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
No significant enhancements to the auroral oval are expected during the forecast period.
Southern Hemisphere
No significant enhancements to the auroral oval are expected during the forecast period.
Issued at: 15:40 (GMT) on Tue 1 Sep 2026
Forecast overview
Space Weather Forecast Headline: Slight-chance of Moderate-class flares.
Analysis of Space Weather Activity over past 24 hours
Solar Activity: Solar activity is Low. There are five numbered sunspot regions on the visible disc. The largest sunspot, in the far east, is a relatively simple and stable uni-polar region. The most complex area is in the central southwest of the disc, with a bi-polar structure. However, it is showing signs of reducing in size. and fading of some of it's intermediate spots. All other regions are simple and relatively stable or reducing in size.
No Earth-directed CMEs were observed in available imagery.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: Solar winds measured at L1 by SOLAR-1, were Slightly Elevated at around 400-430 km/s, but reduced to background at 390-400 km/s from around 01/0200 UTC. Interplanetary Magnetic Field, Bt, was weak at 4-6nT. The north-south component, Bz, was weakly varying between, although has become generally negative (southwards) from 01/0700 UTC. Geomagnetic activity was Quiet (Kp 1-2).
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: GOES18 >10MeV proton flux was at background.
Four-Day Space Weather Forecast Summary
Solar Activity: Activity is expected to remain Low, with a slight-chance of Moderate levels from any isolated Moderate-class flares.
Solar Wind / Geomagnetic Activity: No Earth-directed Coronal Mass Ejections are currently forecast. Solar winds are expected to remain Slow during Day 1 (1 Sep), with no further significant enhancements expected.
Geomagnetic activity is forecast to be Quiet to Unsettled on Day 1 (1 Sep), then expected to be Quiet from Day 2 (02 Sep).
Energetic Particles / Solar Radiation: GOES-18 >10MeV proton flux is expected to continue at background levels.
Issued at: 12:05 (GMT) on Tue 1 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: