This is an AI Free Zone: Text created by Large Language Models is spreading 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.
FOR REAL THIS TIME, THE STORM IS SUBSIDING: A super-fast CME hit Earth on Jan. 19th, igniting almost 3 full days of strong geomagnetic storms. Forecasters were surprised by the longevity of the event, which included at least 12 hours of severe (G4-class) storming. Now the storm appears to be subsiding as Earth exits the CME’s wake. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
AURORAS SPREAD ACROSS THE USA: You don’t see this very often: Desert succulents surrounded by Northern Lights. Chris Cook photographed the rare juxtaposition in southern California on Jan. 19th:
“Last night’s severe geomagnetic storm produced an aurora visible from Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojave Desert of California!” says Cook. “The aurora was faintly visible to the eye, but the camera recorded its beautiful reddish pink glow.”
Ross Stone saw a similar scene near the Eureka Dunes in Death Valley National Park. “It was a quiet night in the desert and a beautiful show in the sky,” says Stone.
At the same time in Alaska, this happened:
“What an incredible night of dancing, exploding and pulsating aurora!” says says photographer Sacha Layos near Fairbanks. “Every time I thought the show was done, it would ramp back up again and explode across the sky.”
The list of states where auroras were photographed is at least 34 states long: Oregon, Minnesota, Colorado; Virginia, Michigan, Vermont, West Virginia, New York, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Missouri, New Jersey, Indiana, Arizona, Wyoming; New Mexico, California, Alabama, South Carolina; North Dakota, Nebraska, Georgia, Montana, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Washington, Ohio, New York, Utah. Add your state here!
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
VALENTINE’S LOVE LOCKET: Valentine’s Day is coming. Do you have a truly far-out gift? Consider the Valentine’s Love Locket. On Jan. 2nd, it flew to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $107.95. The locket is openable, lockable, and can hold small items inside. You’ll also receive a unique keepsake card showing the jewelry at the top of Earth’s atmosphere. Inside, the card tells the story of the flight and certifies that this swing has been to the edge of space.
Earth to Sky Valentine’s 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 Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
All Sky Fireball Network 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. 20 2026, the network reported 8 fireballs.
(8 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 21, 2026 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2026-Jan-16
6.1 LD
7.3
6
2026-Jan-16
6.9 LD
9
7
2026-Jan-16
1 LD
5.8
4
2026-Jan-16
9.5 LD
15.7
36
2026-Jan-16
6.6 LD
16.4
14
2026-Jan-16
1.9 LD
9.9
8
2026-Jan-16
1.9 LD
9.9
8
2026-Jan-16
14.9 LD
13.6
43
2026-Jan-16
13.4 LD
20.2
43
2026-Jan-16
4.4 LD
3.6
15
2026-Jan-16
17.8 LD
14.9
32
2026-Jan-16
2.9 LD
7.5
7
2026-Jan-17
0.5 LD
8.2
5
2026-Jan-17
16.2 LD
23.7
51
2026-Jan-17
5.9 LD
8.6
10
2026-Jan-17
4.7 LD
6.9
28
2026-Jan-17
17 LD
10.2
129
2026-Jan-17
0.6 LD
7.9
4
2026-Jan-17
6 LD
10
20
2026-Jan-17
19.8 LD
5.1
4
2026-Jan-18
5.4 LD
8.6
14
2026-Jan-18
9.4 LD
5.1
6
2026-Jan-18
8.2 LD
7.1
19
2026-Jan-18
0.9 LD
13.5
4
2026-Jan-19
2.9 LD
6.3
6
2026-Jan-19
3.1 LD
4.1
4
2026-Jan-19
8.9 LD
8.4
12
2026-Jan-19
4.4 LD
9.1
7
2026-Jan-20
19.5 LD
11.5
77
2026-Jan-20
7.2 LD
11
11
2026-Jan-20
11.5 LD
14.9
64
2026-Jan-21
17.1 LD
4.9
35
2026-Jan-21
16.4 LD
17.5
35
2026-Jan-21
1 LD
12.7
7
2026-Jan-21
10.8 LD
9.1
27
2026-Jan-22
12.1 LD
11.8
23
2026-Jan-22
12.1 LD
9.3
28
2026-Jan-22
17.9 LD
12
45
2026-Jan-22
19.6 LD
8.2
57
2026-Jan-23
13.3 LD
6
29
2026-Jan-23
10.8 LD
9.7
20
2026-Jan-23
4.9 LD
12.2
20
2026-Jan-24
6.6 LD
5.4
24
2026-Jan-25
5.7 LD
5.4
13
2026-Jan-26
12.9 LD
20.8
70
2026-Jan-27
19.5 LD
4.1
30
2026-Jan-29
6.1 LD
13.4
51
2026-Jan-29
13.6 LD
5.3
34
2026-Jan-29
16.2 LD
1.2
8
2026-Jan-29
6.9 LD
12
35
2026-Jan-30
9.7 LD
2.2
19
2026-Jan-31
8.8 LD
1.2
3
2026-Jan-31
11.1 LD
3.9
12
2026-Jan-31
12 LD
3.1
30
2026-Jan-31
1.3 LD
3.8
8
2026-Feb-04
9.9 LD
8
29
2026-Feb-05
10.2 LD
10.8
17
2026-Feb-09
18.3 LD
9.3
23
2026-Feb-09
10 LD
8
19
2026-Feb-09
17.6 LD
5.1
11
2026-Feb-09
16.3 LD
9.4
31
2026-Feb-11
20 LD
9.2
7
2026-Feb-12
15.4 LD
5
18
2026-Feb-14
10.5 LD
2.7
59
2026-Feb-14
17 LD
19.2
626
2026-Feb-21
15.4 LD
9.5
129
2026-Feb-21
4.2 LD
11.4
22
2026-Feb-21
3 LD
6.8
4
2026-Feb-21
9 LD
8.8
65
2026-Feb-22
17.5 LD
3.1
32
2026-Feb-23
16.3 LD
4
98
2026-Feb-24
11.6 LD
6.9
73
2026-Feb-24
8.3 LD
7.9
9
2026-Feb-27
13.4 LD
4.5
12
2026-Feb-27
16.3 LD
8.7
30
2026-Feb-28
10 LD
9.9
32
2026-Mar-02
15.8 LD
16.5
39
2026-Mar-06
6.3 LD
4
14
2026-Mar-06
19.9 LD
7.2
61
2026-Mar-08
13.4 LD
16
43
2026-Mar-09
16.1 LD
1.3
8
2026-Mar-10
14.7 LD
10
55
2026-Mar-10
14.2 LD
4.1
18
2026-Mar-11
7.8 LD
12.7
3
2026-Mar-11
9.4 LD
9.1
27
2026-Mar-15
4.5 LD
7.8
44
2026-Mar-17
2.7 LD
3.1
6
2026-Mar-18
18.2 LD
7.2
9
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.
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 from Lights over Lapland 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. These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! 
Back by popular demand:
T CrB NOVA WATCH
today: m=10.3 (Jan 21.5)
yesterday: m=10.2
AAVSO data: #1, #2.
Explanation: When the nova explodes, the visual magnitude of the star will jump from +10 (invisible to the naked eye) to +2 (about as bright as the North Star).
A 2026 Prediction: Jean Schneider of the Paris Observatory predicts the nova will occur near June 25, 2026, based on periodicities observed in previous eruptions. [more]
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