Solar wind
speed: 507.3
km/sec
density: 3.0
protons/cm3 more data: ACE, SOLAR-1 Updated: Today at 1503 UT
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1
1444 UT
Oct14
24-hr:
C6
0221 UT
Oct14
explanation
| more
data Updated: Today at: 1507 UT
Daily Sun: 14 Oct 26
Expand:labels | no labels
Sunspot 4551 has a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Credit: NASA/SDO
Planetary K-index
Now: Kp=
2.33 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3.33 quiet explanation | more
data
Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal: 4.3
nT
Bz: 1.2
nT north
more data: ACE, DSCOVR Updated: Today at 1504 UT
Coronal Holes: 14 Oct 26
Earth is inside a stream of solar wind flowing from these coronal holes. Credit: NASA/SDO | more data
Spotless Days Current Stretch: 0 days
2026 total: 4 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 13 Oct 2026
Thermosphere Climate Index
today: 12.17x1010W Cool
Max: 49.4x1010 W Hot (10/1957)
Min: 2.05x1010 W Cold (02/2009) explanation | more data:gfx, txt
Updated 12 Oct 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 Oct 13 2200 UTC
Mid-latitudes
0-24
hr
24-48
hr
ACTIVE
25
%
15
%
MINOR
05
%
05
%
SEVERE
01
%
01
%
High latitudes
0-24
hr
24-48
hr
ACTIVE
15
%
15
%
MINOR
20
%
20
%
SEVERE
20
%
20
%
Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026
What's up in space
AI writing is everywhere -- except here. This website is written by Dr. Tony Phillips, a carbon-based lifeform with 30 yrs of forecasting experience. Our guarantee: If you find a mistake, it was made by a real human being.
THE SOLAR WIND HAS ARRIVED: Earth is entering a stream of solar wind flowing from a hole in the sun's atmosphere. Wind speeds are currently topping 600 km/s. The stream is applying pressure to Earth's magnetic field and could spark a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm on Oct. 14th. Aurora alerts:SMS Text
JELLYFISH WITH A TWIST: Sky watchers near Cape Canaveral are accustomed to "SpaceX Jellyfish" -- the glowing exhaust from Falcon 9 rockets. But yesterday's jellyfish was a little different. Here's what Gregory Shanos saw from his driveway in Sarasota, Florida:
"This was an incredible event!" says Shanos. "Phenomenal to say the least."
What's different? Note the churning cloud embedded in the jellyfish. Many onlookers said they’d never seen that before.
The churning cloud is a "boostback burn." A boostback burn is when the rocket's first stage twists around and re-ignites its engines. Then it heads back to land at the launch site. Exhaust from the burn plows straight into the rocket’s own wake--hence the churn.
Most Florida jellyfish come from missions that land their boosters on drone ships far out in the Atlantic, with little or no boostback. That's why the cloud is rare.
This movie recorded by Howard Eskildsen of Ocala, Florida, captured the entire process. Play it with the sound on to hear his excellent commentary:
This rocket was a resupply mission to the ISS. The Dragon cargo carrier it launched contained food, new solar arrays, equipment to manufacture artificial retinas in microgravity, and brain organoids for Alzheimer’s research--more than 6,300 pounds in all. The capsule is due to dock on Thursday, Oct. 15th.
Would you like to see a SpaceX jellyfish? Sign up for our new Backyard Astronomy Alert Service. Subscribers receive realtime text messages when SpaceX rockets launch and jellyfish appear. Launches from Florida, California and Texas are all included.
THE EASTER ISLAND CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: You can't buy this on Amazon. Only the Earth to Sky Store has the Easter Island Christmas Ornament from space. Here it is floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere on July 16, 2026:
You can have it for $98.95. Modeled after the iconic stone heads of Easter Island, known as Moai, this ornament adds an element of mystery to any Christmas Tree. For 3 hours, it floated through the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon, then parachuted back to Earth, landing near Telescope Peak in Death Valley National Park.
The ornament comes with a full-color gift card showing the Moai in flight. The interior of the card tells the story of its journey to the edge of space 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 October 12, 2026, the network reported 3 fireballs.
(3 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]
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 October 14, 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.
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.
