NASA Space Alerts

NASA Space Alerts NASA's official notifications on cosmic activity in near-Earth space including solar events, asteroids, comets, and meteors. Verification: nasa.gov/socialmedia

We study the Sun and how it affects space around Earth and other worlds, helping protect astronauts, satellites, and more.

: Eyewitnesses in Oregon and Washington reported a bright fireball seen the night of Aug. 30 at 8:32 p.m. PDT. The fire...
08/31/2026

: 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: https://go.nasa.gov/4yizYf3

Eyewitness accounts supplied by the American Meteor Society

08/30/2026

It’s ! 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: go.nasa.gov/4bLKwte

08/23/2026

It’s ! 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: go.nasa.gov/4xHkFfE

08/16/2026

It’s ! 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: go.nasa.gov/4ghyUAH

: Hundreds of eyewitnesses in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and the Canadian province of British Columbia reported a brigh...
08/14/2026

: 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: https://go.nasa.gov/4zjVvVU

Eyewitness accounts supplied by the American Meteor Society

Skywatchers and meteor fans: Tonight, NASA is hosting a watch party for the peak of the Perseids meteor shower!Tune in t...
08/12/2026

Skywatchers and meteor fans: Tonight, NASA is hosting a watch party for the peak of the Perseids meteor shower!

Tune in to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center's YouTube channel starting at midnight ET on Aug. 13 (11 p.m. CT on Aug. 12) to hear from meteor experts, watch live views of the skies, and ask your questions.

📺: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVRkkrB4eS0

08/02/2026

It’s ! 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: go.nasa.gov/4bLKwte

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.

07/26/2026

It’s ! 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: go.nasa.gov/4bLKwte

07/19/2026

It’s ! 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: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/sdo/

07/12/2026

It’s ! 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 (https://go.nasa.gov/4y5m4xp) 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: go.nasa.gov/4bLKwte

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