 | | | Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica Credit: NOAA/Ovation  Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3.00 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 4.33 unsettled
explanation | more data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.59 nT
Bz: -0.39 nT south
more data: ACE, DSCOVR
Updated: Today at 1147 UT Coronal Holes: 19 Jan 25 
Earth is inside a stream of solar wind flowing from the indicated coronal hole. 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 Jan 18, 2025, the Arctic stratosphere is cold enough for Type II clouds. | more data. Noctilucent Clouds
The southern season for noctilucent clouds (NLCs) is underway!. The first clouds were detected over Antarctica on Nov. 19, 2024. Here is the current NLC map from the NOAA 21 satellite.
Updated: Jan. 15, 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 Jan 20 2200 UTC FLARE | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | CLASS M | 65 % | 65 % | CLASS X | 20 % | 20 % | 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 Jan 20 2200 UTC Mid-latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 35 % | 15 % | MINOR | 10 % | 05 % | SEVERE | 01 % | 01 % | High latitudes | 0-24 hr | 24-48 hr | ACTIVE | 15 % | 15 % | MINOR | 25 % | 20 % | SEVERE | 45 % | 20 % | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | This is an AI Free Zone! Text created by Large Language Models is spreading rapidly 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. | | | A BIG SUNSPOT IS FACING EARTH: Sunspot 3961 is one of the largest sunspots of Solar Cycle 25. After days of impressive growth, it is now directly facing Earth with a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. A geoeffective explosion may be in the offing. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text. GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS ABOUT COMET ATLAS: First, the good news: Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3) has just emerged into the evening sky of the southern hemisphere--and it is a beauty. "I do not think I have seen a comet as beautiful as this one since Hale-Bopp in 1997," says Daniel Mello, who sends this Jan. 19th selfie from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 
"Comet ATLAS is surprising everyone in the southern hemisphere," says Mello. Indeed, beautiful photos are pouring in from many countries south of the equator. "We were not expecting that!" marvels Noeleen Lowndes, who experienced the surprise of seeing the comet's tail naked-eye from Mt Tamborine, Australia. "It is was clearly visible to the naked eye," says Andres Molina of Bogota, Colombia. "This is one of the most incredible photos I have ever taken!" adds Gabriel Zaparolli of Jaquirana, Brazil. Now for the bad news: The comet may be disintegrating. This sequence of photos from Hungarian astronomer Lionel Majzik, using a telescope in Chile, shows a troubling change. A bright streamer has appeared inside the comet's atmosphere, and the head is no longer the brightest object in the photo: 
Only one week ago, Comet ATLAS passed very close to the sun (0.09 AU), deep inside the orbit of Mercury. The thermal stress may have been too much. Famously, a similar disintegration happened to Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3) after its close approach to the sun in mid-Dec. 2011. Comet Lovejoy appeared to lose its nucleus ("the head") while still maintaining a visible tail. But who needs a head? Comet Lovejoy went on to become a "headless wonder" visible throughout the southern hemisphere. Check out these photos from the Spaceweather.com archive: Dec, 20, 21, 22, 2011. The same thing could happen to Comet ATLAS. Stay tuned! Realtime Comet ATLAS Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter "I LOVE YOU MORE" MOONSTONE PENDANT: Valentine's Day is coming! Nothing says "I love you" like a moonstone from space. This one hitched a ride on an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon, floating 112,201 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $162.95. The students are selling these sterling silver infinity-wrapped moonstone pendants to support their ballooning program. Engraved with "I Love You More," it makes a romantic Valentine's gift. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the moonstone in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again. Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
Realtime Space Weather 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 Jan 16, 2025, the network reported 6 fireballs.
(6 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 January 20, 2025 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 | Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) | | 2025 BQ | 2025-Jan-15 | 11.7 LD | 11.7 | 21 | | 2025 BE | 2025-Jan-15 | 13.1 LD | 19.1 | 60 | | 2023 OS | 2025-Jan-15 | 16.5 LD | 10.9 | 48 | | 2025 BP | 2025-Jan-15 | 1.1 LD | 17.6 | 12 | | 2025 BO | 2025-Jan-16 | 15 LD | 10.3 | 16 | | 2025 BF | 2025-Jan-16 | 12.5 LD | 8.4 | 43 | | 2022 CE2 | 2025-Jan-16 | 11.1 LD | 13.3 | 120 | | 2025 BL | 2025-Jan-16 | 5.7 LD | 6.9 | 26 | | 2025 BT | 2025-Jan-17 | 9 LD | 13.7 | 16 | | 2024 YF2 | 2025-Jan-17 | 4.4 LD | 4.4 | 17 | | 2025 AO2 | 2025-Jan-17 | 2 LD | 10.3 | 18 | | 2025 BD | 2025-Jan-17 | 0.6 LD | 16 | 13 | | 2025 AF | 2025-Jan-17 | 19.8 LD | 8.8 | 35 | | 2022 OB5 | 2025-Jan-18 | 8.9 LD | 1.4 | 6 | | 2025 BN | 2025-Jan-18 | 0.8 LD | 11.8 | 20 | | 2024 YB10 | 2025-Jan-18 | 15.1 LD | 2.5 | 16 | | 2024 WY70 | 2025-Jan-18 | 16.5 LD | 10.2 | 261 | | 2024 YQ5 | 2025-Jan-19 | 17.6 LD | 5 | 29 | | 2025 BC | 2025-Jan-19 | 2.9 LD | 3.6 | 15 | | 2025 BA | 2025-Jan-20 | 7.9 LD | 24.8 | 69 | | 2025 AY2 | 2025-Jan-20 | 17.7 LD | 23.3 | 71 | | 2025 BJ | 2025-Jan-20 | 10.7 LD | 7.2 | 22 | | 2017 BN92 | 2025-Jan-21 | 4.7 LD | 6.2 | 27 | | 2025 BK | 2025-Jan-25 | 15.4 LD | 10.4 | 53 | | 2024 YY5 | 2025-Jan-26 | 12.5 LD | 2.4 | 14 | | 2022 BX6 | 2025-Jan-28 | 19.7 LD | 14.3 | 24 | | 2015 DJ155 | 2025-Jan-31 | 18.6 LD | 9.2 | 56 | | 2018 RE3 | 2025-Feb-03 | 15.5 LD | 11.1 | 12 | | 2022 AV4 | 2025-Feb-03 | 16.9 LD | 3.4 | 25 | | 2002 CC14 | 2025-Feb-04 | 8.4 LD | 12.7 | 39 | | 2025 BR | 2025-Feb-04 | 12.4 LD | 6.1 | 18 | | 2016 CO248 | 2025-Feb-07 | 13.5 LD | 5.9 | 11 | | 2020 GZ2 | 2025-Feb-07 | 17.7 LD | 8.9 | 9 | | 2022 PK1 | 2025-Feb-07 | 15 LD | 11 | 33 | | 2012 PB20 | 2025-Feb-09 | 3.5 LD | 4.3 | 37 | | 2004 XG | 2025-Feb-16 | 15.6 LD | 9.1 | 54 | | 2024 UD26 | 2025-Feb-16 | 16.8 LD | 9.3 | 250 | | 2014 CE13 | 2025-Feb-18 | 15.2 LD | 18.4 | 55 | | 2022 DG2 | 2025-Feb-19 | 11.5 LD | 10.4 | 7 | | 2016 AX165 | 2025-Feb-20 | 14.9 LD | 9.2 | 89 | | 2015 BK509 | 2025-Feb-25 | 9.4 LD | 14.6 | 119 | | 2023 RW3 | 2025-Feb-25 | 7.4 LD | 5.1 | 18 | | 535844 | 2025-Mar-05 | 9.6 LD | 7.9 | 149 | | 2021 EU3 | 2025-Mar-10 | 10.7 LD | 4.4 | 13 | | 2020 FO | 2025-Mar-15 | 13.4 LD | 20.6 | 23 | 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. | |
