Small coronal hole faces Earth
Saturday, 9 January 2016 22:49 UTC
A small coronal hole is currently facing Earth and an enhanced solar wind stream could arrive in about 3 days from now on 12 January.
Solar activity is rather quiet at the moment and no significant solar flares have occured since sunspot region 2473 departed the Earth-facing solar disk.
That means we have to turn our attention once more to coronal hole for enhanced auroral displays and right now we have a small coronal hole in an Earth-facing position. This prompted the NOAA SWPC to issue a minor G1 geomagnetic storm watch for 12 January. It's only a very small coronal hole so we have doubts that we are going to experience G1 storm conditions on the 12th but if you are located at a high latitude location this coronal hole might very well be of interest for you.
Header image: NASA SDO.
Thank you for reading this article! Did you have any trouble with the technical terms used in this article? Our help section is the place to be where you can find in-depth articles, a FAQ and a list with common abbreviations. Still puzzled? Just post on our forum where we will help you the best we can!
Latest news
X1.5 solar flare
M2.7 solar flare, CME arrival possible
Complex sunspot region 4366
Latest forum messages
More topicsSupport SpaceWeatherLive.com!
A lot of people come to SpaceWeatherLive to follow the Solar activity or if there is a chance to see the aurora, but with more traffic comes higher costs to keep the servers online. If you like SpaceWeatherLive and want to support the project you can choose a subscription for an ad-free site or consider a donation. With your help we can keep SpaceWeatherLive online!
Space weather facts
| Last X-flare | 2026/04/24 | X2.5 |
| Last M-flare | 2026/05/10 | M5.7 |
| Last geomagnetic storm | 2026/05/05 | Kp5 (G1) |
| Spotless days | |
|---|---|
| Last 365 days | 3 days |
| 2026 | 3 days (2%) |
| Last spotless day | 2026/02/24 |
| Monthly mean Sunspot Number | |
|---|---|
| April 2026 | 79.3 -6.6 |
| May 2026 | 107.2 +27.9 |
| Last 30 days | 95.2 -0.7 |