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 HOLE IN THE SUN'S ATMOSPHERE: A large hole has opened in the sun's atmosphere and it is turning toward Earth. Solar wind emerging from this coronal hole should reach our planet on April 19-20, potentially sparking G1-class geomagnetic storms. Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
INTRODUCING CARROLL CRATER: Until last week, no one had ever heard of Carroll Crater--then Artemis II swung around the Moon. On April 6th, the crew sent a transmission to Earth proposing that a previously unnamed crater would henceforth be known as "Carroll," after Commander Reid Wiseman's wife Carroll Taylor Wiseman, who died in 2020. Here it is, not far from Einstein:
Astrophotographer Dennis Simmons of Brisbane, Australia, took this picture on April 13th and labeled Carroll so we could find it. It's not easy because the crater is located at the farside-nearside boundary. Only occasionally is it tipped toward Earth by lunar libration.
April 13th was such an occasion. " I set the alarm for 3:00am and set up the gear in our back garden, waiting for the Moon to clear the tree line," says Simmons. "This would give the C11 some time to cool down, ready for when the Moon cleared the trees."
Carroll is a bright crater, and this means it is relatively young. Fresh impacts expose unweathered material from beneath the Moon's surface. Over time, the solar wind and micrometeorite impacts darken lunar regolith, so newly excavated debris stands out with higher reflectivity.
The International Astronomical Union still has to officially approve the crew's suggested name, but who are we kidding? It's Carroll.
more images: from Patricio Leon of Santiago, Chile; from Alex Krivenyshev of New York City, NY
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
NORTH SEA FIREBALL: A space rock entered Earth's atmosphere on April 13th, creating a dramatic fireball over the North Sea. "We all screamed when it happened, I was so excited!" reports Ian Sproat who photographed the object from the Northumberland coastline of England:
"I was out taking pictures of the Milky Way rising over Lindisfarne (also known as 'Holy Island') when this huge fire ball passed through the frame creating an insane contrast of stars, landscape, and drama," he says.
So far the American Meteor Society (AMS) has received 195 reports of this big event from both sides of the North Sea. Some observers say it was much brighter than a Full Moon. Considering the amount of reflected light from the landscape of Holy Island, those estimates seem reasonable.
The green color of the fireball is perfectly normal. Many of the brightest fireballs glow with a green light caused by intense heating of magnesium and nickle in the disintegrating space rock. If you saw the fireball, please submit your observations to the AMS.
Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
PREMIUM ITEM--THE WROUGHT IRON SPACE ROSE: Mother's Day is coming soon. Give mom a premium gift that never wilts or dies: The Wrought Iron Space Rose. On Feb. 1, 2026, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched the metal bloom to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $197.95. This is a premium item. The rose was forged by hand from iron, the element created in supernova explosions--so this rose is genuine "star stuff." Buy this rose and you will also receive a greeting card showing the bloom in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
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 12, 2026, 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 April 14, 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) |
| 2026 GE |
2026-Apr-08 |
0.5 LD |
10.8 |
7 |
| 2026 GY |
2026-Apr-08 |
4.1 LD |
5.3 |
7 |
| 2026 GB1 |
2026-Apr-09 |
16.3 LD |
15.7 |
49 |
| 2026 GT1 |
2026-Apr-09 |
2.9 LD |
11.2 |
20 |
| 2026 GD |
2026-Apr-09 |
0.7 LD |
12.7 |
17 |
| 2022 GE2 |
2026-Apr-10 |
12 LD |
9.2 |
15 |
| 2026 GY1 |
2026-Apr-10 |
2.9 LD |
10.1 |
32 |
| 2026 GW |
2026-Apr-10 |
3.7 LD |
8.5 |
10 |
| 2026 FE7 |
2026-Apr-11 |
8.9 LD |
7.8 |
29 |
| 2026 GC |
2026-Apr-11 |
13.6 LD |
8.2 |
37 |
| 2026 GR1 |
2026-Apr-12 |
0.9 LD |
6.7 |
10 |
| 2023 HB4 |
2026-Apr-12 |
16.8 LD |
8.7 |
15 |
| 2026 FV6 |
2026-Apr-13 |
7.5 LD |
11.2 |
29 |
| 2026 GW1 |
2026-Apr-13 |
3.1 LD |
13.6 |
14 |
| 2026 GX1 |
2026-Apr-14 |
13.1 LD |
4.7 |
16 |
| 2013 GM3 |
2026-Apr-14 |
0.7 LD |
7.4 |
20 |
| 2026 FX13 |
2026-Apr-14 |
7.1 LD |
11.7 |
29 |
| 2026 GT |
2026-Apr-16 |
11.7 LD |
16 |
18 |
| 2026 GA2 |
2026-Apr-16 |
3.6 LD |
10.5 |
16 |
| 2026 GA1 |
2026-Apr-17 |
12.2 LD |
7.8 |
20 |
| 2026 FJ6 |
2026-Apr-18 |
15.8 LD |
9.8 |
90 |
| 2026 GM1 |
2026-Apr-18 |
3.5 LD |
5.6 |
28 |
| 2026 AC4 |
2026-Apr-20 |
10.7 LD |
1.2 |
22 |
| 2022 UG2 |
2026-Apr-20 |
16.3 LD |
10.3 |
13 |
| 2026 GJ1 |
2026-Apr-21 |
8.7 LD |
22.3 |
69 |
| 2025 HQ4 |
2026-Apr-21 |
16.4 LD |
12.5 |
22 |
| 2026 GZ1 |
2026-Apr-21 |
15.5 LD |
10.3 |
49 |
| 2026 BK2 |
2026-Apr-22 |
10 LD |
8.1 |
219 |
| 2022 UU8 |
2026-Apr-25 |
8.7 LD |
4 |
9 |
| 2026 GU1 |
2026-Apr-28 |
12.5 LD |
6.4 |
75 |
| 2026 GD1 |
2026-May-03 |
14.6 LD |
6.7 |
51 |
| 2020 GE3 |
2026-May-09 |
11.1 LD |
6 |
21 |
| 2023 VR5 |
2026-May-16 |
7.5 LD |
2.3 |
10 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
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 |
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The
first place to look for information about sundogs,
pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. |
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Researchers
call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO
is the most advanced solar observatory ever. |
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3D
views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial
Relations Observatory |
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Realtime
and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. |
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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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