2026-04-09

Bad Star

The sun is not your friend. We translate its tantrums.

Niche Explored

Consumer-facing space weather intelligence — translating NOAA’s treasure trove of real-time solar data into beautiful, readable, actionable content for aurora chasers, HAM radio operators, satellite/GPS users, astrophotographers, pilots, and the millions of curious humans who saw the May 2024 aurora and went “wait, the SUN does WHAT?”

Existing Competition

• spaceweather.com — The de facto leader. Run by Dr. Tony Phillips since ~2000. Loyal audience but website looks like it was designed in 1998. Dense, text-heavy, no data journalism, no scorecards, no mobile optimization. Still the #1 result for “space weather.” Massive opportunity to out-design and out-explain.
• SWPC.noaa.gov — Official NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center. Government site with raw products. Not consumer-friendly at all — data dumps, technical jargon, no narrative.
• SolarHam.com — Kevin Loch’s site for HAM radio operators. Technical, niche, excellent data but zero design or accessibility for normal humans.
• Aurorasaurus.org — NASA citizen science project for aurora sighting reports. Narrow focus, not a content site.
• Various aurora apps (My Aurora Forecast, Aurora Alerts) — Mobile-only, narrow focus on aurora Kp threshold alerts. No context, no analysis, no “what happened and why.”
• SpaceWeatherLive.com — Dutch site with decent real-time data display but still very technical, no editorial voice, no data journalism.

Key gap: Nobody is doing data journalism with space weather. Nobody is translating flare probabilities, Kp forecasts, solar wind measurements, and CME arrival predictions into beautiful, opinionated, accessible weekly/daily content. The data is all free, real-time, JSON-formatted, and begging for visualization.

Data Sources Found

NOAA SWPC — Free JSON/Text APIs (no auth required!)

• Kp Index (3-hr): https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/products/noaa-planetary-k-index.json — geomagnetic disturbance index, updates every 3 hours
• Solar X-ray Flares: https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/json/goes/primary/xray-flares-latest.json — latest flare class, timing, peak
• Solar Wind Plasma (7-day): https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/products/solar-wind/plasma-7-day.json — density, speed, temperature per minute
• Solar Wind Magnetic (7-day): https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/products/solar-wind/mag-7-day.json — Bz component (key for aurora)
• Aurora Oval Forecast: https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/json/ovation_aurora_latest.json — lat/lon probability grid
• 3-Day Forecast: https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/text/3-day-forecast.txt — human-written NOAA forecast
• Forecast Discussion: https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/text/discussion.txt — detailed analysis from SWPC forecasters
• NOAA Scales: https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/products/noaa-scales.json — R/S/G scale current + forecast
• Solar Probabilities: https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/json/solar_probabilities.json — C/M/X flare probabilities by day
• Daily Solar Indices: https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/text/daily-solar-indices.txt — sunspot number, radio flux, flare counts, 30-day history

NASA SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory)

• Solar disk images: Multiple wavelengths, updated frequently, public domain
• HMI magnetograms: Sunspot detail, free downloads
• URL pattern: https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/latest/

Other Free Sources

• Cosmic Rays (Oulu): https://cosmicrays.oulu.fi/ — neutron monitor data, space age average comparisons
• DSCOVR Real-Time Solar Wind: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/real-time-solar-wind
• GOES X-ray Flux: Real-time X-ray monitoring from GOES satellites
• ACE satellite data: Solar wind in situ measurements
• Sunspot Archive (SILSO): https://www.sidc.be/silso/ — Royal Observatory of Belgium, historical sunspot data
• DONKI (NASA): https://kauai.ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/DONKI/ — CME, flare, and SEP event notifications

SEO Analysis

• Keywords: “space weather today” (high volume, moderate difficulty), “aurora forecast” (very high volume around storms), “solar flare today” (spikes massively during events), “Kp index” (steady niche), “when to see northern lights” (huge seasonal), “solar storm” (event-driven spikes)
• The May 2024 aurora event (G5 storm visible to Florida) drove BILLIONS of searches — “northern lights tonight” trended worldwide
• Solar Cycle 25 is at/near maximum in 2025-2026, meaning more frequent storms and more search volume
• Long-tail opportunity: “will the solar storm affect my GPS,” “is the solar flare dangerous,” “when is the next aurora,” “solar storm power grid risk”
• Content gap: Most top results are either raw government data or breathless clickbait. Nobody is doing calm, beautiful, data-backed explainers.

Communities

• r/spaceweather — 45K+ members, very engaged
• r/aurora — growing fast since May 2024 event
• r/amateurradio — HAM operators deeply care about ionospheric conditions
• r/astrophotography — aurora is a major draw
• Aurora chaser groups on Facebook (hundreds of thousands of members)
• HAM radio clubs worldwide
• Pilot forums (HF radio propagation)
• Satellite operator communities (drag, radiation)

Image/Graphic Feasibility

Excellent. This niche is a dream for auto-generated visuals:

• Aurora probability maps from OVATION data (render lat/lon grid onto world map)
• Solar disk images with annotated active regions (direct from SDO)
• Kp index timeline charts (simple bar/line charts from JSON data)
• Solar wind speed/density gauges
• Flare probability dashboards
• Solar cycle progression charts (sunspot number over time)
• “Week in Review” summary infographics
• CME arrival timeline graphics All of this can be auto-generated with D3.js, Chart.js, or server-side canvas rendering.

Sources

• https://services.swpc.noaa.gov/ (all JSON endpoints confirmed working 2026-04-09)
• https://spaceweather.com (confirmed current, Solar Cycle 25 data)
• https://aurorasaurus.org/
• https://cosmicrays.oulu.fi/
• https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/
• https://www.sidc.be/silso/