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
There are currently no active notifications.
Aurora forecasts
Northern Hemisphere
There is slight chance of weak auroral enhancements overnight on Sunday 27th due the possible onset of fast solar winds from a coronal hole. Aurora visibility is most likely to be limited to the highest latitudes, but viewings could briefly occur as far south as northern Scotland or similar geomagnetic latitudes.
Southern Hemisphere
There is slight chance of weak auroral enhancements overnight on Sunday 27th due the possible onset of fast solar winds from a coronal hole. Aurora visibility is most likely to be limited to the Antarctic continent, but limited viewings could briefly occur as far north as New Zealand's South Island, or similar geomagnetic latitudes.
Issued at: 12:16 (GMT) on Sun 27 Sep 2026
Forecast overview
Space Weather Forecast Headline: Slight chance of G1 Minor Storm on Day 1 (27 Sep), from the onset of fast solar winds.
Analysis of Space Weather Activity over past 24 hours
Solar Activity: Low with only occasional small C-class flares observed. There are four sunspot regions on the Earth-facing disc. The region in the central part of the disc has been growing in the last few hours. It's intermediate spots have increased in number, with some showing penumbral growth as well. The region in the south-west of the disc has shown some penumbral growth in it's intermediate spot, but is relatively magnetically simple. The other regions appear to be stable and magnetically simple.
No Earth-directed CMEs were observed in available imagery.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: A weak and easing connection to the fast wind from a coronal hole was observed. Solar wind speeds, as observed by SOLAR-1 at L1, were Slightly Elevated but on a downward trend from around 480km/s down to 420km/s. Interplanetary Magnetic Field, Bt, was Weak and slowly reducing. The north-south component, Bz, started Weak and positive (northward), but then largely became Weak and negative (southward) around 26/1530 UTC . Geomagnetic activity was generally Quiet to Unsettled (Kp 1-3), becoming Active (Kp 4) briefly.
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: GOES-18 >10MeV proton flux was at Background.
Four-Day Space Weather Forecast Summary
Solar Activity: Solar activity is expected to be Low to Very Low.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: There are no Earth-directed CMEs. Earth may see the transition into the fast winds from CH97/- on Day 1 (27 Sep), with Slightly Elevated solar winds possibly becoming Elevated, but there is uncertainty about this. The solar winds may slowly ease Day 1 through to Day 4 (27-30 Sep). Geomagnetic activity is expected to be Quiet to Unsettled at first, perhaps becoming Unsettled to Active, with a slight chance of G1 Minor Storms Day 1 (27 Sep) if connection to CH97/- occurs. After this declining to become mostly Quiet conditions from Day 2 (28 Sep).
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: GOES-18 >10MeV proton flux is expected to persist at Background.
Issued at: 12:08 (GMT) on Sun 27 Sep 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.
Issued at: