or distance. After the / are earthquakes(7.0M), volcanoes(V8), geomagnetic storms(GS31), and solar flares(XC and MC). These correspond to the data below.

Earth and Sun Digest for January 8, 2004
ACTIVE PLANET, ASTEROIDS MISS
...at a Glance (with time ticking)
(Source data can change without notice or correction.)

Earthquakes of 5.0 to 5.9M thru Wednesday--24 (Jap-4, SoPac-14); three quakes of 6M or greater:
1/03 7.1M SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS, 1/03 6.4M SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS, 1/01 6.0M GUERRERO, MEXICO

California and Nevada earthquakes in past week--474 ; no quakes of 4M or greater
Volcanic ash near Jet Stream (at 5 mi/8 km)--Ecuador 12/31, Mexico 12/30, none since 1/1
Sunspot No. high and low--93 on 7 January from 47 on 1 January
Largest and smallest daily total area of sunspots--1150 on 3 January from 490 on 1 January (100 = Earth)
X-Class Solar Flares: none; last M-Class flares (5+/day) 5 on 27 October (see ticker for fewer MC)
Planetary Geomagnetic Indices: high of 32 on 7 January; last sets of five or more Kp's of 4 or more per 24 hours: 31 December-1 January, 3-7 January

Solar Fluxes Today (related to horizontal graph median line):
Protons under, Electron blue and red lines above
(for updates see http://www.sel.noaa.gov/today.html )
Near Earth Asteroid: 2003 YS17 coming Jan 14, missing by 14 LD
(for more information today, see www.spaceweather.com )

Moon for January 2004 per Astronomy Magazine
3 apogee, 7 full moon, 14 last quarter, 19 perigee, 21 new moon, 29 first quarter, 31 second apogee
The moon is at perigee (225,413 miles near) on 19 January.

Recent Volcanic Eruptions

COLIMA western México 19.514°N,103.62°W; summit elev. ~3,850 m
an eruption at Colima on 30 December with an ash plume to a height of ~10.4 km

DUKONO Halmahera, Indonesia 1.70°N, 127.87°E; summit elev. 1,185 m during 31 December to 6 January low-intensity eruptions with plumes to low levels extending ~185 km

FUEGO Guatemala 14.47°N, 90.88°W; summit elev. 3,763 m
during 1-5 January lava and avalanches

KARYMSKY Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia 54.05°N, 159.43°E; summit elev. 1,536 m
during 26 December to 2 January possible ash-and-gas plumes to 5 km, on 25, 29, and 31 December explosions with accompanying pyroclastic flows possible

KILAUEA Hawaii, USA 19.43°N, 155.29°W; summit elev. 1,222 m
during 30 December to 5 January volcanic activity at Kilauea's Pu`u `O`o crater but surface lava flows not observed, during 30 and 31 December, much lava emitted from vents on the W side of Pu`u `O`o's crater floor; several active shields (a pile of lava flows built over a lava tube rather than over a conduit feeding magma) in the upper rootless shield complex on 31 December and spatter cones at the top of West Gap shield on 5 January

KLIUCHEVSKOI Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia 56.06°N, 160.64°E; summit elev. 4,835 m
during 26 December to 2 January gas-and-steam plumes to low levels

LASCAR northern Chile 23.37°S, 67.73°W; summit elev. 5,592 m
on 9 December small amounts of fine ash emitted from fumaroles, the following day only gas and steam emitted

SANTA MARÍA Guatemala 14.756°N 91.552°W; summit elev. 3,772 m
during 1-5 January weak-to-moderate explosions from Santa María's Santiaguito lava-dome complex with block-and-ash avalanches

SOUFRIÈRE HILLS Montserrat, West Indies 16.72°N, 62.18°W; summit elev. 1,052 m
volcanic activity low during 26 December to 2 January, sulfur-dioxide flux rate of 500 tons per day at the beginning of the report period, instrument problems and unfavorable wind directions the rest of the week

SUWANOSE-JIMA Ryukyu Islands, Japan 29.53°N, 129.72°E; summit elev. 799 m
on 2 and 4 January small explosions with ash plumes to unknown heights

TUNGURAHUA Ecuador 1.47°S, 78.44°W; summit elev. 5,023 m
during 31 December to 5 January emissions of gas, steam, and ash, plumes to a maximum height of 8 km on 31 December

Ash data is summarized from the weekly GVN/USGS report at
http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/
All ash elevations are in km above sea level (a.s.l.).

The earthquake data that follows are taken from U.S. Geological Survey tables available through http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/bulletin.html .


EARTH

FIVE Index of Global earthquakes of 5.0 magnitude or greater

DATE-(UTC)-TIME LAT LON DEP MAG Q COMMENTS
yy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss deg. deg. km

READ UP for latest report.

04/01/08 08:45:0114.45N56.45E10.0 5.3OWEN FRACTURE ZONE REGION
04/01/07 18:45:4020.03N122.10E33.0 5.5BATAN ISL REGION, PHILIPPINES
04/01/07 10:42:388.38N82.65W33.0 5.5PANAMA-COSTA RICA BORDER REGION
04/01/07 07:51:3743.58N110.39W5.0 5.0WYOMING
04/01/06 05:50:5234.17N136.75E33.0 5.0WESTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
04/01/06 01:01:5147.33N154.08E33.0 5.3KURIL ISLANDS
04/01/05 21:24:4322.79S169.93E10.0 5.3SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
04/01/05 06:53:453.53S151.05E33.0 5.6NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.
04/01/05 00:13:3922.34S169.63E10.0 5.2SOUTHEAST OF LOYALTY ISLANDS
04/01/04 16:13:593.62S77.31W33.0 5.0PERU-ECUADOR BORDER REGION
04/01/04 06:23:0729.81S177.74W33.0 5.3KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
04/01/03 17:59:4122.56S169.86E10.0 5.2SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
04/01/03 16:23:1822.30S169.70E10.0 7.1SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
04/01/03 09:45:1922.35S169.48E10.0 5.5SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
04/01/03 08:21:4822.39S169.60E10.0 6.4SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
04/01/03 08:07:3422.44S169.78E10.0 5.9SOUTHEAST OF THELOYALTY ISLANDS
04/01/02 16:58:278.33S125.39E33.0 5.1EAST TIMOR REGION
04/01/02 12:42:4421.64S169.87E10.0 5.3SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
04/01/02 03:49:5845.05S166.85E22.0 5.1OFF WEST COAST OF THE SOUTH ISLAND, N.Z.
04/01/01 23:58:0217.51N101.24W29.2 5.8GUERRERO, MEXICO
04/01/01 23:31:5017.52N101.19W29.9 6.0GUERRERO, MEXICO
04/01/01 20:59:308.26S115.79E33.0 5.8BALI REGION, INDONESIA
04/01/01 08:15:5722.16S169.31E10.0 5.1SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
04/01/01 06:58:0822.19S169.46E10.0 5.1SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
04/01/01 05:58:5947.04N154.09E33.0 5.1KURIL ISLANDS
04/01/01 04:39:1221.55S169.86E10.0 5.2SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
04/01/01 03:15:2123.35N121.61E56.1 5.0TAIWAN
04/01/01 01:41:4947.06N154.01E33.0 5.1KURIL ISLANDS

United States Quakes this past week
with quakes possibly felt in U.S. from nearby countries:

04/01/08 07:44:4851.43N177.87E33.0 4.7RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
04/01/07 09:54:3843.61N110.36W5.0 2.9WYOMING
04/01/07 09:34:0343.58N110.38W5.0 3.2WYOMING
04/01/07 09:23:4643.60N110.35W5.0 4.0WYOMING
04/01/07 08:44:2143.61N110.31W5.0 4.1WYOMING
04/01/07 08:36:4843.57N110.43W5.0 3.4WYOMING
04/01/07 08:27:0143.57N110.33W5.0 3.7WYOMING
04/01/07 08:13:2043.59N110.42W5.0 3.0WYOMING
04/01/07 07:51:3743.58N110.39W5.0 5.0WYOMING
04/01/06 18:28:3835.72N121.09W5.6 3.9CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/06 06:39:2935.64N121.08W0.1 3.8CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/05 10:24:5035.72N121.05W4.4 3.5CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/05 05:58:0232.18N115.41W12.0 3.4BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
04/01/05 02:53:1643.60N104.06W5.0 2.8SOUTH DAKOTA
04/01/04 23:17:1535.69N121.11W5.7 3.5CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/04 23:08:2919.00N64.44W33.0 4.6VIRGIN ISLANDS
04/01/04 19:31:1019.15N64.60W33.0 3.9VIRGIN ISLANDS
04/01/04 17:44:1338.82N122.79W2.8 3.1NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
04/01/04 05:43:5135.65N121.10W2.4 3.7CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/03 22:28:5235.65N121.10W0.0 3.4CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/03 09:17:0734.38N118.64W5.3 3.0GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA
04/01/03 09:09:4935.71N121.06W5.5 3.5CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/03 07:21:3038.82N122.80W0.2 3.2NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
04/01/03 05:23:3619.67N77.82W10.0 4.4CUBA REGION
04/01/02 10:53:3935.71N121.15W3.0 3.6CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/02 06:44:3135.70N121.06W4.6 3.5CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/02 06:40:2035.65N121.08W3.8 3.7CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/01 23:21:3035.67N121.11W4.0 3.8CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/01 14:03:0835.71N120.97W0.0 3.6CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/01 11:13:2935.72N121.06W3.4 3.8CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/01/01 09:00:2335.63N117.58W1.5 3.2SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
04/01/01 00:56:5251.39N177.61W33.0 4.2ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA


Monthly Summary of Earthquakes of 6 or greater Magnitude
in the World, per USGS/NEIC Preliminary Global Report

YEAR: 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04

November 0 7 10 6 7 4 15 15 10 11 13 with one 7M
December 0 6 13 7 3 2 16 11 7 11 17 with one 7M
Yr total 19 110 160 109 76 63 103 109 112 133 145 (3)

January 2 1 13 10 4 7 5 8 10 14 10 (3 with one 7M)


SUN

Sunspot numbers for the past week:
12/31 1/1 2 3 4 5 6 7
25 47 51 65 80 80 78 93
Planetary geomagnetic A Indices for same period
17 27 13 26 24 22 20 32

Solar data from http://www.sec.noaa.gov/

SPECIAL NOTE

Near Earth Objects in Space

The newest addition to In a Glance is the next closest asteroid in space this year that posts a potential hazard to earth. The following from www.spaceweather.com shows the date, ID, miss distance and brightness (magnitude) of the latest object.

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs are on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.

On 8 Jan 2004 there were 564 known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids

December 2003 Earth-asteroid encounters
ASTEROID 2003 YS17
DATE (UT) 2004 Jan 14
MISS DISTANCE 14 LD
MAG. 17

Notes: LD is a "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.

Comments or questions are welcome.

Donald J. Boon, editor, donaldboon@comcast.net