Space Weather
Space weather describes changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space. Magnetic fields, radiation, particles and matter, which have been ejected from the Sun, can interact with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and surrounding magnetic field to produce a variety of effects.
Space weather notifications
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Aurora forecasts
Northern Hemisphere
Geomagnetic activity is expected to be largely at Background resulting in only limited opportunities for auroral visibility. Any viewing prospects will be further constrained by the short hours of darkness typical of this time of year.
Southern Hemisphere
Geomagnetic activity is expected to remain largely at background, with auroral visibility likely to be limited and largely confined to the Antarctic continent.
Issued at: 01:01 (GMT) on Thu 18 Jun 2026
Forecast overview
Space Weather Forecast Headline: No significant activity.
Analysis of Space Weather Activity over past 24 hours
Solar Activity: Low with only a few Common-class flares observed. There are currently five sunspot regions visible on the Earth-facing solar disc, all of which are relatively small and stable.
No Earth-directed Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) were observed.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: Solar wind parameters were indicative of a weak Coronal Hole fast wind enhancement.
Solar wind speeds gradually increased from around 400 km/s to 480–500 km/s during the first part of the period, before stabilising at approximately 450 km/s. The Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) was briefly Moderate, but has since become Weak. The important north-south component (Bz) similarly peaked at around the same time before becoming largely unremarkable. However, geomagnetic activity remained Quiet (Kp 1-2).
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: The count rate of energetic particles (high energy protons) was at background with no solar radiation storms observed.
Four-Day Space Weather Forecast Summary
Solar Activity: Low activity is forecast with a chance of falling Very Low.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: There are no Earth-directed CMEs. Solar winds are expected to remain Slightly Elevated on days 1 & 2, before slowly declining on days 3 & 4. Geomagnetic activity is expected to be mostly Quiet (Kp 0-2) with isolated Unsettled (Kp3) intervals and a slight chance of an Active period (Kp4).
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: The count rate of energetic particles (high energy protons) is forecast to persist at Background with no solar radiation storms occurring.
Issued at: 23:02 (GMT) on Wed 17 Jun 2026
Solar imagery
SDO AIA-193
This channel highlights the outer atmosphere of the Sun - called the corona - as well as hot flare plasma. Hot active regions, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections will appear bright here. The dark areas - called coronal holes - are places where very little radiation is emitted, yet are the main source of solar wind particles.
Issued at:
SDO AIA-304
This channel is especially good at showing areas where cooler dense plumes of plasma (filaments and prominences) are located above the visible surface of the Sun. Many of these features either can't be seen or appear as dark lines in the other channels. The bright areas show places where the plasma has a high density.
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