1<!DOCTYPE html> 2<html lang="en"> 3<head> 4<meta charset="UTF-8"> 5<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> 6<title>CME Tracker: watch solar storms cross space, live</title> 7<meta name="description" content="Follow every coronal mass ejection from the Sun to Earth on a live map: physics-based arrival estimates, historical replays, a 3D view, and free aurora alerts."> 8<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.cmetracker.ai/"> 9<meta property="og:type" content="website"> 10<meta property="og:site_name" content="CME Tracker"> 11<meta property="og:url" content="https://www.cmetracker.ai/"> 12<meta property="og:title" content="CME Tracker: watch solar storms cross space, live"> 13<meta property="og:description" content="Every coronal mass ejection, tracked live from the Sun to Earth's doorstep. Honest arrival estimates, famous-storm replays, a 3D view, and free aurora alerts."> 14<meta property="og:image" content="https://www.cmetracker.ai/og.jpg?v=2"> 15<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"> 16<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://www.cmetracker.ai/og.jpg?v=2">
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29<script type="application/ld+json"> 30{ 31 "@context": "https://schema.org", 32 "@type": "FAQPage", 33 "mainEntity": [ 34 { "@type": "Question", "name": "How long does a CME take to reach Earth?", 35 "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Typically one to three days, depending on how fast it left the Sun. Slow CMEs travel at ~350 km/s while extreme ones exceed 2,000 km/s. The fastest transit on record is about 15 hours, in August 1972; the 1859 Carrington storm crossed in about 17.5 hours." } }, 36 { "@type": "Question", "name": "How accurate are CME arrival predictions?", 37 "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "CME Tracker's arrival estimates are back-tested against 282 real measured arrivals: median error 12.3 hours, mean 14.8 hours. NASA's WSA-Enlil model scores a mean of 11.2 hours on the same events, so it is better, and both are hours, not minutes. The validation is published on the science page, misses included, and a live scoreboard there scores every arrival window the site issues against what arrived." } }, 38 { "@type": "Question", "name": "Will I see the aurora tonight?", 39 "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "It depends on tonight's geomagnetic activity (the Kp index) and how far you are from the pole, plus dark skies and the Moon. CME Tracker's Aurora Tonight page gives a live answer for your location, city by city." } }, 40 { "@type": "Question", "name": "What is the difference between a solar flare and a CME?", 41 "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "A solar flare is a burst of light and X-rays that reaches Earth in 8 minutes and can black out radio. A CME (coronal mass ejection) is a billion-ton cloud of magnetized plasma that arrives one to three days later and causes geomagnetic storms and aurora. Big eruptions often produce both." } }, 42 { "@type": "Question", "name": "Can a solar storm damage the power grid or the internet?", 43 "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Extreme storms can: the March 1989 storm collapsed Québec's power grid in 92 seconds, and a Carrington-class storm today would be a genuine infrastructure event. Ordinary storms mostly mean aurora, minor satellite drag, and GPS wobble, not blackouts." } }, 44 { "@type": "Question", "name": "I'm a student or teacher. Where should I start?", 45 "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Start with the famous-storms pages, history stories that each end in a scrubbable replay. Then move to the plain-English guide, which explains every number on the live map. Everything is free with no account, and estimates carry honest error bars, useful for teaching how real forecasting works." } }, 46 { "@type": "Question", "name": "What does the Kp index mean?", 47 "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Kp measures global geomagnetic disturbance on a 0â9 scale, updated every three hours. Storms start at Kp 5 (NOAA scale G1); the rare extreme G5 storms reach Kp 9." } } 48 ] 49} 50</script>
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59 60</head><body> 61<div class="help-top"> 62 <a class="brand-link" href="/" title="CME Tracker home"><span class="sun"></span><div class="site-title">CME TRACKER</div></a> 63 <nav class="site-nav" aria-label="Site"> 64 <a class="back" href="/live">⦠Live tracker</a> 65 <a class="back" href="/today">â Today</a> 66 <a class="back" href="/sky">⦠Sky</a> 67 <a class="back" href="/help">? Help</a> 68 <button class="back m-more" id="m-burger" type="button" aria-haspopup="true" aria-label="All pages">â° More</button> 69 </nav> 70</div> 71 72<main> 73<section class="hero"> 74<p class="eyebrow">FROM THE SUN TO EARTH</p> 75<h1>Watch solar storms<br>cross space, <em>live.</em></h1> 76<p class="intro">Every NASA-catalogued eruption drawn at its measured direction and speed, Sun to Earth. Scrub it in time, fly it in 3D around the Sun as it looks this hour, chart a storm from its flare to its aftermath, and watch Earth's magnetic shield respond. Arrival forecasts scored in public, storm alerts, and replays back to 1859.</p> 77<div class="actions"><a class="button primary" href="/live">Open the live tracker <span>â</span></a><a class="text-link" href="#replay">Replay a famous storm â</a></div> 78<a id="now-strip" class="now-strip" href="#outlook"><span class="status-dot"></span><span id="now-copy">Checking space weatherâ¦</span><b id="now-cta">Full outlook â</b></a> 79<div class="hv"> 80 <a class="hv-stage" href="/live?view=2d" aria-label="Open the Top-down view in the tracker"> 81 <div class="hv-layer hv-live on" data-view="2d"><iframe src="https://www.cmetracker.ai/embed-map?hide=&ctx=home&zoom=0.9" title="Live map of CMEs travelling from the Sun past the inner planets" loading="eager" tabindex="-1"></iframe></div> 82 <div class="hv-layer hv-shot" data-view="3d"><img data-shot="3d" alt="" loading="eager" width="1360" height="820"></div> 83 <div class="hv-layer hv-shot" data-view="atmo"><img data-shot="atmo" alt="" loading="eager" width="1360" height="820"></div> 84 <div class="hv-layer hv-shot" data-view="mag"><img data-shot="mag" alt="" loading="eager" width="1360" height="820"></div> 85 <div class="hv-cap" aria-live="polite"><span class="hv-cap-text"><span class="hv-tag live">Live</span><span class="hv-title">Top-down</span><span class="hv-line">Every CME NASA has catalogued, drawn at its measured direction and speed, moving through the inner solar system right now.</span></span><span class="hv-open">Open this view â</span></div> 86 </a> 87 <div class="hv-tabs" role="tablist" aria-label="Four ways to look at it"> 88 <button class="hv-tab" type="button" role="tab" aria-selected="true" data-href="/live?view=2d" data-tag="Live" data-live="1" data-title="Top-down" data-line="Every CME NASA has catalogued, drawn at its measured direction and speed, moving through the inner solar system right now."><img data-shot="topdown" alt="" width="56" height="36"><span><b>Top-down</b><small>the live map</small></span><i class="hv-prog"></i></button> 89 <button class="hv-tab" type="button" role="tab" aria-selected="false" data-href="/live?view=3d" data-tag="3D" data-live="0" data-title="3D" data-line="Each eruption as a whole cone at its true latitude, around the Sun as it looks this hour. The dashed rims show how early or late the selected one could arrive."><img data-shot="3d" alt="" width="56" height="36"><span><b>3D</b><small>cones, not wedges</small></span><i class="hv-prog"></i></button> 90 <button class="hv-tab" type="button" role="tab" aria-selected="false" data-href="/live?view=atmo" data-tag="Atmosphere" data-live="0" data-title="Atmosphere" data-line="Storms heat the upper air. The ISS, Hubble and Starlink sink faster, shown at their real altitudes, with every reboost charted back to 2015."><img data-shot="atmo" alt="" width="56" height="36"><span><b>Atmo­sphere</b><small>satellite drag</small></span><i class="hv-prog"></i></button> 91 <button class="hv-tab" type="button" role="tab" aria-selected="false" data-href="/live?view=mag" data-tag="Magnetosphere" data-live="0" data-title="Magnetosphere" data-line="Earth's magnetic shield as today's solar wind is shaping it, with the satellites that sit inside it."><img data-shot="mag" alt="" width="56" height="36"><span><b>Magneto­sphere</b><small>Earth's shield</small></span><i class="hv-prog"></i></button> 92 </div> 93 <p class="hv-note">The top-down map is live. The other three views are captured from the tracker every night; the 3D one picks the eruption most worth watching.</p> 94</div> 95</section> 96<section class="outlook" id="outlook" aria-labelledby="outlook-title"> 97<div class="section-heading"><div><p class="eyebrow">THE CURRENT OUTLOOK</p><h2 id="outlook-title">Checking space weatherâ¦</h2></div><span id="outlook-time">NASA / NOAA data</span></div> 98<p id="outlook-summary">
98The latest readings and arrival estimates will appear here.</p> 99<p id="outlook-regions" class="outlook-regions" hidden></p> 100<div class="readings"><div><span class="metric-label">GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY</span><strong id="outlook-kp">â</strong><small>Latest planetary Kp</small></div><div><span class="metric-label">SOLAR WIND AT EARTH</span><strong id="outlook-wind">â</strong><small>Measured at L1</small></div><div><span class="metric-label">NEXT ESTIMATED ARRIVAL</span><strong id="outlook-arrival">â</strong><small id="arrival-note">Model estimate, not a certainty</small><a class="acc-note" href="/science#validation">Back-tested on 282 real arrivals: <b>12.3 h</b> median error, misses published â</a></div></div> 101<div class="outlook-more"><div class="om-panel"><span class="metric-label">LATEST FROM THE SUN</span><ul id="om-news" class="om-news"><li class="om-empty">Loading recent activityâ¦</li></ul><small id="om-odds"></small></div><div class="om-panel"><span class="metric-label">AURORA TONIGHT</span><p id="om-aurora">Checking the auroral ovalâ¦</p><a href="/aurora">See the oval on a map â</a></div></div> 102<div class="outlook-links"><a href="/today">Full activity report â</a><a href="/aurora">Aurora forecast â</a></div> 103<form class="subscribe-form outlook-signup" id="outlook-signup" data-source="home-outlook"><label for="outlook-email">Get an email when a CME is headed for Earth.</label><div class="signup-row"><input id="outlook-email" type="email" placeholder="[email protected]" autocomplete="email" required><button class="button primary" type="submit">Get alerts</button></div><input type="text" name="website" class="hp" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off" aria-hidden="true"><p class="subscribe-status" role="status" aria-live="polite"></p></form> 104</section> 105<section class="sun-now" aria-labelledby="sun-title"> 106 <div class="sun-copy"> 107 <p class="eyebrow">THE SUN RIGHT NOW</p> 108 <h2 id="sun-title">This is not an illustration.</h2> 109 <p>NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory photographs the Sun every few minutes. This is its latest hour: the surface where sunspots show as dark specks, the corona at a million degrees, and the chromosphere where prominences erupt. Every CME on the map started somewhere in this picture.</p> 110 <p class="sun-stats-line">Today: <span id="sun-stats">â</span></p> 111 <p class="sun-links"><a class="text-link" href="/live?unroll=1">Unroll today's Sun â</a> <a class="text-link" href="/cycle">Where are we in the solar cycle? â</a></p> 112 </div> 113 <div class="sun-tile"> 114 <a href="/live" title="Open the tracker: the Sun panel scrubs through this imagery in time"> 115 <img id="sun-img" alt="The Sun's corona right now: NASA SDO extreme-ultraviolet image at 193à " loading="lazy" width="240" height="240"> 116 </a> 117 <div class="sun-tabs" role="tablist" aria-label="Sun imagery channel"> 118 <button data-ch="HMIIF" data-src="NASA SDO/HMI" title="Visible light: the surface, where sunspots show as dark specks">Surface</button> 119 <button class="on" data-ch="0193" data-src="NASA SDO/AIA 193à " title="Extreme ultraviolet, 193à : the corona at ~1.2 million °C">Corona</button> 120 <button data-ch="0304" data-src="NASA SDO/AIA 304à " title="Extreme ultraviolet, 304à : the chromosphere, where prominences erupt">Chromosphere</button> 121 </div> 122 <span class="sun-src"><span id="sun-src-name">NASA SDO/AIA 193à </span> · updated hourly</span> 123 </div> 124</section> 125 126<section class="launches-feature" id="launches-feature"> 127 <a class="lf-art" href="/launches" aria-label="Where the Sun shoots: ten years of CME launches on an unrolled Sun"> 128 <img src="/img/launches/unrolled.jpg" width="1600" height="828" alt="The Sun unrolled into an ellipse with one dot for each of ten years of coronal mass ejections at the point it launched from, the Earth-facing half lit in the middle" loading="lazy"> 129 <span class="lf-tag">6,581 launches · 2016 to today</span> 130 </a> 131 <div class="lf-copy"> 132 <p class="eyebrow">TEN YEARS OF ERUPTIONS, ONE PICTURE</p> 133 <h2>Where the Sun shoots.</h2> 134 <p>Every coronal mass ejection NASA has catalogued since 2016, placed on an unrolled Sun where it launched. Nobody told the picture where the active belts are. The eruptions draw them, the poles stay bare, and the quiet years hug the equator.</p> 135 <ul class="lf-stats"> 136 <li><b>377</b><span>aimed at Earth</span></li> 137 <li><b>72%</b><span>within 35° of the equator</span></li> 138 <li><b>3,529 km/s</b><span>the fastest</span></li> 139 </ul> 140 <a class="button primary" href="/launches">See the map â</a><a class="text-link" href="/launches#replay">Replay the decade, one launch at a time â</a><a class="text-link" href="/calendar">Every day since 2016 on a calendar â</a> 141 </div> 142</section> 143<section class="spacecraft" id="observatories" aria-labelledby="spacecraft-title"> 144<h2 id="spacecraft-title">Built on real spacecraft data</h2> 145<p>Powered by NASA, NOAA, and ESA observations. Meet the spacecraft behind the map.</p> 146<div class="spacecraft-grid"> 147 <a href="/observatories#soho"><img src="/img/observatories/soho.jpg" alt="SOHO" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="750"><span>SOHO</span></a> 148 <a href="/observatories#swfo"><img src="/img/observatories/swfo.jpg" alt="SOLAR-1" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="750"><span>SOLAR-1</span></a> 149 <a href="/observatories#imap"><img src="/img/observatories/imap.jpg" alt="IMAP" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="750"><span>IMAP</span></a> 150 <a href="/observatories#dscovr"><img src="/img/observatories/dscovr.jpg" alt="DSCOVR" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="750"><span>DSCOVR</span></a> 151 <a href="/observatories#ace"><img src="/img/observatories/ace.jpg" alt="ACE" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="750"><span>ACE</span></a> 152 <a href="/observatories#goes"><img src="/img/observatories/goes.jpg" alt="GOES" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="750"><span>GOES</span></a> 153 <a href="/observatories#sdo"><img src="/img/observatories/sdo.jpg" alt="SDO" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="750"><span>SDO</span></a> 154 <a href="/observatories#stereo"><img src="/img/observatories/stereo.jpg" alt="STEREO-A" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="750"><span>
154STEREO-A</span></a> 155 <a href="/observatories#psp"><img src="/img/observatories/psp.jpg" alt="Parker Solar Probe" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="750"><span>Parker</span></a> 156 <a href="/observatories#solo"><img src="/img/observatories/solo.jpg" alt="Solar Orbiter" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="750"><span>Solar Orbiter</span></a> 157</div> 158<a class="text-link" href="/observatories">What each spacecraft measures â</a> 159</section> 160<section class="replay" id="replay"><div class="replay-art" aria-hidden="true"><span class="orbit orbit-one"></span><span class="orbit orbit-two"></span><span class="replay-sun"></span><span class="replay-earth"></span><span class="replay-wave"></span><span class="art-label">MAY 2024 · G5 STORM</span></div><div class="replay-copy"><p class="eyebrow">SEE HOW A STORM UNFOLDS</p><h2>Replay the Gannon Storm.</h2><p>A barrage of CMEs. A planet-wide storm. Follow the May 2024 eruptions from the Sun to Earth, then scrub through their arrivals.</p><a class="button primary" href="/live?event=gannon-2024">Start the replay â</a><a class="text-link" href="/live?event=gannon-2024&chart=anatomy">See its anatomy, flare to aftermath â</a><a class="text-link" href="/events">More famous storms â</a></div></section> 161<section class="signup" id="subscribe"><div><p class="eyebrow">DONâT MISS THE NEXT ONE</p><h2>A heads-up. Then a go-now.</h2><p>Free aurora alerts: an early warning when a significant Earth-directed CME launches, followed by a confirmation from the L1 monitor.</p><a href="/aurora">Check tonightâs aurora outlook â</a></div><form class="subscribe-form" data-source="home"><label for="signup-email">Get solar-storm alerts</label><div class="signup-row"><input id="signup-email" type="email" placeholder="[email protected]" autocomplete="email" required><button class="button primary" type="submit">Subscribe</button></div><input type="text" name="website" class="hp" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off" aria-hidden="true"><p id="signup-status" class="subscribe-status" role="status" aria-live="polite"></p><small>Free · Unsubscribe anytime · <a href="/privacy">Privacy</a></small></form></section> 162<section class="learn-home" id="learn" aria-labelledby="learn-title"> 163 <div class="section-heading"><div><p class="eyebrow">FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS</p><h2 id="learn-title">Learn it on the real thing.</h2></div></div> 164 <p>A free six-module course that runs on this map: pick a CME and call whether it is aimed at Earth, replay the 2024 superstorm and call its arrival, move the solar wind and watch the forecast move. About 40 minutes, no account. Teachers get three ready lesson plans with worksheets and answer keys, and the famous-storm pages read like history and each end in a replay you can scrub.</p> 165 <div class="actions"><a class="button primary" href="/learn">Start the course â</a><a class="text-link" href="/teachers">Lesson plans for teachers â</a><a class="text-link" href="/events">Famous storms â</a></div> 166</section> 167<section class="explore"><div class="section-heading"><h2>Explore more</h2><span>Choose your next view.</span></div><div class="explore-grid"> 168<a href="/what-is-a-cme"><b>What is a CME? â</b><span>How the Sun makes one, how it travels and what it does here, in real images and animations.</span></a><a href="/events"><b>Famous storms â</b><span>The great storms from 1770 to 2024, each a story that ends in a replay.</span></a><a href="/science"><b>The science â</b><span>Every equation behind the forecasts, and a live scoreboard of how they did.</span></a><a href="/radio"><b>Radio conditions â</b><span>A live blackout map, the X-ray curve, HF bands and solar indices.</span></a><a href="/sky"><b>The night sky â</b><span>Meteor showers, eclipses, planets, and whatâs next.</span></a><a href="/embed-builder"><b>Widgets & API â</b><span>Bring space weather to your own site.</span></a></div></section> 169<section class="answers"><h2>A few good questions</h2><div class="faq"><details> 170 <summary>How long does a CME take to reach Earth?</summary> 171 <p>Typically one to three days, depending on how fast it left the Sun. Slow CMEs amble at ~350 km/s while extreme ones exceed 2,000 km/s. The fastest transit on re
171cord is about 15 hours, in <a href="/events/august-1972">August 1972</a>; the <a href="/events/carrington-1859">1859 Carrington storm</a> crossed in about 17.5 hours.</p> 172 </details><details> 173 <summary>How accurate are CME arrival predictions?</summary> 174 <p>Our published back-test reports a median absolute arrival error of 12.3 hours across 282 arrivals. That is a historical error statistic, not a guarantee or a confidence interval for an individual forecast. The <a href="/science">science page</a> publishes the whole validation, misses included, and a <a href="/science#scoreboard">live scoreboard</a> scores every arrival window the site issues against what arrived.</p> 175 </details><details> 176 <summary>Will I see the aurora tonight?</summary> 177 <p>It depends on tonight's geomagnetic activity (the Kp index) and how far you are from the pole, plus dark skies and the Moon. The <a href="/aurora">Aurora tonight</a> page gives a live answer for your location, city by city.</p> 178 </details> 179 <details> 180 <summary>What's the difference between a solar flare and a CME?</summary> 181 <p>A flare is a burst of light and X-rays that reaches Earth in 8 minutes and can black out radio; a CME is a billion-ton cloud of magnetized plasma that arrives one to three days later and causes geomagnetic storms and aurora. Big eruptions often produce both. The <a href="/live">tracker</a> shows flares flashing at the Sun and the CMEs they launched.</p> 182 </details> 183 <details> 184 <summary>Can a solar storm damage the power grid or the internet?</summary> 185 <p>Extreme ones can: the March 1989 storm collapsed <a href="/events/quebec-1989">Québec's power grid in 92 seconds</a>, and a Carrington-class storm today would be a genuine infrastructure event. Ordinary storms, the kind that happen monthly, mostly mean aurora, minor satellite drag, and GPS wobble, not blackouts.</p> 186 </details> 187 <details> 188 <summary>I'm a student or teacher. Where should I start?</summary> 189 <p>Take the <a href="/learn">six-module course</a>: each module puts the live map on the page with one thing to do, and teachers get <a href="/teachers">three ready lesson plans</a>. Or start with a story: the <a href="/events">famous storms</a> pages read like history and each ends with a replay you can scrub. The <a href="/events/carrington-1859">Carrington Event</a> and the <a href="/events/may-1967">Almost-War Storm</a> are class favorites. Then the <a href="/help">plain-English guide</a> explains every number on the live map. Everything here is free, no account, and the estimates are honest about their error bars, which makes it useful for teaching how real forecasting works.</p> 190 </details> 191 <details> 192 <summary>What does the Kp index mean?</summary> 193 <p>Kp measures global geomagnetic disturbance on a 0â9 scale, updated every three hours; storms start at Kp 5 (NOAA scale G1) and the rare extreme G5 storms reach Kp 9. The <a href="/help">guide</a> explains every scale the site uses.</p> 194 </details> 195 </div><a class="text-link" href="/help">Read the complete guide â</a></section> 196</main> 197<footer>© 2026 <a href="https://mikedicarlo.ai">Mike DiCarlo</a> · CME Tracker <a href="/privacy">Privacy</a><a href="https://x.com/CMETracker1">ð @CMETracker1</a></footer>
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