The Beginning – 4 Times More Planned
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 04/17/2026
STARLINK DECLARES WAR ON COMETS: Earlier this year, the number of Starlink satellites in Earth orbit surpassed 10,000. You can see the evidence in the sky:
Archives
SPACEWEATHER: Rocket-induced Noctilucent Clouds; CIR Shockwaves Due April 17
Rocket induced noctilucent clouds, Taken by Christopher Nolker on April 14, 2026 @ Cocoa Beach, Florida
Man-made Light Display
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 04/15/2026
NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS AREN’T SUPPOSED TO APPEAR IN APRIL: The correct season for noctilucent clouds (NLCs) is summer, when sun-warmed plumes of water vapor rise to the edge of space and crystallize around disintegrated meteoroids. April is not the correct time. Yet just before sunrise on April 14th, Christopher Nolker looked up from Cocoa Beach, Florida, and saw them anyway:
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SPACEWEATHER: Artemis II to Send Images from the Farside of the Moon
How Artemis II will fly around the Moon (Astronomy Magazine)
New Frontiers in Space
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 04/06/2026
TODAYARTEMIS II FLIES BY THE FARSIDE : Artemis II is making a historic pass over the Moon’s farside today, April 6th, giving astronauts a view no human has seen since Apollo. Communications with Earth will go silent for ~40 minutes during the farside transit. When contact resumes, the crew will beam high-resolution images back to Earth–including rare views of a solar eclipse behind the Moon.
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SPACEWEATHER: Comet MAPS Obliterated; Current Storm is Over
Sun Diving Comet MAPS
Peace After a Storm
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 04/05/2026
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:
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SPACEWEATHER: Sun Diving Comet MAPS, Will It Survive?
Waiting for MAPS Return from the Farside
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 04/04/2026
DID COMET MAPS JUST DIE? Today, sundiving Comet MAPS (C/2026 A1) is flying through the sun’s atmosphere only 160,000 km above the sun’s surface. SOHO coronagraphs are monitoring the dive–and it might have turned into a Death Dive:
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SPACEWEATHER: Strong Solar Storm Watch; and Dimming of the Light
Effects After An Eruption
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 03/31/2026
HOW SOLAR FLARES CAN DIM THE SUN: Solar flares are explosions of electromagnetic radiation that temporarily brighten the sun. However, yesterday’s X1.5-class solar flare did the opposite. The explosion caused an area around the blast site to become darker, shown here in an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) movie from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory:
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SPACEWEATHER: Hours Long X-Class Solar Flare
X1.5-Class Eruption, Likely Earth-directed
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 03/30/2026
LONG DURATION X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: Growing sunspot 4405 erupted again on March 30th, producing an X1.5-class solar flare. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the hours-long explosion:
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SPACEWEATHER: Long Duration Solar Flare; Incoming Solar Winds
Effects of Light Magnified by Time
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 03/29/2026
LONG DURATION SOLAR FLARE: Sunspot 4405 erupted on March 28th, producing a very long duration solar flare. The explosion lasted more than 7 hours, shown here in a time-lapse movie from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory:
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SPACEWEATHER: Comet Hyakutak Blast from the Past; Sun Suddenly Peppered with Sunspots
Comet Hyakutake 30 Years Ago, Taken by Alan Dyer on March 25, 1996 @ near Gleichen, Alberta, Canada
A Fuzzy Light Became A Worldwide Sensation
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 03/27/2026
HAPPY 30TH, COMET HYAKUTAKE: One of the biggest surprises in modern astronomy happened 30 years ago. On Jan. 30, 1996, Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake spotted a faint fuzzball through binoculars. Within weeks, “Comet Hyakutake” became a worldwide sensation as it passed just 0.1 AU from Earth.
Alan Dyer was one of many who photographed it (above) on March 25, 1996–the night of closest approach:
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SPACEWEATHER: Comet Pan-STARRS, Glancing Blow CME Arrival
Light for Tomorrow and Today
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 03/26/2026
NAKED-EYE COMET ON THE WAY: A visitor from the outermost reaches of the solar system is about to become a naked-eye object. Introducing Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2025 R3):
