Diary News Feed

A full parade of all three planets closest to Earth—Mercury, Venus, and Mars—will gather near the Sun over the next two weeks, beginning January 22.

A rare simultaneous approach of Venus and Mars to the Sun, which will now only happen again in the second half of the 23rd century, was recorded from space by the LASCO coronagraphs located on the SOHO spacecraft.

Minimum level G1 magnetic storms are expected tomorrow at midday due to the passage of a medium-sized plasma ejection that left the Sun on January 6 past the planet.

We are publishing a video of the movements of the two planets closest to Earth, Venus and Mars, across the starry sky in December 2025. The two celestial bodies continue their movement toward each other and will conjoin the Sun on January 7-8, coming within a minimum distance of less than 1 degree—an event whose next recurrence will not occur until the 23rd century (June 6, 2267).

The first magnetic storm of the new year 2026 has begun on Earth. The event was recorded on January 2 at approximately 11:00 PM Moscow time and, as is typical for this type of phenomenon, is planetary in nature.

A fairly strong pre-New Year's Eve flare, measuring M7.1, occurred yesterday between 3:12 PM and 2:11 UTC. For regions in the UTC+10 time zone, the flare coincided with the chimes of midnight.

Calculations confirm the possibility of observing bright aurora borealis over the country on New Year's Eve. According to models, two factors are simultaneously affecting Earth at this moment: a small coronal hole currently observed in the Sun's northern hemisphere and the approach of the edge of a plasma cloud ejected from the Sun by a series of M-class flares that occurred overnight between Sunday and Monday.

Contrary to all predictions, the Sun managed to create intrigue for the New Year's holidays. While yesterday the chances of celebrating New Year's Eve under the Northern Lights were minimal, now, unexpectedly, the chances have increased.

Comet 3I/ATLAS will pass closest to the last bright star on its celestial path today—past the star Regulus, the heart of Leo. From then on, until it completely disappears from Earth's field of view, which will occur in the second half of the coming year, the celestial body will no longer make conjunctions with bright stars.

A major M5.1 flare was recorded on the eastern edge of the Sun early this nignt. The event's intensity was approximately 50% of the highest magnitude X threshold. Maximum emission was recorded at 1:50 UTC.