Space weather, live

Quiet at Kp 0.7, solar wind 361 km/s. NOAA expects a minor storm today 21–00 UTC.

Live · Monday 19 October

Illustration: a quiet, cloudy night with no aurora

Northern lights tonightIllustration

Within reach of 178 of 243 places

Near you · 🇺🇸 Columbus Not tonight

Kp indexHow stormy space is, 0 to 9

Last 24 hours, every 3 hours

Solar windSpeed past Earth, last 2 hours

361km/s · 300–500 is normal

350360370380390

19:2419:5420:2420:5421:24

3-day forecastHighest Kp NOAA expects, by UTC day

The sun right now, from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory

The sun right nowNASA SDO, live

Magnetic fieldOf the solar wind, right now

3.6nT Bz · strength 4.7 nT

Pointing north: Earth's shield is mostly closed.

Radio blackoutsChance today, from solar flares

30%minor (R1–R2)

10% chance of a strong one (R3+). Affects shortwave radio, not phones.

NOAA's live forecast map of the northern aurora

Live aurora mapNOAA, next 30 minutes

Aurora alerts

One email on the nights the northern lights are likely where you are.