Kp Index — Right Now
The planetary K-index measures how disturbed Earth's magnetic field is, 0–9, from magnetometer stations worldwide. It's the single most-watched number in space weather — the aurora trigger, the storm scale, the grid's pulse.
All Instruments, Live
What Each Level Means
| Kp | NOAA Scale | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 0–3 | — | Quiet. Baseline field, aurora only near the poles. |
| 4 | — | Active. Field unsettled; high-latitude aurora brightens. |
| 5 | G1 | Minor storm. Aurora can reach the northern US. |
| 6 | G2 | Moderate storm. Voltage alarms possible at high latitudes. |
| 7 | G3 | Strong storm. Aurora to mid-latitudes; GPS/radio degraded. |
| 8–9 | G4–G5 | Severe–extreme. Rare; grid damage possible; aurora far south. |
Storm History
Recent years of daily Kp — every storm spike in context, plus the sunspot record behind it.
Historical Field Records — Source Data
The Data Behind Your Commissioning Voltage
This is the actual archive — not a summary, not a chart generated from internal assumptions. SILSO sunspot records back to 1818. GFZ Potsdam Kp readings back to 1932. Your commissioning voltage was pulled directly from these datasets. Drag the handles at the bottom of each chart to zoom in.
Solar Activity — International Sunspot Number (SSN)
SILSO · Royal Observatory of Belgium · 1818–present
LOADING ARCHIVE…
Geomagnetic Activity — Kp Index (Daily Average)
GFZ Potsdam · Helmholtz Centre · 1932–present
LOADING ARCHIVE…
SSN v2.0 — SILSO, Royal Observatory of Belgium (1818–present) · Kp 3-hourly definitive — GFZ Potsdam / Helmholtz Centre (1932–present) · Data bundled locally; no third-party requests.
Common Questions
What is the Kp index right now?
The live value is shown at the top of this page, synced from NOAA magnetometer data around the clock. Kp 0–3 is quiet, 4 is active, 5+ is a geomagnetic storm (NOAA G1–G5).
What Kp index do I need to see the aurora?
Roughly Kp 5 (G1) for the northern US and northern Europe, Kp 7 (G3) for mid-latitudes, and Kp 8–9 (G4–G5) for rare low-latitude displays. Darkness and clear skies matter as much as the number.
How often does the Kp index update?
The official planetary K-index is a 3-hour value; NOAA also publishes estimated near-real-time values between official readings. This page syncs both continuously.
Does a high Kp index affect people?
It measurably affects power grids, satellites, GPS, and radio. Whether it registers in human physiology is an open scientific question — our Biological Phased Array citizen-science project is testing exactly that.
Get Storm & CME Alerts
NOAA and NASA publish the numbers. They don't tell you. The moment a geomagnetic storm, a major flare, or an Earth-directed CME is confirmed, we'll email you — no refreshing this page, no scanning raw feeds.
This is the general grid alert — the same one everyone gets. Reading it against your commissioning schematic is what the Planetary Logic Controller does.
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