Space Weather Effects Animations

Released Monday, January 26, 2026

ID: 14956

- Produced by:
- Lacey Young

Solar flares, coronal mass ejections, solar particle events, and the solar wind form the recipe for space weather that affects life on Earth and astronauts in space.

A farmer stops their planting operations due to poor GPS signal for their autonomous tractor. A power grid manager changes the configuration of their network to ensure a blackout doesn’t occur due to voltage instability. A pilot switches to back-up communication equipment due to loss of high-frequency radio. A commercial internet company providing service to the military must change the orbit of their spacecraft to avoid a collision due to increased atmospheric drag.

These are a few examples of the ways the Sun influences our everyday lives. This is what we define as space weather – the conditions of the space environment driven by the Sun and it’s impacts on objects in the solar system.

Learn more about space weather: https://science.nasa.gov/space-weather-2/

Animation

Space weather impacting a satellite with Earth seen in the background.

Credit: NASA

Animation

Space weather impacting a satellite.

Credit: NASA

Animation

Space weather impacting a satellite.

Credit: NASA

Animation

Sporadic-E Layers are concentrations of plasma that form in Earth's ionosphere and interfere with radio waves.

Credit: NASA

Animation

Sporadic-E Layers are concentrations of plasma that form in Earth's ionosphere and interfere with radio waves. While the region is difficult to study at Earth – the air is so thin we can't fly an aircraft, but it's just thick enough that if you tried to orbit a satellite it would burn up in the atmosphere, NASA's MAVEN spacecraft has been exploring Sporadic-E Layers at Mars, where the atmosphere is much thinner than here at Earth.

Credit: NASA

Animation

Radio waves and navigation signals in Earth's ionosphere.

Credit: NASA

Visualization

Radio wave refraction and reflection on a simplified ionosphere model, where the trajectories are computed based on a very basic ray propagation through a plasma.

More information here.

Credit: NASA

Visualization

Radio wave refraction and reflection on a simplified ionosphere model without an altitude scale, where the trajectories are computed based on a very basic ray propagation through a plasma.

More information here.

Credit: NASA

Visualization

From May 10-11, 2024, the strongest geomagnetic storm in over two decades hit Earth. In an effort to avoid interference with communication and navigation systems as well as the harmful radiation that comes with these storms, aircraft changed their routes to avoid flying over the northern and southern poles.

Credit: FlightRadar24