Live Kp index, CME event calendar, and 27-day solar forecast — everything you need to predict aurora visibility anywhere on Earth.
🧠 OPEN BRAIN DASHBOARD LIVEImagine stepping outside at midnight to find the sky alive with curtains of emerald light dancing overhead—but you had no warning it would happen. Today, that guesswork ends. The Aurora Forecast on Pandita Data's Brain Dashboard transforms unpredictable cosmic light shows into trackable, real-time predictions powered by live solar wind data and geomagnetic indices. Whether you're a photographer chasing the perfect shot or a scientist studying magnetospheric physics, this tool puts the cosmos on your timeline.
The Aurora Forecast is your window into the Sun's mood. Right now, the Kp index sits at 0.0—meaning Earth's magnetosphere is calm, and auroras are confined to the highest latitudes near the Arctic Circle. But that can change in hours when the solar wind picks up or a coronal mass ejection (CME) slams into our planet's magnetic shield.
Auroras ignite when the Sun's plasma wind collides with Earth's magnetosphere. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections hurl charged particles at 400–1000 km/s toward us. When they hit our magnetic field, they compress it, releasing energy that accelerates electrons and protons down toward the poles. Those particles slam into oxygen and nitrogen molecules 100–300 km above the ground, exciting them to emit photons—the haunting greens, reds, and purples we see dancing across polar skies.
Fairbanks, Alaska: Kp 0+. Seattle/Portland: Kp 6+. Minneapolis: Kp 7+. Chicago: Kp 8+. New York: Kp 9 (rare). Use the Brain Dashboard's interactive map to see your city's visibility threshold in real time.
Today's aurora forecast on the Brain Dashboard shows activity confined to high latitudes. Solar wind is sluggish at 3 km/s—well below the 500+ km/s needed to trigger major geomagnetic storms. But bookmark the Aurora Forecast tab and check back daily. When a CME appears on the 27-day solar rotation calendar, you'll have days to prepare. Watch the Kp index climb in real time, see the aurora oval expand southward on the interactive map, and know precisely when to grab your camera and head north.
For city-specific aurora visibility forecasts and 72-hour predictions, check the Disaster Report for your region. The cosmos doesn't announce its light shows—but Pandita Data does.
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