Live space weather

Aurora Forecast

Fetching data from NOAA SWPC…

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Tonight, at your location

Checking the sky…

Pulling together live space weather and cloud data.

Ask about the aurora

Type a question — chances, timing, Kp, clouds, moonlight, substorms. Answered from this app's own live data, not a general AI, so it stays on-topic.

Aurora hotspot map

Real map of your surroundings, with live aurora chances painted on top — brighter/pinker means a better shot right now. Tap or click anywhere on the map to check that exact spot.

🕐 Slide through the next 2 days — solar activity and cloud cover both shift through the night.

Now — live satellite data

Now+1 day+2 days

Quiet Active Strong

🛰️ Showing live satellite-based data combined with current cloud cover, for right now. If the map looks mostly blank, that's real — it means live activity or clear-sky odds are genuinely low everywhere in view at this exact moment, even if a stronger window is forecasted later tonight.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · aurora overlay from live NOAA OVATION Prime data · coverage is roughly the area right around you, not necessarily your whole country

Best nearby chance

Checking nearby directions for a better view…

Willing to travel further? Here's where a real show is happening live, right now (separate from the map's time slider above):

Searching the full live model for a strong spot…

Your check-in log

Every time you check a location, we save a snapshot here — tell us what you actually saw and we'll show you how the forecast is doing over time.

Solar wind speed

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Density

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Bz (IMF)

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Bt (IMF)

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Updated

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Sustained negative Bz paired with a strong Bt is the real-time combo aurora chasers watch — it changes far faster than Kp and can signal a substorm Kp won't capture until after the fact.

Substorm watch

Growth-phase signature over the last 2 hours — a heads-up for a possible burst in the next hour

Checking…

Reading recent Bz trend and solar wind speed…

3-day Kp forecast

NOAA Planetary K-index · 3-hour windows, local time at the location you're checking

Quiet (Kp 0–3) Active (Kp 4–5) Storm (Kp 6+)

Chase-night checklist

Kp is one input, not a switch — run through this before you decide to go out

Dark enough — well past astronomical twilight at your location
Clear sky — the app now pulls real cloud cover for you (see forecast below); still worth a glance outside
Moon not washing things out — factored in automatically, but bright moonlight still hurts faint displays
Auroral oval nearby — the app now pulls live NOAA OVATION Prime data for your exact spot when the timing lines up with "now"
Solar wind favorable — Bz sustained negative, Bt holding up (see telemetry above)
Kp used as context, not a verdict — a "low" forecast can still produce a short, sharp substorm
Ready to react fast — check Substorm Watch above; growth-phase conditions can flip into a display in well under an hour

Reading Kp in practical terms

Rough guidance for high-latitude viewing — not a promise of visibility. Thresholds below already include a small equatorward adjustment, since view-line-style estimates tend to run conservative.

0–1	Don't rule it out at high latitude — worth a check if skies are clear and solar wind looks favorable.
2	Worth watching closely; combine with clear skies and real-time Bz/Bt.
3–4	Good reason to actively monitor the sky and real-time conditions tonight.
5+	Strong activity — the auroral oval can push well toward lower latitudes.

Best viewing is usually 10pm–2am local time, away from city lights, facing the pole-ward horizon. Give your eyes 15–20 minutes to adjust to the dark.