This is an AI Free Zone: AI is everywhere — except here. Spaceweather.com is written by Dr. Tony Phillips, a carbon-based lifeform with 30 yrs of forecasting experience. If you find a mistake, rest assured it was made by a real human being.
THE STORM IS OVER: A geomagnetic storm that began with a CME impact on April 3rd is over. At its peak, the storm registered G3 (Strong) on NOAA storm scales with bright auroras around the Arctic Circle. Earth’s magnetic field is now returning to a quiet state and the polar glow is subsiding. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
COMET MAPS WAS OBLITERATED (UPDATED): The solar system has one less comet. Yesterday, Comet MAPS (C/2026 A1) flew through the sun’s atmosphere only 160,000 km above the sun’s surface. The comet went in, but only a cloud of debris came out:
This is SOHO’s C2 coronagraph. See also C3.
SOHO coronagraphs captured the death dive, which was invisible from Earth. In the movie, above, there’s a sudden brightening between 0600 UTC and 0800 UTC. That was probably the comet’s nucleus exploding due to thermal stress. The sudden brightening is better seen in this wider view.
While the comet was behind the coronagraph’s occulting disk, the fragmented nucleus was apparently vaporized, leaving only a stream of dusty debris to exit on the other side. SOHO data are still coming in, so we’ll see more of this debris in the hours ahead.
Astronomers had hoped for more. Comet MAPS was discovered last January farther from the sun than any sungrazer in history. It looked like it might be unusually big–perhaps big enough to survive and even become visible in broad daylight. Instead, RIP, Comet MAPS.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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THE MILKY WAY IN A CRYSTAL BALL: Are you looking for a big gift? How about the entire galaxy? Last Nov. 25th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched The Milky Way on a Crystal Ball onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. Here it is 113,517 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $119.95. The galaxy is laser etched inside a 60 mm crystal sphere. You can turn it in your hands, inspecting the spiral star system from any angle. The gift-boxed sphere comes with a greeting card showing the item 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 Comet Photo Gallery
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Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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All Sky Fireball Network 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 April 05, 2026, the network reported 5 fireballs.
(5 sporadics)
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 April 5, 2026 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: Asteroid
Date(UT)
Miss Distance
Velocity (km/s)
Diameter (m)
2026-Mar-31
10.9 LD
11.1
23
2026-Mar-31
10.4 LD
7.2
15
2026-Mar-31
7.7 LD
2.2
12
2026-Apr-01
11.7 LD
5.6
12
2026-Apr-01
19 LD
11
24
2026-Apr-01
1.9 LD
8.3
15
2026-Apr-02
8.1 LD
8.1
23
2026-Apr-02
7.9 LD
6.2
23
2026-Apr-02
8 LD
6
10
2026-Apr-02
15.3 LD
17.1
25
2026-Apr-02
14 LD
6.8
12
2026-Apr-03
9.8 LD
6.4
5
2026-Apr-03
9.6 LD
10.1
13
2026-Apr-04
2.6 LD
7.2
49
2026-Apr-04
8.6 LD
24.8
37
2026-Apr-04
12.6 LD
6.8
10
2026-Apr-04
18.1 LD
8.1
36
2026-Apr-04
4.6 LD
13.1
11
2026-Apr-05
15.4 LD
19.8
27
2026-Apr-06
5.8 LD
7
14
2026-Apr-07
3.4 LD
5.9
20
2026-Apr-07
4.9 LD
7.5
5
2026-Apr-07
13.4 LD
9.2
164
2026-Apr-10
12 LD
9.2
15
2026-Apr-11
8.9 LD
7.8
29
2026-Apr-12
16.8 LD
8.7
15
2026-Apr-13
7.4 LD
11.1
29
2026-Apr-14
0.7 LD
7.4
20
2026-Apr-18
15.8 LD
9.8
98
2026-Apr-20
10.7 LD
1.2
22
2026-Apr-20
16.3 LD
10.3
13
2026-Apr-21
16.4 LD
12.5
22
2026-Apr-22
10 LD
8.1
219
2026-Apr-25
8.7 LD
4
9
2026-May-09
11.1 LD
6
21
2026-May-16
7.5 LD
2.3
10
2026-May-18
15.2 LD
5.9
22
2026-May-24
5.5 LD
7.9
14
2026-May-24
9 LD
13.4
20
2026-May-30
12.2 LD
5.7
64
2026-Jun-03
8.9 LD
8.9
7
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.
The official U.S. government space weather bureau The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. Researchers call it a “Hubble for the sun.” SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. 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 current counts of failed and deployed Starlink satellites from Jonathan’s Space Page. See also, all satellite statistics. Authoritative predictions of space junk and satellite re-entries from the NOAA Space Environment Center fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. from the NOAA Space Environment Center from Lights over Lapland the underlying science of space weather 
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. These links help Spaceweather.com stay online. Thank you to our supporters! 
T CrB NOVA WATCH
today: m=10.0 (Apr 5.9)
yesterday: m=10.4
AAVSO data: #1, #2.
Explanation: When the nova explodes, the visual magnitude of the star will jump from +10 (invisible to the naked eye) to +2 (about as bright as the North Star).
Starlink Statistics
Total Launched: 11,724
In orbit: 10,178
Updated: 04 Apr 2026
Starlink Re-entries (2026)
January: 24
February: 54
March: 48
April: 8 so far
Updated: 04 Apr 2026
Starlink Re-entries (yearly)
2020 total: 46
2021 total: 78
2022 total: 100
2023 total: 88
2024 total: 308
2025 total: 657
2026 total: 133 so far
Updated: 04 Apr 2026
Data sources: #1, #2, #3; Histograms: launches, reentries
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