The Sun Leaks Storms While Players Rotate into Earth View | Space Weather Spotlight 16 August 2026

This week our Sun is slow-dripping a bit of extra material off the heels of a filament eruption, which, combined with a far-sided blast, has made for a tangled mess of a coronagraph signature. This is always an issue because it makes the Earth-directed part of the event harder to isolate. As it turns

This week has been filled by a confluence of celestial events! First, we had a set of solar storms hitting late on August 11. Then, on August 12, a total solar eclipse graced the northern hemisphere. This was either a photographer's best dream or worst nightmare-- catching a total solar eclipse and aurora on

This week we keep a watchful eye on an active sun with ten sunspot clusters now in Earth view, dominated by activity along the east limb. Newly arrived regions 4446, 4447, and 4455 are firing solar flares and lunching solar storms, although none are earth-directed yet. Region 4441 launched a massive solar storm as

Space weather is calming down after recent activity, with fast solar wind and a mini-solar storm launch causing us to reach storm levels. But more is on the way. This weekend, expect more aurora due to more fast solar wind. It also looks like we will be headed for a spotless Sun again soon.

The fun just keeps coming this week! Even though Region 4366 will be rotating to the farside over the next few days, there is still plenty of activity. Region 4371 has launched a mini-solar storm at Earth, which could hit us late on Thursday or possibly early Friday. Although it is a small storm,

This week, several regions in Earth-view have been growing pretty active with Region 4317 being the first to launch a storm at Earth. But far from being a direct hit, this storm might have to do some fancy dancing with some fast solar wind to give us more than a bumpy ride. But that

This week has been an interesting one on the Sun to say the least. We started off watching Region 4299 very closely, but after a single X1.95-flare, that region seems to have spent much of its energy. We also have a large cluster of three regions, just south of the solar equator, which impressed

Our Sun has gotten busy! We have three solar storms on their way to Earth and along with a fast wind chaser, this should keep aurora possibilities high through week's end. Aurora photographers will likely get a treat at high latitudes throughout the week, and those at mid-latitudes could catch the peak of the

This week our Sun kicks things into high gear starting with a surprisingly strong period of storming from some fast solar wind. The magic ingredient was a magnetic island growing inside the coronal hole generating the wind, which led to huge aurora shows deep into mid-latitudes at Earth. Although the fast wind is still

We have two Earth-directed solar storms hitting Earth now! The first, is a stealth-like CME, which is wispy and short, but the second and much larger storm has a hidden surprise. Its signature during the eruption and later in coronagraph imagery signals that there may be quite a bit of coronal material on its