Pint of Science · Lancaster · Live Demo

Painting the Invisible

Your device contains a magnetometer, the same type used in ground-based space weather networks. Read it live, or replay the real Gannon storm of May 2024 from Eskdalemuir Observatory.

Safari on iPhone blocks raw magnetometer access. This is an Apple restriction with no web workaround. The storm replay works on any browser. For live readings on iPhone, the free Phyphox app accesses the hardware directly.
calm active storm
49.0
µT · total field strength
⚡ geomagnetic storm in progress — G5 extreme event

select a mode above to begin

X axis
+30.2
Y axis
−2.1
Z axis
+38.4
Lancaster's background field

Lancaster's quiet-time field is around 49 µT. During the Gannon storm peak, ESK Bx dropped to −1,268 nT below baseline (that's a total deviation of several orders of magnitude).

Eskdalemuir (ESK)

British Geological Survey observatory in the Scottish Borders, running since 1908. One of three UK INTERMAGNET stations — the data here is the actual definitive 1-minute record.

Why three components?

Bx (north), By (east), Bz (down). Together they reveal the full 3D shape of the disturbance to the magnetic field.

The SMILE mission

ESA's SMILE satellite will image Earth's magnetosphere in X-rays — letting us watch the entire shield compress and recover during storms like this from space.

Data source

Lawrence E, Beggan CD, Richardson GS et al. (2025). The geomagnetic and geoelectric response to the May 2024 geomagnetic storm in the United Kingdom. Front. Astron. Space Sci. 12:1550923. doi: 10.3389/fspas.2025.1550923
Eskdalemuir 1-minute definitive data: INTERMAGNET / British Geological Survey (BGS). Baseline subtracted using 00:00–01:00 UT 10 May 2024. A big thank you to BGS, for supporting the ESK magnetometer operation and INTERMAGNET for promoting high standards of magnetic observatory practice (www.intermagnet.org).