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Just released: The Full Lunar Flyby Photo Gallery (Thanks, NASA!)

A METEOR SHOWER ON THE MOON: The crew of Artemis II were giddy (their words!) on the evening of April 6th when they witnessed explosions on the lunar surface. Meteoroids were hitting the Moon. "We saw at least six," reported mission commander Reid Wiseman.

The lunar meteors appeared in middle of a solar eclipse. About 90 minutes after the crew made their closest approach to the farside of the Moon, the sun disappeared behind the lunar disk. They witnessed the first solar eclipse ever seen by humans from behind the Moon.

Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman peers out the window of the Orion spacecraft

During the hour-long eclipse, the sun's corona was visible "at least 10 solar diameters [beyond the lunar limb]," according to Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. This allowed mission specialist Christina Koch to photograph mountains and other topography silhouetted by the sun's atmosphere along a wide arc of the Moon's edge.

The meteors were a complete surprise. "We're seeing them near the Moon's equator," reported Wiseman during the live webcast. Later, his crewmate Victor Glover spotted one near the Moon's South Pole. All of them appeared as bright flashes of light on the lunar surface.

Lunar meteors are different than Earth meteors. Here on Earth, meteoroids burn up in the atmosphere. On the airless Moon, they slam directly into the surface. NASA has been monitoring these impacts since 2006, logging about 20 per year on average. The crew of Artemis II saw 5 or 6 in a single hour.

Earth setting behind the edge of the Moon on April 6, 2026

The Moon was mostly but not completely dark during the meteor shower. The soft blue-tinged glow of Earth itself was cast across the lunar terrain. "The Earthshine is unreal," reported Glover. "Humans have not evolved to see what we are seeing. It's hard to describe"

The crew downloaded their photos to Earth overnight, and many of them will be released/discussed during NASA's April 7th press conference scheduled for 4:00 pm EDT. Prepare to be amazed.

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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"BEST MOM EVER" TEA CUP FROM SPACE: Mother's Day is coming soon. Here's a gift she'll use every day: The Best Mom Ever Tea Cup. Last October it flew to the edge of space onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon:

You can have it for $134.95. The crystal glass cup is decorated with 3D pink and purple daisies, and comes with a matching teaspoon. Also included is a greeting card showing the cup in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere. See also: The High Tea Cup.

Earth to Sky Mother's Day gifts have flown above 99.7% of Earth's atmosphere, experiencing space-like blasts of cosmic rays, extreme cold, and a wild ride parachuting back to Earth after the balloon explodes. Even Amazon doesn't carry items this far out. And, best of all, all sales support student science projects and STEM education.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education

Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
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Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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On April 07, 2026, the network reported 1 fireballs.
(1 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]

Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid	Date(UT)	Miss Distance	Velocity (km/s)	Diameter (m)
2026 FQ8	2026-Apr-02	8.1 LD	8.1	23
2026 GA	2026-Apr-02	7.9 LD	6.2	23
2026 FD4	2026-Apr-02	8 LD	6	10
2026 FR6	2026-Apr-02	15.3 LD	17.1	25
2026 FR4	2026-Apr-02	14 LD	6.8	12
2025 GL	2026-Apr-03	9.8 LD	6.4	5
2019 FQ1	2026-Apr-03	9.6 LD	10.1	13
2023 DZ2	2026-Apr-04	2.6 LD	7.2	49
2026 FG5	2026-Apr-04	8.6 LD	24.8	37
2026 FB6	2026-Apr-04	12.6 LD	6.8	10
2026 FH6	2026-Apr-04	18.1 LD	8.1	36
2026 FF7	2026-Apr-04	4.6 LD	13.1	11
2026 FW6	2026-Apr-05	15.4 LD	19.8	27
2021 GN6	2026-Apr-06	5.8 LD	7	14
2011 FT9	2026-Apr-07	3.4 LD	5.9	20
2024 TB7	2026-Apr-07	4.9 LD	7.5	5
2002 TB70	2026-Apr-07	13.4 LD	9.2	164
2026 GD	2026-Apr-09	0.7 LD	12.7	17
2022 GE2	2026-Apr-10	12 LD	9.2	15
2026 FE7	2026-Apr-11	8.9 LD	7.8	29
2026 GC	2026-Apr-11	13.6 LD	8.2	39
2023 HB4	2026-Apr-12	16.8 LD	8.7	15
2026 FV6	2026-Apr-13	7.4 LD	11.1	29
2013 GM3	2026-Apr-14	0.7 LD	7.4	20
2026 FJ6	2026-Apr-18	15.8 LD	9.8	95
2026 AC4	2026-Apr-20	10.7 LD	1.2	22
2022 UG2	2026-Apr-20	16.3 LD	10.3	13
2025 HQ4	2026-Apr-21	16.4 LD	12.5	22
2026 BK2	2026-Apr-22	10 LD	8.1	219
2022 UU8	2026-Apr-25	8.7 LD	4	9
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

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.

Essential web links

NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center

The official U.S. government space weather bureau

Atmospheric Optics

The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.

Solar Dynamics Observatory

Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.

STEREO

3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.

SolarMonitor.org

information about sunspots based on the latest NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary

Starlink Satellite Statistics

current counts of failed and deployed Starlink satellites from Jonathan's Space Page. See also, all satellite statistics.

The Aerospace Corporation

Authoritative predictions of space junk and satellite re-entries

Daily Sunspot Summaries

from the NOAA Space Environment Center

NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts

fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.

Aurora 30 min forecast

from the NOAA Space Environment Center

Live Aurora Webcam

from Lights over Lapland

Heliophysics

the underlying science of space weather

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