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
Enhancements to the auroral oval are not anticipated during the period with little chance of visible aurora at most magnetic latitudes. Also, the short hours of darkness limit any potential viewings.
Southern Hemisphere
Enhancements to the auroral oval are not anticipated during the period with little chance of visible aurora at most magnetic latitudes.
Issued at: 00:46 (GMT) on Fri 17 Jul 2026
Forecast overview
Space Weather Forecast Headline: Increasing Chance of Moderate solar activity.
Analysis of Space Weather Activity over past 24 hours
Solar Activity: Solar activity has been Low, with the maximum flare peaking at 16/2135 UTC, from a region beyond the eastern limb. There are four sunspot regions visible on the solar disc. These are simple regions, with a region near the southwest limb being the largest. The aforementioned flare over the southeast limb suggests there may be a new region yet to rotate over the limb, but Solar Orbiter imagery suggests this is unlikely to be a large or complex region.
No Earth-directed CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections) were observed in the past 24 hours.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: Solar winds displayed the weak influence of fast winds from the small coronal hole in the west of the disc. Winds remained at slightly elevated levels. Total Interplanetary Magnetic Field was at Weak. The north-south component favoured a negative (southward) orientation. Geomagnetic activity was Quiet to Unsettled.
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: The count rate of energetic particles (high energy protons) was at background levels.
Four-Day Space Weather Forecast Summary
Solar Activity: Low solar activity is expected to continue, with a slight chance of isolated Moderate-class flares. The flare risk increases slightly through the period as at least one new region rotates onto the visible disc.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: There are no Earth directed CMEs in the forecast. Solar winds are expected to decline to slow-ambient levels through this period, with perhaps some minor enhancements from a small coronal hole just west of centre disc.
Geomagnetic activity is forecast to be mainly Quiet, with a chance of Unsettled intervals and a slight chance of Active intervals.
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: The count rate of energetic particles (high energy protons) is expected to remain at background levels.
Issued at: 00:12 (GMT) on Fri 17 Jul 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: