NASA Space Alerts
@NASASpaceAlerts • 1,191,910 subscribers
@NASA official notifications on cosmic activity in near-Earth space including solar events, asteroids, comets, and meteors.
Videos
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of May 22 - 28: • 1 M-class flare • 0 C-class flares • 46 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. Most of the action this week was on the far side of the Sun, out of SDO’s view. However, we do see a good example of a prominence beginning at about 20 seconds into the video on the lower western limb (right side edge) of the Sun. Prominences are huge clouds of electrified gas called plasma suspended in the solar atmosphere. Learn more about space weather:
NASA Space Alerts42,918 views • 3 days ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of May 1 - 7: •2 M-class flares •2 C-class flares •29 coronal mass ejections •1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. It has been a relatively quiet week on the Sun, with the two M-class flares erupting off the Sun’s western limb (right side from SDO’s view) and not producing much impact on Earth. However, a large active region will soon be rotating into Earth’s view — you can see it toward the end of this video emerging from the eastern limb (left side from SDO's view). Keep an eye out in the coming week for potential solar activity! Learn more about space weather:
NASA Space Alerts100,739 views • 24 days ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of May 15 - 21: • 4 M-class flares • 3 C-class flares • 35 coronal mass ejections • 1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. It was a fairly calm week on the Sun. A coronal mass ejection last week reached Earth on May 15, triggering a minor geomagnetic storm and leading to aurora sightings across the northern U.S. On May 20, SDO's Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) paused normal science operations for a series of routine calibration maneuvers — measurements that keep the instrument's magnetic field and Doppler velocity data scientifically accurate. You can see these maneuvers starting at about 2:29 in the video. Learn more about space weather:
NASA Space Alerts33,550 views • 10 days ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of May 8 - 14: •1 M-class flare •1 C-class flare •31 coronal mass ejections •0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. The active region we spotted last week (which erupted with an M-class flare and a CME last Sunday) has moved across the Sun and is now center-disk. It’s right next to a coronal hole that unleashed a stream of fast solar wind to Earth. We’ll be watching both regions for continued activity this week. Learn more about space weather:
NASA Space Alerts50,287 views • 17 days ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of April 10 - 16: • 30 coronal mass ejections (CMEs) • 0 M-class flares • 0 C-class flares associated with CMEs • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity, which was very quiet. Some C-class flares did occur on the Sun during this period, but none were associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) or other space weather events, so they are not reported here. Active region AR4419 first rotates onto the solar disk from the eastern limb (upper left edge) at about 1:20 into the video, then comes alive with lots of crackles and bursts starting at about 2:00 and continuing through the end. Its activity contrasts with the two other active regions on the Sun, AR4415, which moves across the Sun’s equatorial region, and AR4416, in the upper hemisphere, both of which showcase steadier, smoother brightenings of coronal loops. We’ll be watching all of these regions of possible activity in the coming week.
NASA Space Alerts81,142 views • 1 month ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of April 24 - 30: • 2 X-class flares • 14 M-class flares • 18 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s solar activity. Two X-class flares erupt on the right side of the disk at the beginning of the week. On April 29, a few spacecraft calibration maneuvers make it look like the Sun is dancing. Find out more about flares & coronal mass ejections:
NASA Space Alerts51,230 views • 1 month ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of April 17 - 23: •6 M-class flares •0 C-class flares •34 coronal mass ejections •1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. Two X-class flares erupted right after the end of this reporting period — they’ll be first up in next week’s space weather report! Another thing we *don’t* see here: comet PANSTARRS (C/2025 R3)! The comet is currently passing between the Sun and Earth, and ESA/NASA’s SOHO spacecraft is watching the comet as it streaks across the view of its C3 coronagraph. We'll share more views of that comet later; in the meantime, check the latest imagery here: Learn more about space weather:
NASA Space Alerts57,679 views • 1 month ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of April 3 - 9: •7 M-class flares •1 M-class flares •16 coronal mass ejections •1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. This week’s geomagnetic storm peaked on April 3, sparking auroras around the arctic circle and reaching a strength classification of G3 (strong). The cause was a CME that erupted from the Sun late on April 1. Aside from that, the Sun was fairly quiet during this reporting period. Learn more about space weather:
NASA Space Alerts62,042 views • 1 month ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of March 13-19: •5 M-class flares •1 C-class flare •39 coronal mass ejections •1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. On the 18th (about 2:28 in the video) another celestial body made an appearance in SDO’s footage. Is that the silhouette of Earth, or the Moon? How can you tell? Correct answer and explanation coming Monday! More on flares & coronal mass ejections:
NASA Space Alerts45,945 views • 2 months ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of March 27 - April 2: •1 X-class flare •2 M-class flares •46 coronal mass ejections •1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. This week’s X-class flare, visible starting about 1:23 in this video, is a very pretty arcade of blooming loops of solar plasma. The same active region that produced the flare also unleashed a coronal mass ejection that reached Earth on April 1… but that’s not what produced this week’s geomagnetic storm on April 2! 👇
NASA Space Alerts32,735 views • 1 month ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of March 6 - March 12: •0 M-class flares •2 C-class flares •27 coronal mass ejections •0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. Another pretty quiet week on the Sun. Like last week, we’re ending with another large coronal hole stretching across the Sun, seen here as a dark “stripe” running diagonally from the upper right to bottom left.
NASA Space Alerts31,516 views • 2 months ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Feb. 6 - 12: •9 M-class flares •1 C-class flare •30 coronal mass ejections •0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. After a very “eruptive” last week, the Sun has calmed back down a bit. The active region responsible for last week’s torrent of flares — AR4366 — still produced all of this week’s M-class flares, but has not produced any more X-class flares so far. It rotates off of the Sun’s Earth-facing disk about half-way through the video.
NASA Space Alerts37,144 views • 3 months ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of March 20-26: •1 M-class flare •2 C-class flares •39 coronal mass ejections •2 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. This reporting period had two geomagnetic storms, with aurora sightings reported throughout the northern US and Canada. If it seems like geomagnetic storms are happening more often lately, that’s because we’re in “aurora season”! 👇 🧵
NASA Space Alerts24,694 views • 2 months ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Jan. 9–15: • 2 M-class flares • 2 C-class flares • 31 coronal mass ejections • 1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. It was a relatively quiet week on the Sun, though a series of coronal mass ejections that erupted on Jan. 8 — just before this reporting period — led to a moderate geomagnetic storm on Jan. 10, with auroras intensifying across high-latitude regions including Iceland and northern Canada. SDO remains in its Earth eclipse period, so you may notice brief blackouts in the video when Earth temporarily blocks the spacecraft’s view. These Earth eclipses will continue daily through Feb. 1.
NASA Space Alerts40,841 views • 4 months ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Jan. 30 – Feb 5: - 72 M-class flares (!) - 6 X-class flares - 33 coronal mass ejections - 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. SDO ended its Earth eclipse period this week just in time for an uninterrupted view of a barrage of solar flares! This week, one active region in particular — AR4366, which rotates onto the Earth-facing disk of the Sun at the beginning of this video — unleashed a whopping six X-class flares this week, and all but three of this week’s 72 M-class flares. This one is worth a watch!🤩
NASA Space Alerts34,730 views • 3 months ago
It’s #SunDay! This week’s (Dec. 12 - 18) space weather report includes: · 2 M-class flares · 2 C-class flares · 27 coronal mass ejections · 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. The Sun was fairly calm this week, though the bright coronal loops on the Sun’s western limb (right edge) at the beginning of the video and eastern limb (left edge) at the end put on a show. Perhaps it’s a good space-themed alternative to a yule log?🪵🔥
NASA Space Alerts40,368 views • 5 months ago
It’s #SunDay! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Feb. 27 - March 5: •0 M-class flares •3 C-class flares •28 coronal mass ejections •0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. It was a fairly quiet week, despite several new active regions rotating onto the Earth-facing side of the Sun. A minor geomagnetic storm is possible tonight, which may produce auroras visible from the northern United States. The source is a coronal hole that has aligned with Earth. Coronal holes are darker, lower density regions on the Sun where fast solar wind escapes. We talked more about them in a post last month!
NASA Space Alerts22,150 views • 2 months ago