Space Weather Educational Resources

When the Sun Acts Up, We Notice

Space weather refers to conditions in our atmosphere caused by the sun. Sometimes it’s calm, and sometimes it’s intense. When the sun is very active and sends a blast of particles toward Earth, it can damage satellites and electrical equipment, and disrupt GPS, communications, and energy resources. On the bright side, it can also cause beautiful auroras. Learn all about space weather in the resources below.

Image of the sun and earth in space with satellites.

How Does Space Weather Affect Us?

Images of the earth that are blue, yellow, green and orange.

What Does the Sun Look Like Up Close?

How's the Weather on Other Planets?

What is the Solar Cycle?

An aurora seen from space with a satellite.

What is an Aurora?

Drawing of the sun wearing sunglasses; eyes on the sun.

Meet SWFO-L1: NOAA’s Eye on the Sun

Blue, green, yelow, orange and red images of the sun next to each other.

What Was the Carrington Event?

Additional Activities

NOAA and NASA work closely together to forecast and warn about the impacts of space weather. Here are additional activities that will add to your space weather knowledge.

The Sun, Space Weather, and You (Part 1) and The Sun, Space Weather, and You (Part 2), are Kahoot! games from NASA which will test your knowledge of heliophysics and the solar activity that we call space weather.
SWFO-L1 Satellite Coloring Page (PDF) - print out this coloring page showing the SWFO-L1 Satellite collecting data from the sun.
JHelioviewer - software for users to visualise the Sun for any time period between September 1991 and today. With it, you can perform basic image processing in real time, track features on the Sun, and interactively overlay magnetic field extrapolations.