Planetary K-index
Now: Kp=
4.33 unsettled
24-hr max: Kp= 4.33 unsettled explanation | more
data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 9.67 nT
Bz: 0.55 nT north more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 0231 UT
Coronal Holes: 09 Jul 26
Solar wind flowing from this equatorial coronal hole could reach Earth on July 10. .Credit: NASA/SDO | more data
Spotless Days Current Stretch: 0 days
2026 total: 3 days (2%)
2025 total: 0 days (0%)
2024 total: 0 days (0%)
2023 total: 0 days (0%)
2022 total: 1 day (<1%)
2021 total: 64 days (18%)
2020 total: 208 days (57%)
2019 total: 281 days (77%)
2018 total: 221 days (61%)
2017 total: 104 days (28%)
2016 total: 32 days (9%)
2015 total: 0 days (0%)
2014 total: 1 day (<1%)
2013 total: 0 days (0%)
2012 total: 0 days (0%)
2011 total: 2 days (<1%)
2010 total: 51 days (14%)
2009 total: 260 days (71%)
2008 total: 268 days (73%)
2007 total: 152 days (42%)
2006 total: 70 days (19%)
Updated 09 Jul 2026
Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 16.45x1010W Neutral
Max: 49.4x1010 W Hot (10/1957)
Min: 2.05x1010 W Cold (02/2009) explanation | more data:gfx, txt
Updated 08 Jul 2026
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 Jul 08 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24
hr
24-48
hr
ACTIVE
30
%
30
%
MINOR
05
%
05
%
SEVERE
01
%
01
%
High latitudes
0-24
hr
24-48
hr
ACTIVE
15
%
15
%
MINOR
20
%
20
%
SEVERE
25
%
25
%
Thursday, Jul. 9, 2026
What's up in space
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.
A GRAND DISPLAY OF NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS: Observers in Europe and Canada are reporting asignificantoutbreak of noctilucent clouds (NLCs). "It is most extensive and brightest display so far in the 2026 season," says Alan Dyer from southern Alberta. NLCs are made of frosted meteor smoke. They form naturally in summer months, and now is prime time to see them. [photo gallery]
CHINA HAS REACHED EARTH'S MINI-MOON: Everyone knows that Earth has a Moon. But did you know that it also has a mini-Moon? This week, a spacecraft from China pulled up alongside it.
On July 6th, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced that its Tianwen-2 probe has arrived at asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, a space rock that loops around our planet about once per year.
Snapped from about 20 km away, this 'first contact' photo reveals a house-sized body tumbling once every 28 minutes. That means it's probably a solid object, not a rubble pile that would easily spin apart.
Kamoʻoalewa is not a true moon. It is a "quasi-satellite," tracing lazy corkscrews around Earth while actually orbiting the sun in near-lockstep with our planet. Discovered by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii in 2016, its name comes from a Hawaiian chant and means, roughly, "oscillating celestial fragment."
This isn't Earth's only mini-Moon; there are at least 7 others. However, Kamoʻoalewa stands out as the most stable. It is expected to remain a quasi-satellite for centuries. That stability made it an attractive target for China's growing space program.
In this movie, NASA uses an earlier designation (2016 HO3) for Kamoʻoalewa
Kamoʻoalewa looks like a chip off of something bigger. But what?
Some researchers believe it is a piece of the Moon, blasted into space by the same impact that dug lunar crater Giordano Bruno. Others argue it wandered in from the asteroid belt. Tianwen-2 could settle the debate by bringing a piece of the mini-Moon home.
In the months ahead, the spacecraft will scout sampling sites using cameras and radar. Then comes the hard part: Grabbing material from a rapidly-spinning space rock. Tianwen-2 will try three different techniques: touch-and-go tag like NASA's OSIRIS-REx, a hover-and-scoop with a robotic arm, and an "anchor and attach" maneuver that would fasten the probe directly to the rock's surface. Mission planners hope one of them will work.
If all goes well, Tianwen-2 will leave Kamoʻoalewa on April 24, 2027--China's National Space Day--and drop its sample capsule into Earth's atmosphere in late November 2027. The spacecraft itself won't stop: it will sling past Earth toward Comet 311P/PANSTARRS.
THE METEOR CRATER PENDANT: Have you heard of Moissanite? It's a very rare mineral discovered by 19th-century chemist Henri Moissan in Arizona's Meteor Crater. At first, he thought it was diamond, but later realized it was even more rare. It's a diamond lookalike that, until the 1950s, was found naturally only in meteorites.
On Aug. 2, 2025, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched this Moissanite pendant to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $169.95. Engraved with the words "I love you always and forever," the sterling silver frame bends around the Moissanite in a heart-shaped curve--all highlighted by glittering 5A cubic zirconia nuggets.
The students are selling space pendants to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
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 July 8, 2026, the network reported 14 fireballs.
(13 sporadics, 1 phi Piscid)
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]
Near
Earth Asteroids
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 July 9, 2026 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
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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