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A HOLE IN THE SUN'S ATMOSPHERE: A large hole in the sun's atmosphere is directly facing Earth and blowing a stream of solar wind in our direction. Estimated time of arrival: Jan. 31st or Feb. 1st. Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible when the gaseous material reaches Earth. CME impact alerts: SMS Text.
POLAR STRATOSPHERIC CLOUDS: Something interesting is happening in the polar stratosphere. A 40-year cold spell is underway, and the temperature contimues to drop. We know its cold because the stratosphere is starting to fill with colorful clouds. They look like this:
These are Type II polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) photographed by Per Steinar Prøven of Brumunddal, Norway. "We have been seeing them day and night," he says.
Polar stratospheric clouds are rare. Normally, the stratosphere has no clouds at all. When the temperature drops to -85 C (188 K), however, water molecules can get together to form ice crystals even in the very dry stratosphere. High-altitude sunlight touching those crystals creates a blossom of pastel color.
According to NASA's MERRA2 climate model, temperatures in the polar stratosphere are about to drop to their lowest levels since before 1978. This could cause a major outbreak of polar stratospheric clouds, visible around the Arctic Circle and beyond. If you see a PSC, please take a picture and submit your images here.
Realtime PSC Photo Gallery
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A DOUBLE-SPACECRAFT MOVIE OF COMET ATLAS: Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3) is so large, it took two spacecraft to photograph it. Spaceweather.com reader Fred Deters stitched together images from Europe's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (right) and NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft (left) to show the comet's close encounter with the sun in mid-January:
In this composite movie, the comet passes only 0.09 AU from the sun on Jan. 13th and then disintegrates. Long streaks in the STEREO-A movie (left) are called "synchrones." They are streamers of gas and dust created by fractures and outbursts in the comet's core. Synchrones are the visible aftermath of the comet's breakup.
Although its nucleus fell apart more than a week ago, the comet is still visible in the southern hemisphere as a naked-eye "headless wonder." Browse our realtime photo gallery for the latest images.
Realtime Comet ATLAS Photo Gallery
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HIGH TEA CUP: This is the perfect cup for high tea. 118,633 feet high, to be exact. On Jan. 24, 2025, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $114.95. The crystal glass cup is decorated with a 3D butterfly and a red rose. There's a matching teaspoon, too! This marvelous Valentine's Day gift comes with a greeting card showing the cup in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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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 28, 2025, 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 January 29, 2025 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) |
| 2025 BN6 | 2025-Jan-25 | 2 LD | 8.5 | 8 |
| 2025 BK | 2025-Jan-25 | 15.4 LD | 10.4 | 53 |
| 2025 BW | 2025-Jan-25 | 10.5 LD | 6.1 | 10 |
| 2025 BP6 | 2025-Jan-26 | 0 LD | 21 | 2 |
| 2024 YY5 | 2025-Jan-26 | 12.5 LD | 2.4 | 14 |
| 2025 BM6 | 2025-Jan-27 | 2.5 LD | 6.1 | 15 |
| 2025 BH2 | 2025-Jan-27 | 18 LD | 7.1 | 33 |
| 2025 BF5 | 2025-Jan-28 | 3.4 LD | 11.3 | 12 |
| 2025 BS4 | 2025-Jan-28 | 2.1 LD | 16 | 7 |
| 2022 BX6 | 2025-Jan-28 | 19.7 LD | 14.3 | 24 |
| 2025 BS2 | 2025-Jan-29 | 9.8 LD | 9.9 | 16 |
| 2025 BY1 | 2025-Jan-29 | 6.9 LD | 7.7 | 11 |
| 2025 BJ2 | 2025-Jan-30 | 15.3 LD | 15.6 | 42 |
| 2025 BV5 | 2025-Jan-30 | 1.1 LD | 4.1 | 8 |
| 2025 BU3 | 2025-Jan-30 | 3.4 LD | 12.3 | 36 |
| 2015 DJ155 | 2025-Jan-31 | 18.6 LD | 9.2 | 56 |
| 2025 BR2 | 2025-Jan-31 | 13.5 LD | 13.8 | 22 |
| 2025 BG4 | 2025-Feb-01 | 13 LD | 17.9 | 23 |
| 2025 BU | 2025-Feb-02 | 8.8 LD | 5.1 | 17 |
| 2025 BK3 | 2025-Feb-03 | 11.1 LD | 3.5 | 10 |
| 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 BB2 | 2025-Feb-04 | 0.8 LD | 6.5 | 28 |
| 2025 BR | 2025-Feb-04 | 12.3 LD | 6 | 19 |
| 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 |
| 2025 BX1 | 2025-Feb-16 | 7.2 LD | 10.3 | 53 |
| 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 |
| 2021 FH1 | 2025-Mar-21 | 3.9 LD | 13.8 | 31 |
| 2014 TN17 | 2025-Mar-26 | 13.3 LD | 21.5 | 174 |
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 |
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