Christian Möstl

spaceweather.com sometimes posts solar images from the #Mars Perseverance Rover camera MASTCAM-Z, in low but good enough resolution to see big sunspots (e.g. Feb 19 2026 below). Mars is currently on the opposite side of the Sun as seen from Earth. The images are here:
mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mul...

BREAKING: This is Richard Carrington, the first person to document solar flares on the Sun & suggest their influence on aurora at Earth. The largest solar storm on record, the Carrington Event, bares his name. But, there has been no photograph available of Carrington – until now!

Crazy
21:36 UTC
Jan 19, 2026
Location Koralpe Austria 46N

#Aurora #spaceweather
@vincentledvina.bsky.social

Es könnte sein dass es in der früh nochmal stärker wird - aber irgendwie muss man nunmal von den Wolken weg ...

This solar cycle is so funny because whenever you think you don't know exactly what to do for the next paper or project these things happen.

Wow! Here is the current view over Falkenberg, Germany! Quite amazing red aurora from this mid-latitude location. Europe get outside!

go.theauroraguy.com/webcams

At this point we can call ourselves lucky because if this field would point southward we would be in a 1989 Quebec storm category (Dst almost -600 nT)!
If the Bz stays > 0, high and mid-latitude aurora is still likely, but damaging effects on technical infrastructure are probably not significant.

This is likely the strongest near-Earth #solarwind magnetic field I have ever seen in my career - 90.6 nT total field, and perfectly northward 61.7 nT Bz component. If this is the main flux rope, the north and west pointing field is consistent with the right handed source region - Bz would stay > 0!

Ohh nice! Congratulations! 🏅

A press story is out today (german) on our forecast for the chances for #aurora nights at mid-latitudes in 2026.
We predict another 1-2 possible nights in 2026, as we expect 20-30 #solarstorm impacts at Earth 🌍 in 2026.
☀️ Solar cycle 25 is not done yet! ☀️
science.apa.at/power-search...

An Orbital House of Cards: Frequent Megaconstellation Close Conjunctions The number of objects in orbit is rapidly increasing, primarily driven by the launch of megaconstellations, an approach to satellite constellation design that involves large numbers of satellites pair...

🤯 Very interesting study featured on spaceweather.com today about #solarstorms lowering satellite orbits and thus collision avoidance maneuvers are needed, in particular for satellite megaconstellations ➡️ #spaceweather may form a tipping point towards Kessler Syndrome.
arxiv.org/abs/2512.09643

Stylised poster depicting spacecraft watching the Sun with Earth depicted below

Check out the first poster in our new series: "Space Safety - in action!"

Mission: Vigil
Objective: Advanced warning of solar storms
Unique feature: Location in deep space offers 'side-on' view of solar material heading towards Earth
Launch: 2031

Download the poster at:
www.esa.int/Space_Safety...

Astrophysiker: "Oft kommt die Frage nach Außerirdischen" Christian Möstl leitet das Austrian Space Weather Office der Geosphere Austria. Er erklärt, wie Sonnenstürme entstehen und ob die Suche nach Aliens zum Job gehört

(In German): A really nice story in Austrian newspaper @derstandard.at today on our duties as #spaceweather forecasters and researchers and myths surrounding our work. www.derstandard.at/story/300000...

My take away so far from discussions on the #Airbus software updates due to potential #spaceweather induced electronics upsets: the Sun ☀️ seems not responsible for the incident on October 30 (no significant eruptions on that day), but solar energetic particles could lead to similar failures.

Flights disrupted as Airbus requests modifications to thousands of planes About 6,000 plans are thought to be affected, about half the European aerospace giant's global fleet.

An interesting #spaceweather story developing. Airbus has made a statement saying that “Analysis of a recent event involving an A320 Family aircraft has revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Boost in funding expands Space Safety programme The 2025 Ministerial Council (CM25) turned into an overwhelming success for ESA’s Space Safety programme. Member States committed to a budget of €955 million for the next three years – even more ...

Amazing outcome of the ESA ministerial for space safety: especially ESA Vigil and the the mission concepts for distributed #spaceweather sensors like SHIELD and Aurora missions are all on track!
www.esa.int/Space_Safety...

We will hear more details in the coming days but it also looks like ESA Space Safety - with a highly ambitious program - was very well funded, and besides the Asteroid mission to Apophis in 2029 (once in a lifetime chance), eager to hear more about the #spacewather missions to be designed and built!

Follow CM25 online The European Space Agency's Ministerial Council – more formally Council at Ministerial level – takes place in Bremen, Germany on 26 and 27 November 2025. 

📺 Our Ministerial Council takes place this week, 26-27 November, in Bremen, Germany. Vital decisions will be made on Europe's future in space. You can follow events live on the days here! 👇
www.esa.int/About_Us/Min...

Also check out our dedicated #CM25 website 👇 🔗 esa.int/CM25

Frontiers | Publisher of peer-reviewed articles in open access journals Open access publisher of peer-reviewed scientific articles across the entire spectrum of academia. Research network for academics to stay up-to-date with the latest scientific publications, events, bl...

Note that the @ tag was not correct, this is the journal: www.frontiersin.org

Frontiers | Mathematical expressions of the drag-based models for predicting the arrival time of coronal mass ejection and their development and evolutionary processes As one of the most violent solar activities, coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are eruptions of the large-scale magnetized plasma from the Sun’s upper atmosphere...

I am part of a new paper has been published today in @frontiersmedia.bsky.social (Zhao et al. 2025) that gives an overview on the drag-based-models that have been developed to describe the #solarstorm evolution in the heliosphere
www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.... #openaccess

Folge 10: Die stürmische Seite der Sonne Achtung! Achtung! Das ist eine Sturmwarnung aus dem Weltall! Ganz so wild geht es im Arbeitsalltag der beiden Astrophysiker:innen Christian Möstl und Hannah Rüdisser zwar nicht (immer) zu, aber sie ha...

A new podcast (in german) is available on all platforms with Hannah Rüdisser @hannahruedisser.bsky.social and me talking about many aspects of space weather, like future @esaspaceweather.esa.int missions, Miyake Events and solar storm impacts on technology.
👇
geosphere.at/de/aktuelles...

Finally, Petra van Lommel taught us how to do space weather communication to the public without scientific terms - use the terms light / rain / wind!
Aurora chaser MaryBeth Kiczenski (photos) provided perspectives for us researchers and forecasters to improve tools to make chases more fun!
(3/3)

Then a discussion with @esa.int and NOAA on future data streams for #spaceweather, with sub-L1 measurements on distant retrograde orbits (ESA HENON and ESA SHIELD) attracting lots of attention. An ESA L3 mission concept may use Faraday rotation to remotely detect #solarstorm magnetic fields. (2/3)

Day 4 of #ESWW2025! @maikebauer.bsky.social + @lelouedecj.bsky.social presented posters on #solarstorm automatic detection and modeling to make life easier for forecasters. @hannahruedisser.bsky.social took part in a panel on the best practices and future use of AI in #spaceweather! 1/3

ARCANE with its ability to also detect high speed solar wind streams was also shown during the live #spaceweather forecast!
Further, fascinating talks on geomagnetically induced currents in Sweden, Germany and New Zealand, and discussions on ESA space weather plans for the next few years. (2/2)

Day 3 at #ESWW2025! @hannahruedisser.bsky.social presented our automatic solar storm detection method ARCANE, combined with our models for the storm magnetic field (3DCORE) and arrival time (ELEvo), showcasing their power for real time application. (1/2)👇

Day 2 at #ESWW2025! @spacedavies.bsky.social rocked the stage with a talk on solar storm forecasts with sub-L1 monitors with @esa.int #SolarOrbiter. I participated in 2 panel discussion, on the role of validation, and the future of space weather modeling at ESA in the next 10-15 years. ☀️💥🤖

Some impressions from day one at #ESWW2025 including first poster presentations and big congrats to long-time collaborator Erika Palmerio @erikapal.bsky.social for receiving the Alexander Chizhevsky Medal for early career scientists!

Maria Federica Marcucci on the @esa.int M7 mission candidate "Plasma observatory", which would be an amazing mission to understand in high detail how the solar wind works on small scales and how it interacts with the 🌍 magnetosphere.

🇬🇧UK Space Weather meeting in Sheffield, day 3 starts with a session on new 🛰️ missions, including @craig.deforest.org on @punch-mission.bsky.social, Jorge Amaya on a new fleet of @esa.int spacecraft and a possible later far-side ☀️ mission (near L3), and Jonathan Eastwood on ESA HENON for sub-L1 data.