This is an AI Free Zone: Text created by Large Language Models is spreading across the Internet. It's well-written, but frequently inaccurate. If you find a mistake on Spaceweather.com, rest assured it was made by a real human being.
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NASA TO RELEASE IMAGES OF 3I/ATLAS: Today, Nov. 19th, NASA will release images of 3I/ATLAS taken during the comet's close encounter with Mars on Oct. 2nd. Although the images are more than a month old, they may have much to tell us--especially those from the HiRISE camera onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. With a spatial resolution of only 30 km per pixel and a side view of the comet's anti-tail and jets, HiRISE got a view of the comet so far impossible from Earth. Tune into the live event at 3pm EST.
AN INTENSE GROUND LEVEL EVENT--FIRST RESULTS: A week after the Veteran's Day solar storm, researchers in the UK are releasing their first measurements of the storm's intense radiation. According to an analysis from the Surrey Space Centre and the UK Met Office, radiation at aviation altitudes jumped to its highest level in two decades..
Above: The X5-class solar flare on Nov. 11, 2025, which caused the GLE
"This was the strongest Ground Level Event (GLE) since Dec. 13, 2006," says Professor Clive Dyer of the Surrey Space Centre. "Neutron monitors around the world detected it."
The event began with an X5-class solar flare on Nov. 11th. Dyer and colleagues rapidly organized balloon launches with radiation sensors over the UK. They found effective dose rates at 40,000 feet exceeding 55 μSv per hour, with some flight paths possibly reaching 80 μSv per hour. Certain high-latitude transatlantic flights may have received twice the normal cosmic-ray dose.
That's not enough radiation to cause a health emergency for passengers, but it was a concern for avionics. During the storm's peak, the researchers estimate that single-event upsets (bit-flips in computer memory) could have occurred at rates of ~60 errors per hour per gigabyte.
Significant GLEs occur once or twice every solar cycle. The largest of the modern era happened on Feb. 23, 1956. During that GLE, air travelers would have absorbed doses more than 100 times normal--potentially enough to ground flights. Researchers are still unsure what caused it because space-based solar observatories didn't exist at the time.
Last week's GLE was only 2% as large as the 1956 behemoth. This means much bigger events are possible. Indeed, tree rings and ice cores reveal that GLEs thousands of times more intense have happened in recent millennia. These are known as Miyake Events. Modern society simply hasn't experienced one yet.
"Bigger events are coming," says Dyer. "And we need to be ready."
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
SASQUATCH SANTA CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: No Christmas tree is complete without one: The Sasquatch Santa Ornament. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew it to the stratosphere on Nov. 16th.
You can have it for $98.95. Hand-sculpted in the USA, this humorous ornament shows the hairy elf relaxing with a mug of hot chocolate after a busy night of Christmas deliveries. Its durable polyresin construction makes it lightweight enough to hang on any tree but sturdy enough to last for many Christmases to come.
The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are selling space ornaments to support their cosmic ray balloning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the ornament in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
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 Nov 18, 2025, the network reported 29 fireballs.
(13 sporadics, 12 Leonids, 3 Northern Taurids, 1 November omega Orionid)
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 November 19, 2025 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
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Recent
& Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT) |
Miss Distance |
Velocity (km/s) |
Diameter (m) |
| 2025 VR6 |
2025-Nov-14 |
2.4 LD |
11 |
9 |
| 2025 VS2 |
2025-Nov-14 |
0.9 LD |
6.6 |
4 |
| 2025 US11 |
2025-Nov-14 |
12.7 LD |
8.1 |
22 |
| 2025 VA2 |
2025-Nov-14 |
5.1 LD |
5.8 |
8 |
| 2019 VL5 |
2025-Nov-14 |
14.7 LD |
9.1 |
24 |
| 2025 VD1 |
2025-Nov-14 |
3.4 LD |
6.6 |
14 |
| 2025 VD5 |
2025-Nov-14 |
13.1 LD |
11.9 |
54 |
| 2025 VS1 |
2025-Nov-14 |
4 LD |
9.8 |
16 |
| 2025 VJ5 |
2025-Nov-14 |
14.9 LD |
9.2 |
19 |
| 2025 VT4 |
2025-Nov-15 |
7.1 LD |
7.2 |
10 |
| 2025 VB5 |
2025-Nov-15 |
16.6 LD |
8.7 |
17 |
| 2025 VT3 |
2025-Nov-15 |
3 LD |
7.6 |
14 |
| 2025 VQ2 |
2025-Nov-15 |
3.3 LD |
5.8 |
10 |
| 2025 VN1 |
2025-Nov-16 |
4.6 LD |
10.7 |
20 |
| 2025 VW3 |
2025-Nov-16 |
1.5 LD |
14 |
10 |
| 2025 WC |
2025-Nov-17 |
0.3 LD |
10.2 |
5 |
| 2025 VG5 |
2025-Nov-17 |
15.5 LD |
4.7 |
16 |
| 2022 FG4 |
2025-Nov-17 |
18.7 LD |
22.2 |
105 |
| 2025 VC4 |
2025-Nov-18 |
5.2 LD |
10 |
13 |
| 2025 VP1 |
2025-Nov-18 |
1.5 LD |
8.2 |
12 |
| 3361 |
2025-Nov-19 |
14.8 LD |
9.1 |
439 |
| 2025 VO2 |
2025-Nov-19 |
14.7 LD |
5.7 |
22 |
| 2025 VK2 |
2025-Nov-19 |
8.1 LD |
15.1 |
22 |
| 2025 VZ6 |
2025-Nov-19 |
2.2 LD |
8.7 |
7 |
| 2013 NJ4 |
2025-Nov-20 |
12.6 LD |
6.4 |
12 |
| 2025 VO5 |
2025-Nov-20 |
12.2 LD |
13.8 |
24 |
| 2025 VW4 |
2025-Nov-21 |
8.6 LD |
4.7 |
19 |
| 2025 VE2 |
2025-Nov-21 |
13.8 LD |
1.7 |
14 |
| 2025 VO1 |
2025-Nov-21 |
2.6 LD |
9.3 |
17 |
| 2025 WA |
2025-Nov-21 |
7.8 LD |
7.9 |
37 |
| 2025 VM5 |
2025-Nov-22 |
2.8 LD |
4.5 |
14 |
| 2025 VB6 |
2025-Nov-22 |
16.3 LD |
14.6 |
31 |
| 2025 VF5 |
2025-Nov-23 |
3.1 LD |
7.8 |
15 |
| 2025 VA7 |
2025-Nov-23 |
5.1 LD |
11.7 |
10 |
| 516155 |
2025-Nov-24 |
12.5 LD |
16.7 |
338 |
| 2025 VL6 |
2025-Nov-24 |
2.5 LD |
14.5 |
12 |
| 2025 VY4 |
2025-Nov-24 |
12.6 LD |
7.7 |
42 |
| 2020 WM |
2025-Nov-24 |
17.4 LD |
11.8 |
36 |
| 2025 VP2 |
2025-Nov-25 |
6.6 LD |
8.5 |
49 |
| 2019 UT6 |
2025-Nov-25 |
6.2 LD |
12.6 |
146 |
| 2021 WR |
2025-Nov-26 |
12 LD |
9.4 |
31 |
| 2018 WG2 |
2025-Nov-27 |
13.5 LD |
7.5 |
3 |
| 2007 VM184 |
2025-Dec-01 |
13.1 LD |
20 |
219 |
| 2025 WG |
2025-Dec-02 |
5.1 LD |
7.2 |
18 |
| 2018 WC2 |
2025-Dec-03 |
9.8 LD |
8.9 |
36 |
| 2025 UF10 |
2025-Dec-04 |
14.5 LD |
13.1 |
131 |
| 2025 VE6 |
2025-Dec-04 |
6.3 LD |
5.2 |
24 |
| 2021 JE1 |
2025-Dec-08 |
13.5 LD |
7.1 |
16 |
| 2019 XN3 |
2025-Dec-10 |
5.7 LD |
3.6 |
15 |
| 1999 SF10 |
2025-Dec-10 |
8.2 LD |
4.4 |
46 |
| 2016 YH |
2025-Dec-13 |
6.8 LD |
8.9 |
28 |
| 2025 TZ |
2025-Dec-15 |
17.8 LD |
6.2 |
53 |
| 2015 XX168 |
2025-Dec-18 |
4.7 LD |
11.6 |
27 |
| 2010 WR7 |
2025-Dec-20 |
19.4 LD |
8.3 |
71 |
| 2021 AB1 |
2025-Dec-28 |
10.2 LD |
12.3 |
16 |
| 2019 AU |
2025-Dec-30 |
19.3 LD |
2.8 |
16 |
| 2024 AV2 |
2025-Dec-30 |
17.9 LD |
7 |
17 |
| 2014 AF16 |
2026-Jan-04 |
9 LD |
9.6 |
34 |
| 2023 XM15 |
2026-Jan-07 |
15.2 LD |
6.9 |
51 |
| 2022 GR3 |
2026-Jan-12 |
14.5 LD |
12.9 |
9 |
| 2022 OB5 |
2026-Jan-14 |
1.7 LD |
2.2 |
6 |
| 2025 BL |
2026-Jan-17 |
4.7 LD |
6.9 |
28 |
| 2004 MO3 |
2026-Jan-17 |
17 LD |
10.2 |
129 |
| 2011 AM37 |
2026-Jan-17 |
19.8 LD |
5.1 |
4 |
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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The
official U.S. government space weather bureau |
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The
first place to look for information about sundogs,
pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. |
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Researchers
call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO
is the most advanced solar observatory ever. |
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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. |
| |
information about sunspots based on the latest NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary |
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current counts of failed and deployed Starlink satellites from Jonathan's Space Page. See also, all satellite statistics. |
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Authoritative predictions of space junk and satellite re-entries |
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from
the NOAA Space Environment Center |
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fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. |
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from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
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the
underlying science of space weather |
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Got a chipped or cracked windshield that prevents you from seeing space weather events while driving? Get windshield replacement from SR Windows & Glass with free mobile auto glass service anywhere in the Phoenix area. |
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