CORONAL MASS EJECTIONCME

Coronal mass ejection toward Earth, October 12, 2026

Arrival forecast
Map: Coronal mass ejection toward Earth, October 12, 2026

A coronal mass ejection, a billion-ton cloud of magnetized gas, left the Sun on October 12, 2026 at 05:09 UTC, moving at about 741 km/s (1.7 million mph). NASA’s model forecast it to reach Earth around Wednesday, October 14 at 09:04 UTC, plus or minus several hours. In the model’s strongest scenario it pushes the K index to 7, a G3 geomagnetic storm.

Left the SunOct 12 05:09 UTC
Speed741 km/s
Arrival (model)Oct 14 09:04 UTC
Glancing blowNo
Kp forecastup to 7
Travel time52 hours
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What happens when it arrives

If the cloud’s magnetic field points south when it hits, it can couple with Earth’s and set off a geomagnetic storm: auroras far from the poles, and in strong storms trouble for power grids, satellites and GPS. Arrival times are model forecasts and are often off by six hours or more. Live outlook: aurora forecast.

Did you know?

Flare classes. Solar flares are ranked A, B, C, M and X. Each letter is 10 times stronger than the one before, so an X1 is 10× an M1.

Data: NASA DONKI (WSA-ENLIL model).

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