It’s #SunDay#! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Sept. 11 - Sept. 17: • 0 M-class flares • 0 C-class flares (only counted if associated with coronal mass ejections) • 17 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the week’s activity. A quiet week on the Sun as a cluster of active regions move across the Sun’s disk and around the limb. As of Friday, Sept. 18, there are no active regions on the Earth-facing side of the Sun. The dark “strips” across the Sun that emerge towards the end of the video are coronal holes. These cooler bands of solar material on the Sun (which make them appear darker) are where the Sun’s magnetic field lines open up to space, allowing high-speed solar wind to escape. More about solar activity and space weather:

#MeteorSighting#: Eyewitnesses in Michigan and Canada spotted a bright fireball over Ontario at 8:47 p.m. ET last night, Sept. 13. The event was verified by several cameras belonging to the Southern Ontario Meteor Network and other publicly accessible cameras in the area. Analysis of the data from these systems indicates that the meteor - produced by a small fragment of an asteroid about 2 inches in diameter and weighing approximately 7 ounces - first became visible above the Canadian town of Markstay-Warren, moving northwest at 32,000 mph. It disintegrated above a point midway between Wanapitei Lake and Raphoe. More on this fireball:

It’s #SunDay#! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Sept. 4 - Sept. 10: • 2 M-class flares • 6 C-class flares • 29 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the week’s activity. The Sun delivered a “one-two punch” of flares on Sept. 5, with an M1.0-class flare erupting from the Sun’s western limb (right side) at about 0:43 seconds into the video, followed by a C8.5-class flare from the eastern limb (left side) at about 0:46 seconds. Both flares also produced coronal mass ejections that swept through space to either side of Earth. By the end of the video, we have nine active regions on the Earth-facing side of the Sun, most of them clustering together right in the middle of the Sun’s disk. More about solar eruptions and space weather:

#MeteorSighting#: NASA meteor cameras and the Geostationary Lightning Mappers on the GOES 18 and 19 satellites detected a bright fireball that occurred over western Kentucky at 1:33 a.m. CT on Sept. 10. The object - a piece of a comet about 16 inches in diameter and weighing ~200 pounds - entered the atmosphere above Crutchfield, Kentucky, and moved southwest at 145,000 mph. The fireball disintegrated above the town of Mabel, unleashing an energy of 50 tons of TNT and creating a bright flare that lit up the night sky. More on this fireball:

It’s #SunDay#! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Aug 28 - Sept 3 • 1 M-class flare • 4 C-class flares • 55 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. While this week’s flare count was fairly low, there was a surplus of coronal mass ejections. The week’s strongest flare was an M3-class, which can be seen erupting from an active region on the eastern limb (left side of Sun) at about 3:02. This active region is rotating onto the Earth-facing side of the Sun, so any eruptions from it in the near future may have some impact on Earth. More about solar eruptions and space weather:

#MeteorSighting#: Eyewitnesses in Oregon and Washington reported a bright fireball seen the night of Aug. 30 at 8:32 p.m. PDT. The fireball was spotted at an altitude of 52 miles above the western slope of Mount St. Helens. Moving west at 48,000 mph, the object traveled some 80 miles through the upper atmosphere before disintegrating 33 miles above Astoria, Oregon. This fireball was not associated with any meteor shower, and meteorites are not thought to have been produced when the object fragmented. More on this fireball: Eyewitness accounts supplied by the American Meteor Society

It’s #SunDay#! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Aug 21 - 27: • 8 M-class flares • 3 C-class flares • 32 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. Active region AR14513 — the bright cluster of activity that has made its way across the Sun’s disk this week, appearing in the center at about 2:10 in this video — produced all but two of this week’s flares, though none reached X-class. The strongest flare in this period was an M6.9, also produced by AR14513, appearing at about 1:57 in the video. It still has a few more days on the Earth-facing side of the Sun, so we'll keep watch! More about solar eruptions and space weather:

It’s #SunDay#! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Aug 14 - 20: • 4 M-class flares • 3 C-class flares • 22 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. All of this week’s M-class flares happened in the last two days of this reporting period. Their source is the active region AR14513, which appears as a bright cluster that rotates into view from the Sun’s eastern limb (left side) starting on the 19th, about 2:30 into this video. We’ll keep an eye on this busy active region as it moves into an Earth-facing position over the coming days. Related: New NASA-funded efforts to predict active regions before they emerge:

It’s #SunDay#! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Aug 7 - 13: • 0 M-class flares • 1 C-class flare • 16 coronal mass ejections • 1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. It was a quite calm week on the Sun, with a moderate geomagnetic storm occurring on Aug. 8 after several coronal mass ejections arrived at Earth together. There was also a total solar eclipse on Aug. 12. How come SDO didn't see it? SDO follows a “geosynchronous” orbit, orbiting Earth at the same rate as Earth spins. The spacecraft effectively “hovers” over its ground station in White Sands, New Mexico. White Sands was outside of the eclipse’s path, so SDO didn’t see it. Visualize SDO’s orbit:

#MeteorSighting#: Hundreds of eyewitnesses in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and the Canadian province of British Columbia reported a bright fireball in the early morning hours of Aug. 14 at 12:48 a.m. PDT. The fireball was first spotted above the Washington town of Soap Lake, moving north at 33,000 mph. It traveled 36 miles through the atmosphere before fragmenting above Sim’s Corner. When it broke apart, the fireball unleashed an energy of 10 tons of TNT, creating a pressure/shock wave that propagated to the ground. Doppler weather radar indicates that some small meteorites may be on the ground in the area. This fireball was not part of the currently active Perseids meteor shower. More on this fireball: Eyewitness accounts supplied by the American Meteor Society

Tonight, NASA is hosting a watch party for the peak of the Perseids meteor shower! Tune in to @NASA_Marshall's YouTube channel starting at midnight ET on Aug. 13 to hear from meteor experts, watch live views of the skies, and ask your questions. 📺:

Tomorrow: a total solar eclipse over Iceland and Spain. ☀️🌑🌎 The U.S. won’t see totality — so watch it live on X with @NASA and at Coverage begins at 1:15 p.m. EDT!

It’s #SunDay#! Here’s your space weather report for the week of July 24 - July 30: • 3 M-class flares • 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. SDO remains in its Earth eclipse period, with daily “blackouts” as the spacecraft passes behind our planet, which will continue through Aug. 2. This week’s strongest flare, an M3.2-class eruption, appears at about 1:10 into the video as a brief flash in the middle of the Sun’s disk. Learn more about the Sun and space weather: Note: This week's video does not include imagery from July 30th due to a temporary issue with our data processing pipeline that is being resolved.

It’s #SunDay#! Here’s your space weather report for the week of July 17 - July 23: • 5 M-class flares • 2 C-class flares • 31 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. It was a fairly calm week on the Sun as SDO’s daily Earth eclipses punctuate our view of the Sun. The spacecraft’s Earth eclipse season, which began on July 5, continues through August 2. Eclipse seasons are three-week periods twice a year when the spacecraft’s orbit passes “behind” Earth, briefly blocking out the Sun each day. Learn more about space weather:

It’s #SunDay#! Here’s your space weather report for the week of July 10 - July 16: • 1 M-class flare • 3 C-class flares • 29 coronal mass ejections • 0 geomagnetic storms This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. Those “blackouts” in the video below aren’t missing data — those are Earth eclipses! SDO is currently in its 33rd Earth eclipse season, which began on July 5 and will continue through August 2. Eclipse seasons are three-week periods twice a year when the spacecraft’s orbit passes “behind” Earth, briefly blocking out SDO's view of the Sun each day. Learn more about SDO and visualize its orbit:

It’s #SunDay#! Here’s your space weather report for the week of July 3 - July 9: • 1 X-class flare • 36 M-class flares • 3 C-class flares • 42 coronal mass ejections • 1 geomagnetic storm This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity. The Sun celebrated the fourth of July with a big bang, emitting an intense X-class solar flare ( and a burst of M-class flares. You can see the show starting at about 0:49 in the video. Learn more about space weather:

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:

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:

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:

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: