REVISED GEOMAGNETIC STORM FORECAST: NOAA's latest forecast model suggests that a CME launched by yesterday's M7-flare will hit Earth more directly than previously thought. An impact during the late hours of Jan. 2nd could spark G2-class geomagnetic storms on Jan 2-3. The only bad news: Aurora visibility will be mitigated by glare from this weekend's full Wolf Moon. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
AN ENTIRE YEAR OF SUNSPOTS: This is sunspot dedication. Every day in 2025 (clouds permitting), Warren Spreng of Mason, Ohio, pointed his filtered Seestar 50 telescope at the sun and took a picture. "I then layered each day's image over the previous day's to build a composite of the disk with all the sunspots for that month," Spreng explains.
This is the result. Click on the image for a high-res view of every sunspot in 2025:
Spreng's archive shows at a glance that Solar Cycle 25 is far from over. Every month in 2025 brought numerous large sunspots on both sides of the sun's equator. As 2026 begins, the monthly-averaged sunspot number remains comfortably above 100.
Solar cycle predictions from NOAA suggest that the sunspot number should remain about this high throughout most of 2026 with a slow decline toward Solar Minimum underway by the end of the year. Between now and then, space weather will continue to storm. Stay tuned! Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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COFFEE TASTES BETTER IN A CUP FROM SPACE: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Shop the Earth to Sky Store! It's filled with items that have visited the edge of space onboard cosmic ray research balloons:
Earth to Sky 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
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