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SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts |
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Updated at: 2026 Apr 30 2200 UTC
FLARE |
0-24
hr |
24-48
hr |
CLASS M |
50
% |
50
% |
CLASS X |
10
% |
10
% |
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant
disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor
storm, severe
storm
Updated at: 2026 Apr 30 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
|
0-24
hr |
24-48
hr |
ACTIVE |
35
% |
10
% |
MINOR |
10
% |
05
% |
SEVERE |
01
% |
01
% |
High latitudes
|
0-24
hr |
24-48
hr |
ACTIVE |
15
% |
15
% |
MINOR |
30
% |
20
% |
SEVERE |
45
% |
15
% |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
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|
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This is an AI Free Zone: AI is everywhere -- except here. Spaceweather.com is written by Dr. Tony Phillips, a carbon-based lifeform with 30 yrs of forecasting experience. If you find a mistake, rest assured it was made by a real human being.
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A NEW STUDY OF LAST YEAR'S GROUND LEVEL EVENT: On Nov. 11, 2025, an X5-class solar flare triggered the strongest Ground Level Enhancement (GLE) in 25 years. A new study just published in Space Weather takes a closer look. Japanese researchers found that unusually hard protons rained down in three distinct pulses over 16 hours. During one pulse, dose rates at the highest aviation altitudes approached 80 μSv/h, which is considered Severe by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Fortunately, the elevated period was brief (~10 minutes) so no flights had to be diverted. Free: Space Weather Newsletter
COMET PANSTARRS IS BACK: The last time we saw Comet PanSTARRS (C/2025 R3), it was passing through SOHO coronagraphs, too close to the sun to view with human eyes. The comet survived. Renato Sfalsin Passos photographed it last night in the evening twilight of Espírito Santo, Brazil:
"Although the skies were unfavorable, many clouds in the west, we were able to find the comet about 10 degrees above the western horizon," says Passos, who took the picture with colleagues Claudia M. Musso and Guilherme Musso. "This is a stack of 21x1.6 second exposures taken with a Nikon D5100 camera."
The comet is currently shining like a 4th magnitude star--borderline-bright for human eyes to pick out of the twilight, but an easy target for cameras and small telescopes. Southern-hemisphere observers are favored as the comet is gliding through the constellation Eridanus. Point your optics here.
more images: from Minoru Yoneto of Queenstown, New Zealand
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
FORGET-ME-NOT PHOTO LOCKET: It's a great gift for Mother's Day: The Forget-Me-Not Photo Locket. The students of Earth to sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $169.95. Filled with real pressed forget-me-not and white lace flowers, the locket opens to hold a small photo close to your heart. You will also receive a greeting card showing the locket in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again.
The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are selling Mother's Day Gifts from space to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Shop now!
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
Every night, a network
of NASA
all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United
States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software
maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office
calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth
in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics.
Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.
On April 27, 2026, the network reported 8 fireballs.
(7 sporadics, 1 eta Aquariids)
In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue).
[Larger image] [movies]
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 is on a collision course with our planet,
although astronomers are finding new
ones all the time.
On May 1, 2026 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
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Recent
& Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT) |
Miss Distance |
Velocity (km/s) |
Diameter (m) |
| 2022 UU8 |
2026-Apr-25 |
8.7 LD |
4 |
9 |
| 2026 HE5 |
2026-Apr-25 |
2.8 LD |
7.7 |
12 |
| 2026 HP5 |
2026-Apr-26 |
0.8 LD |
8.6 |
9 |
| 2026 HP2 |
2026-Apr-26 |
13.3 LD |
10.9 |
30 |
| 2026 HE6 |
2026-Apr-26 |
4.4 LD |
9.8 |
7 |
| 2026 HR |
2026-Apr-27 |
16.6 LD |
7.6 |
22 |
| 2026 HJ3 |
2026-Apr-27 |
16.2 LD |
7.1 |
26 |
| 2026 GU1 |
2026-Apr-28 |
12.4 LD |
6.4 |
75 |
| 2026 HW |
2026-Apr-28 |
9.6 LD |
11.8 |
35 |
| 2026 HR5 |
2026-Apr-28 |
0.7 LD |
7 |
8 |
| 2026 HP3 |
2026-Apr-29 |
15.5 LD |
11.3 |
29 |
| 2026 HL3 |
2026-Apr-29 |
6.7 LD |
8.6 |
25 |
| 2026 HX3 |
2026-May-01 |
8.1 LD |
11.4 |
21 |
| 2026 HY3 |
2026-May-01 |
7.2 LD |
9 |
18 |
| 2026 HZ3 |
2026-May-01 |
4 LD |
8.4 |
31 |
| 2026 GW3 |
2026-May-02 |
13.9 LD |
5.8 |
21 |
| 2026 HA3 |
2026-May-02 |
5 LD |
12.1 |
46 |
| 2026 HD3 |
2026-May-02 |
8.4 LD |
11.5 |
20 |
| 2026 HE2 |
2026-May-03 |
15.5 LD |
6.6 |
24 |
| 2026 GD1 |
2026-May-03 |
14.6 LD |
6.6 |
48 |
| 2026 HK4 |
2026-May-05 |
11 LD |
20.3 |
23 |
| 2026 HN1 |
2026-May-06 |
9.2 LD |
14.2 |
66 |
| 2026 HA4 |
2026-May-07 |
4.1 LD |
9 |
20 |
| 2026 HY2 |
2026-May-07 |
5 LD |
9 |
34 |
| 2026 HD2 |
2026-May-08 |
17.7 LD |
10.7 |
43 |
| 2020 GE3 |
2026-May-09 |
11.1 LD |
5.9 |
21 |
| 2023 VR5 |
2026-May-16 |
7.5 LD |
2.3 |
10 |
| 2026 HC5 |
2026-May-17 |
7.1 LD |
6.7 |
21 |
| 2025 KR4 |
2026-May-18 |
15.2 LD |
5.9 |
22 |
| 2023 KH4 |
2026-May-24 |
5.5 LD |
7.9 |
14 |
| 2023 KZ1 |
2026-May-24 |
9 LD |
13.4 |
20 |
| 2026 HW2 |
2026-May-29 |
17.7 LD |
12.5 |
127 |
| 2023 BM4 |
2026-May-30 |
12.2 LD |
5.7 |
64 |
| 2021 KN2 |
2026-Jun-03 |
8.9 LD |
8.9 |
7 |
| 2018 GE |
2026-Jun-07 |
16.4 LD |
3.1 |
11 |
| 2016 VS |
2026-Jun-12 |
20 LD |
11.1 |
12 |
| 530520 |
2026-Jun-12 |
16.1 LD |
14.6 |
152 |
| 2003 LN6 |
2026-Jun-18 |
3.7 LD |
3.9 |
41 |
| 2025 WC4 |
2026-Jun-21 |
10.2 LD |
19.2 |
304 |
| 2015 LM24 |
2026-Jun-22 |
18.2 LD |
13.8 |
71 |
| 152637 |
2026-Jun-27 |
6.7 LD |
8.9 |
947 |
Notes: LD means
"Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance
between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256
AU.
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Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere |
SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Almost 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 sensors that detect secondary cosmic rays, a form of radiation from space that can penetrate all the way down to Earth's surface. Our monitoring program has been underway without interruption for 10 years, resulting in a unique dataset of in situ atmospheric measurements.
Latest results (Nov. 2024): Atmospheric radiation is sharply decreasing in 2024. Our latest measurements in November registered a 10-year low:
What's going on? Ironically, the radiation drop is caused by increasing solar activity. Solar Cycle 25 has roared to life faster than forecasters expected. The sun's strengthening and increasingly tangled magnetic field repels cosmic rays from deep space. In addition, solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays, causing sharp reductions called "Forbush Decreases." The two effects blend together to bring daily radiation levels down.
.Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. They can alter the chemistry of the atmosphere, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. According to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan school of public health, crews of aircraft have higher rates of cancer than the general population. The researchers listed cosmic rays, irregular sleep habits, and chemical contaminants as leading risk factors. A number of controversial studies (#1, #2, #3, #4) go even further, linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.
Technical notes: 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.
Data points in the graph labeled "Stratospheric Radiation" 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 Regener and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.
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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. |
| |
information about sunspots based on the latest NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary |
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current counts of failed and deployed Starlink satellites from Jonathan's Space Page. See also, all satellite statistics. |
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Authoritative predictions of space junk and satellite re-entries |
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from
the NOAA Space Environment Center |
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fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. |
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from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
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the
underlying science of space weather |
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Got a chipped or cracked windshield that prevents you from seeing space weather events while driving? Get windshield replacement from SR Windows & Glass with free mobile auto glass service anywhere in the Phoenix area. |
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