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CO-ROTATING INTERACTION REGION: A co-rotating interaction region (CIR) is expected to hit Earth on Aug. 18th, squeezing our magnetic field between fast and slow streams of solar wind. Watch for a sudden jump in solar wind speed, density, and magnetic field (especially Bz). Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms and high-latitude auroras are possible if Bz turns south. CIR impact alerts: SMS Text
DO GEOMAGNETIC STORMS AFFECT BLOOD PRESSURE? Solar activity might be doing more than sparking auroras. A new study in Communications Medicine suggests it could be nudging your blood pressure, too.
Researchers in China analyzed more than half a million blood pressure readings taken over six years in the cities of Qingdao and Weihai. They compared those measurements to the Ap index, a standard measure of geomagnetic activity. The result: Blood pressure rises and falls in rhythm with magnetic unrest.
A sample of the dataset showing the correlation between BP and Ap. See Fig 1 for more.
Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure showed a bimodal pattern, with peaks in spring and autumn, mirroring the seasonal ups and downs of geomagnetic activity. In years when geomagnetic activity was strong, blood pressure peaked about one month after the Ap index. During quieter years, the lag stretched to two months. The data revealed matching cycles at 12, 6, and sometimes 3 months -- present in the Ap index but absent from other environmental factors.
"We found that blood pressure and geomagnetic activity share distinct seasonal patterns," says Quanqi Shi, one of the paper's co-authors from Shandong University. "There seems to be a genuine link between the two."
Importantly, the study found no similar multi-month patterns in air temperature or PM2.5, two well-known influences on blood pressure. While temperature correlated more strongly with blood pressure in a straightforward statistical sense, its effect lacked the 6- and 3-month cycles seen in geomagnetic data.
The authors stop short of saying that geomagnetic activity causes high blood pressure. Their data cannot prove cause and effect. Still, Shi and his colleagues are exploring how such a link might work.
"One possible mechanism involves the modulation of ultra-low frequency waves, specifically Schumann resonances (pictured right), which occur within Earth's magnetosphere. The fundamental frequency of Schumann resonances is approximately 7.8 Hz, with harmonics around 14.1, 20.3, 26.4, and 32.5 Hz. These fluctuations may interfere with human brain waves such as alpha (8–12 Hz), beta (12–30 Hz), and gamma (30–100 Hz)," Shi explains.
"The brain could then modulate neuroendocrine activity (for example, by altering the secretion of hormones such as vasopressin), which can gradually influence vascular tone and fluid balance. Such physiological adjustments may take weeks to accumulate, potentially explaining the observed 1-2 month delay."
"This is just a hypothesis," he stresses. "Further targeted studies are needed to confirm and clarify its potential mechanisms."
Want to learn more? The full paper may be found here.
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"I LOVE YOU MORE" BLACK PEARL PENDANT: This black pearl has touched space. On May 26, 2025, the South Sea treasure hitched a ride on an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon, floating 112,021 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $199.95. The black pearl's sterling silver infinity wrap is engraved with the words "I Love You More." It's the perfect birthday, anniversary or (never too early!) Christmas gift for someone who loves space.
The students are selling space pendants to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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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 Aug 14, 2025, the network reported 53 fireballs.
(33 sporadics, 19 Perseids, 1 Southern iota Aquariid)
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 August 16, 2025 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 |
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
| 2025 PH2 | 2025-Aug-11 | 4 LD | 2 | 10 |
| 2025 OR4 | 2025-Aug-12 | 3.5 LD | 4.6 | 18 |
| 2025 OJ10 | 2025-Aug-13 | 9.2 LD | 6.4 | 28 |
| 2025 OL10 | 2025-Aug-13 | 10.4 LD | 7.2 | 11 |
| 2025 PU1 | 2025-Aug-13 | 0.1 LD | 10 | 2 |
| 2025 PX1 | 2025-Aug-14 | 8.8 LD | 5.8 | 16 |
| 2025 PF2 | 2025-Aug-15 | 0.1 LD | 13.1 | 3 |
| 2021 PJ1 | 2025-Aug-15 | 4.3 LD | 9.3 | 24 |
| 2025 PT1 | 2025-Aug-15 | 4.8 LD | 12.5 | 18 |
| 2025 PW1 | 2025-Aug-15 | 0.7 LD | 8.5 | 10 |
| 2025 CO3 | 2025-Aug-16 | 19.8 LD | 8.4 | 90 |
| 2025 PR1 | 2025-Aug-16 | 2.6 LD | 7.9 | 13 |
| 2025 PM | 2025-Aug-17 | 2.7 LD | 13.5 | 53 |
| 2025 PL2 | 2025-Aug-18 | 4.5 LD | 25.2 | 20 |
| 2025 PB2 | 2025-Aug-18 | 5.6 LD | 17.3 | 33 |
| 2025 PY1 | 2025-Aug-18 | 0.8 LD | 6.8 | 10 |
| 2025 PM1 | 2025-Aug-20 | 9.7 LD | 4.9 | 25 |
| 2025 OV4 | 2025-Aug-20 | 7.5 LD | 10.8 | 52 |
| 1997 QK1 | 2025-Aug-20 | 7.9 LD | 9.8 | 315 |
| 2025 OB3 | 2025-Aug-21 | 8.8 LD | 7 | 50 |
| 2022 QD3 | 2025-Aug-21 | 15 LD | 6.9 | 35 |
| 2023 PX | 2025-Aug-22 | 2.4 LD | 8.3 | 23 |
| 2025 PR | 2025-Aug-23 | 17.6 LD | 3.4 | 24 |
| 2019 QQ6 | 2025-Aug-24 | 9.4 LD | 17.2 | 31 |
| 2025 PM2 | 2025-Aug-27 | 9.7 LD | 18.5 | 60 |
| 2025 PX | 2025-Aug-29 | 16.5 LD | 7 | 52 |
| 2017 RK15 | 2025-Aug-29 | 15.8 LD | 13.2 | 26 |
| 2020 TS1 | 2025-Aug-29 | 17.8 LD | 3.3 | 5 |
| 1998 SH2 | 2025-Aug-30 | 8.1 LD | 17.3 | 246 |
| 2025 OG1 | 2025-Sep-05 | 14.5 LD | 4.2 | 35 |
| 2019 JG1 | 2025-Sep-09 | 18.8 LD | 7.9 | 17 |
| 2009 FF | 2025-Sep-11 | 6.8 LD | 12.9 | 155 |
| 2015 SA | 2025-Sep-13 | 10.3 LD | 9.1 | 31 |
| 2022 SS2 | 2025-Sep-13 | 2.4 LD | 7.2 | 13 |
| 2025 FA22 | 2025-Sep-18 | 2.2 LD | 10.8 | 166 |
| 2025 PJ1 | 2025-Sep-21 | 11.8 LD | 12 | 136 |
| 2022 SW12 | 2025-Sep-23 | 15 LD | 17.6 | 210 |
| 2021 RN16 | 2025-Sep-23 | 10.1 LD | 8.8 | 7 |
| 2018 QT1 | 2025-Sep-23 | 13 LD | 12.7 | 138 |
| 2019 SF6 | 2025-Sep-28 | 20 LD | 8.4 | 20 |
| 152664 | 2025-Sep-29 | 10.1 LD | 18.6 | 412 |
| 2020 GE1 | 2025-Oct-02 | 13.7 LD | 4.7 | 14 |
| 2022 TU1 | 2025-Oct-08 | 16.9 LD | 12.9 | 10 |
| 2020 QU5 | 2025-Oct-09 | 7.1 LD | 13.6 | 26 |
| 2022 AY5 | 2025-Oct-14 | 7.4 LD | 8.4 | 5 |
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.
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| | 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory |
| | Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. |
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