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Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/Ovation
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp=
2.33 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 4.00 unsettled
explanation | more
data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 5.90 nT
Bz: -3.07 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 0652 UT
Coronal Holes: 09 May 25
Solar wind flowing from this southern coronal hole could graze Earth on May 9-11. Credit: NASA/SDO | more data
Polar Stratospheric Clouds
Colorful Type II polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) form when the temperature in the stratosphere drops to a staggeringly low -85C. NASA's MERRA-2 climate model predicts when the air up there is cold enough:
On May 09, 2025, the Arctic stratosphere is much too hot for polar stratospheric clouds. | more data.
Noctilucent Clouds
The southern season for noctilucent clouds (NLCs) is finished. The first clouds were detected over Antarctica on Nov. 19, 2024, and they vanished again on Feb. 21, 2025. The action will shift to the north pole in late May 2025. Until then, the map will remain blank.
Updated: Feb. 21, 2025
An instrument onboard NOAA 21 (OMPS LP) is able to detect NLCs (also known as "polar mesospheric clouds" or PMCs). In the daily map, above, each dot is a detected cloud. As the season progresses, these dots will multiply in number and shift in hue from blue to red as the brightness of the clouds intensifies.
SPACE WEATHER
NOAA Forecasts |
|
Updated at: 2025 May 08 2200 UTC
FLARE |
0-24
hr |
24-48
hr |
CLASS M |
40
% |
40
% |
CLASS X |
05
% |
05
% |
Geomagnetic Storms:
Probabilities for significant
disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor
storm, severe
storm
Updated at: 2025 May 08 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
|
0-24
hr |
24-48
hr |
ACTIVE |
40
% |
35
% |
MINOR |
30
% |
15
% |
SEVERE |
10
% |
01
% |
High latitudes
|
0-24
hr |
24-48
hr |
ACTIVE |
05
% |
10
% |
MINOR |
20
% |
30
% |
SEVERE |
70
% |
50
% |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
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This is an AI Free Zone: Text created by Large Language Models is spreading across the Internet. It's well-written, but frequently inaccurate. If you find a mistake on Spaceweather.com, rest assured it was made by a real human being.
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GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): NOAA forecasters are predicting a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm on May 9th when a high-speed stream of solar wind is expected to exert pressure on Earth's magnetic field. A glancing blow from a CME (it left the sun on May 5th) is also possible, further boosting the odds of a storm. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
ON THE SUN, THIS IS WHAT 'QUIET' LOOKS LIKE: All week long, solar activity has been low with a persistent quiet causing the sun's X-ray output to flatline. However, everthing is relative. On the sun, this is what 'quiet' looks like:
David Wilson recorded this two-hour movie from his backyard observatory in Inverness, Scotland. "I was testing an old barlow lens on May 7th when I caught sight of this tempest between the clouds," he says.
How can a solar tornado big enough to swallow Earth with 150,000 mph winds be "quiet"? For starters, there's no sound in space. But that's not the real reason. Space weather analysts rank solar activity by explosiveness. If there's an X-class solar flare, forecasters will say "solar activity is high." But if there are no flares and no CMEs, then "solar activity is low" or "quiet." This magnificent tornado simply did not explode.
Quiet never looked so good.
more images: from Michael Jaeger of AZM Martinsberg, Austria; from Alain Malfait of Esterel, France; from Richard Schrantz of Nicholasville, Kentucky; from Frank J Melillo of Holtsville, NY;
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
OVAL SUN HALO: 99 out of 100 sun halos are perfectly circular. On May 7th, John Dartnell looked into the blue sky over North Wiltshire, UK, and saw the 100th. "This display was oval in shape," he says.
"I have seen circular sun halos before, but I was mystified by this," adds Dartnell. "At first I thought it was lens distortion, but it was definitely oval."
This is called a "circumscribed halo." It appears when the low sun shines through pencil-shaped ice crystals in the air. Bright circumscribed halos require that the crystals be aligned with their long axes parallel to the ground--hence the rarity. When the sun rises toward the zenith, this oval halo will shape-shift to become perfectly circular. Check it out!
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
CONSTELLATION CAT NIGHT LIGHT (CRYSTAL BALL): It's the most far-out feline night light ever--the Constellation Cat Crystal Ball. On April 23, 2025, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a giant helium balloon.
You can have it for $139.95. Outlined by stars in the style of an astronomical constellation, the laser-etched cat comes with an LED stand that produces a soothing glow for your bedside table. Also included: A unique greeting card shows the crystal ball in flight and tells the story of its journey to the edge of space.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
Realtime Comet 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 May 08, 2025, the network reported 7 fireballs.
(7 sporadics)
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 9, 2025 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 |
Recent
& Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT) |
Miss Distance |
Velocity (km/s) |
Diameter (m) |
| 2024 JM2 |
2025-May-03 |
7.6 LD |
11.3 |
62 |
| 2025 JV1 |
2025-May-03 |
8 LD |
10.6 |
22 |
| 2025 JM |
2025-May-04 |
17.1 LD |
11.2 |
31 |
| 2025 HN3 |
2025-May-04 |
7.9 LD |
14 |
30 |
| 2025 JZ1 |
2025-May-05 |
7.2 LD |
12.2 |
101 |
| 2025 HF5 |
2025-May-06 |
3.5 LD |
4.3 |
25 |
| 2025 JK |
2025-May-06 |
13.2 LD |
5.5 |
17 |
| 2021 JN1 |
2025-May-06 |
18.3 LD |
16.3 |
39 |
| 2025 JA2 |
2025-May-06 |
9.2 LD |
21.3 |
78 |
| 2025 HY2 |
2025-May-07 |
17.8 LD |
13.6 |
38 |
| 2021 HZ |
2025-May-08 |
20 LD |
10.2 |
30 |
| 2025 JE |
2025-May-08 |
1 LD |
6.1 |
7 |
| 612356 |
2025-May-09 |
11 LD |
5.1 |
305 |
| 2025 JB2 |
2025-May-09 |
13.4 LD |
9.6 |
19 |
| 2021 KH |
2025-May-10 |
18.3 LD |
7.2 |
19 |
| 2025 JK1 |
2025-May-10 |
3.2 LD |
8 |
19 |
| 2025 JO |
2025-May-10 |
3.7 LD |
15.6 |
14 |
| 2025 JW1 |
2025-May-10 |
3 LD |
12.3 |
23 |
| 2025 JX1 |
2025-May-10 |
2.2 LD |
6.8 |
30 |
| 2025 JA1 |
2025-May-12 |
4 LD |
12.6 |
30 |
| 2011 HJ7 |
2025-May-12 |
6.6 LD |
15.8 |
118 |
| 2011 YU74 |
2025-May-13 |
11.4 LD |
5 |
90 |
| 2025 DT50 |
2025-May-14 |
16 LD |
6.4 |
105 |
| 2025 HD19 |
2025-May-17 |
7.3 LD |
9 |
27 |
| 2008 ST |
2025-May-20 |
13.5 LD |
2.5 |
14 |
| 2025 JE1 |
2025-May-20 |
11.4 LD |
1.4 |
22 |
| 387746 |
2025-May-24 |
17.4 LD |
8.3 |
339 |
| 2014 KF22 |
2025-May-25 |
9.1 LD |
11.5 |
19 |
| 390725 |
2025-May-25 |
18.4 LD |
13.5 |
410 |
| 2025 JP |
2025-May-27 |
13.4 LD |
7 |
24 |
| 2025 JR |
2025-May-28 |
12.1 LD |
11.4 |
76 |
| 2025 FU5 |
2025-May-28 |
13.4 LD |
7.3 |
92 |
| 2022 KP3 |
2025-May-30 |
10.2 LD |
7.7 |
7 |
| 424482 |
2025-Jun-05 |
9.1 LD |
6.2 |
421 |
| 2020 LQ |
2025-Jun-06 |
17.3 LD |
11.8 |
34 |
| 2018 LE4 |
2025-Jun-07 |
12.2 LD |
13.3 |
62 |
| 2014 LL26 |
2025-Jun-08 |
8 LD |
5.2 |
31 |
| 2022 KQ5 |
2025-Jun-12 |
13.6 LD |
5.1 |
5 |
| 2023 XO15 |
2025-Jun-15 |
17.8 LD |
3.4 |
24 |
| 2025 HN6 |
2025-Jun-16 |
6.4 LD |
2.3 |
23 |
| 2000 LF3 |
2025-Jun-17 |
18.9 LD |
14.5 |
169 |
| 2023 XU2 |
2025-Jun-18 |
11.1 LD |
15.6 |
32 |
| 2003 AY2 |
2025-Jun-22 |
14.2 LD |
15.9 |
386 |
| 2014 DH |
2025-Jun-28 |
17.1 LD |
12.1 |
17 |
Notes: LD means
"Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance
between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256
AU.
| |
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 |
| |
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 |
| |
from
the NOAA Space Environment Center |
| |
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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