 | | | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation  Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 4.67 unsettled
24-hr max: Kp= 4.67 unsettled
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 12.83 nT
Bz: -0.47 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 1146 UT Coronal Holes: 03 Apr 25 
There are no large equatorial coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. 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 April 3, 2025, the Arctic stratosphere is much too hot for Type II 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 Apr 03 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 70 % | 70 % | CLASS X | 15 % | 15 % | 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 Apr 03 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 40 % | 40 % | MINOR | 25 % | 25 % | SEVERE | 05 % | 05 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 10 % | 10 % | MINOR | 25 % | 25 % | SEVERE | 60 % | 60 % | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | 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. | | | GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN PROGRESS: A minor G1-class geomagnetic storms is underway on April 3rd, probably due to the early arrival of a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) originally expected on April 4th. CIRs are transition zones between fast- and slow-moving streams of solar wind. They contain shock waves akin to those of CMEs and often do a good job sparking high-latitude auroras. Aurora alerts: SMS Text. TEMPEST IN A SUNSPOT: Big sunspot 4048 is turning toward Earth and crackling with M-class solar flares. David Wilson of Inverness, Scotland, caught an eruption big enough to swallow our entire planet on April 2nd: 
"There's lots of action in sunspot 4048 including this nice flare," says Wilson. "I recorded this video using my modified Coronado PST (Personal Solar Telescope) and a DMK21 camera." NOAA forecasters say there is a 70% chance of M-class flares and a 15% chance of X-flares on April 3rd. If you have a solar telescope, take a look! Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter FRAM2 SIGHTINGS: The first humans to orbit Earth's poles are visible in the night sky. Geir T Birkeland Øye photographed their space capsule on April 1st: 
"The Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying the four astronauts of the historic Fram2 mission passed almost directly over my home in Ørsta, Norway," says Øye. Fram2 can shine as brightly as a first magnitude star, and it will be in orbit until Friday, April 4th. That means you have one more night to see it. Check Heavens Above for local flyby times. Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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NORTHERN LIGHTS SPACE PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the Northern Lights Space Pendant. Here it is, hitching a ride to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon:
You can have it for $129.95. The students are selling these pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. It makes an out-of-this-world birthday or anniversary gift! Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Venus Photo Gallery
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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 Apr 03, 2025, the network reported 3 fireballs.
(3 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 April 3, 2025 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | | 2025 FZ1 | 2025-Mar-29 | 6.4 LD | 9.5 | 15 | | 2025 FC22 | 2025-Mar-29 | 1 LD | 20.5 | 12 | | 2025 FW11 | 2025-Mar-30 | 5.9 LD | 12 | 24 | | 2025 FR13 | 2025-Mar-30 | 3.5 LD | 16.3 | 49 | | 2020 VA4 | 2025-Mar-30 | 11.6 LD | 5.6 | 12 | | 2025 FG18 | 2025-Mar-30 | 3.9 LD | 8.4 | 13 | | 2025 FQ7 | 2025-Mar-31 | 7.5 LD | 14.6 | 14 | | 2025 FO20 | 2025-Mar-31 | 9.4 LD | 4.7 | 16 | | 2025 FS11 | 2025-Mar-31 | 18.1 LD | 12.5 | 34 | | 2025 FZ3 | 2025-Mar-31 | 8.4 LD | 7.1 | 18 | | 2025 FH21 | 2025-Apr-01 | 3 LD | 10.6 | 12 | | 2025 FC8 | 2025-Apr-01 | 19.9 LD | 7.6 | 16 | | 2025 FC6 | 2025-Apr-01 | 11.8 LD | 11.4 | 21 | | 2025 FL7 | 2025-Apr-01 | 12.7 LD | 8.7 | 20 | | 2022 FR3 | 2025-Apr-01 | 6.6 LD | 7.4 | 105 | | 2025 GA | 2025-Apr-02 | 0.2 LD | 10.7 | 6 | | 2025 FN20 | 2025-Apr-02 | 16 LD | 19 | 45 | | 2025 FM18 | 2025-Apr-02 | 0.7 LD | 12.8 | 5 | | 2025 FP6 | 2025-Apr-02 | 19.3 LD | 10.1 | 25 | | 2025 GB | 2025-Apr-03 | 1.9 LD | 8.4 | 39 | | 2025 FA15 | 2025-Apr-03 | 5.4 LD | 21.9 | 27 | | 2025 FY14 | 2025-Apr-03 | 1.4 LD | 6.5 | 13 | | 2025 FO16 | 2025-Apr-03 | 5.5 LD | 12.5 | 19 | | 2004 FC18 | 2025-Apr-04 | 18.4 LD | 18.5 | 47 | | 2025 FW5 | 2025-Apr-04 | 13.3 LD | 20.4 | 59 | | 2020 XT2 | 2025-Apr-04 | 13.6 LD | 6.2 | 41 | | 2023 GC2 | 2025-Apr-04 | 17.3 LD | 6.3 | 12 | | 2017 FA102 | 2025-Apr-04 | 11.7 LD | 15.2 | 28 | | 2020 FH4 | 2025-Apr-04 | 12.8 LD | 3 | 7 | | 2025 FU7 | 2025-Apr-05 | 19.8 LD | 7.9 | 22 | | 2025 BC10 | 2025-Apr-05 | 9.7 LD | 22.9 | 479 | | 2007 SQ6 | 2025-Apr-05 | 10.9 LD | 6.6 | 129 | | 2025 FM12 | 2025-Apr-05 | 11 LD | 7 | 15 | | 2025 GD | 2025-Apr-05 | 2.5 LD | 11.7 | 39 | | 2025 DV40 | 2025-Apr-06 | 16.8 LD | 13.1 | 98 | | 2025 FO15 | 2025-Apr-06 | 11.3 LD | 14.2 | 20 | | 2025 FX14 | 2025-Apr-06 | 13.2 LD | 14.8 | 33 | | 2003 GQ22 | 2025-Apr-07 | 19.6 LD | 8.9 | 180 | | 2025 FF18 | 2025-Apr-08 | 8.6 LD | 7.5 | 23 | | 2025 DL28 | 2025-Apr-08 | 16.2 LD | 5.6 | 39 | | 2025 FN14 | 2025-Apr-08 | 13.5 LD | 7.9 | 40 | | 2023 HG | 2025-Apr-11 | 3.7 LD | 8.6 | 14 | | 2023 KU | 2025-Apr-11 | 2.8 LD | 18 | 119 | | 2015 FS33 | 2025-Apr-12 | 14.6 LD | 20.7 | 129 | | 2025 FP10 | 2025-Apr-12 | 10.9 LD | 14.1 | 582 | | 2025 FV13 | 2025-Apr-13 | 18.2 LD | 5 | 28 | | 2023 RX1 | 2025-Apr-13 | 18.1 LD | 1.4 | 3 | | 2023 UH | 2025-Apr-15 | 8.8 LD | 11 | 21 | | 2022 UO | 2025-Apr-15 | 19.8 LD | 16.2 | 18 | | 2025 DC36 | 2025-Apr-15 | 14.2 LD | 4.9 | 59 | | 2011 VG9 | 2025-Apr-16 | 12.2 LD | 23.8 | 135 | | 2017 RN16 | 2025-Apr-17 | 10.9 LD | 8.7 | 6 | | 2025 FL20 | 2025-Apr-17 | 13.1 LD | 3.4 | 15 | | 2025 FK12 | 2025-Apr-20 | 9.5 LD | 7.4 | 22 | | 2014 HS124 | 2025-Apr-22 | 10.9 LD | 8.9 | 93 | | 2019 FY2 | 2025-Apr-24 | 12.8 LD | 5.3 | 12 | | 462959 | 2025-Apr-25 | 12.9 LD | 9.5 | 213 | | 2024 BF | 2025-May-01 | 9.5 LD | 4.6 | 47 | | 2024 JM2 | 2025-May-03 | 7.2 LD | 11.3 | 62 | | 2021 JN1 | 2025-May-06 | 18.3 LD | 16.3 | 39 | | 2021 HZ | 2025-May-08 | 20 LD | 10.2 | 30 | | 612356 | 2025-May-09 | 11 LD | 5.1 | 305 | | 2021 KH | 2025-May-10 | 18.3 LD | 7.2 | 19 | | 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 | 98 | | 2008 ST | 2025-May-20 | 13.5 LD | 2.5 | 14 | | 387746 | 2025-May-24 | 17.4 LD | 8.3 | 338 | | 2014 KF22 | 2025-May-25 | 9.1 LD | 11.5 | 19 | | 390725 | 2025-May-25 | 18.4 LD | 13.5 | 408 | | 2025 FU5 | 2025-May-28 | 13.4 LD | 7.3 | 90 | | 2022 KP3 | 2025-May-30 | 10.2 LD | 7.7 | 7 | 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 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. | | 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. | | | 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. | | | from the NOAA Space Environment Center | | | the underlying science of space weather |  | 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. | | BestCSGOGambling is the best site for everything related to CSGO gambling on the web | | | These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! | | | | | | | | |  | | |  | ©2021 Spaceweather.com. All rights reserved. This site is penned daily by Dr. Tony Phillips. | |
