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UPDATE: IT'S A COMET! Newly-discovered interstellar object A11pl3Z is showing signs of of an atmosphere and tail. That means it's a comet. Moreover, it has just received an official name from the Minor Planet Center: 3I/ATLAS a.k.a. C/2025 N1 (ATLAS). You can view its orbit and download ephemerides here.
A NEW INTERSTELLAR OBJECT: A new object is entering the Solar System from interstellar space. Provisionally named A11pl3Z, it is about 20 kilometers wide and currently travelling at a blistering 66 km/s. Early measurements of its orbit suggest an eccentricity of 6 which, if confirmed, would be strong evidence that it comes from another star.
This morning, a team of Italian astronomers led by Ernesto Guido photographed A11pl3Z using a remote-controlled telescope in Australia.
A11pl3Z was first photographed by NASA's ATLAS asteroid system on June 14th. Only now, though, are astronomers understanding its significance. A11pl3Z is only the third known interstellar object to pass through the Solar System, following mystery object 'Oumuamua in 2017 and comet Borisov in 2019. This makes A11pl3Z a high-priority target for astronomers.
The new visitor will spend months in range of backyard and professional telescopes. According to a preliminary orbit, A11pl3Z will pass between the orbits of Earth and Mars with a close approach to Mars in October 2025. After that, it will begin its journey back to the stars.
Soon, this object will receive an official (pronounceable!) name and online coordinates for amateur observing. Stay tuned for updates!
more images: from Filipp Romanov using a remote-controlled telescope in Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile
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THE GREAT UNWINDING: In June, the sun bristled with an unusual number of prominences. This one, captured by Michael Jaeger of Austria, shows an important way things explode on the sun. Witness, the Great Unwinding:
Prominences are clouds of hydrogen held above the surface of the sun by magnetic fields. Strange but true: Magnetic fields are a lot like rubber bands. When you twist them, the tension builds up, and when they suddenly unwind ... snap! The energy release can be significant.
The coiled tension in this prominence was created by plasma currents beneath the surface of the sun, which pulled and twisted its magnetic underpinnings. More energy than a million World War II atomic bombs was released when the structure unwound.
July is shaping up to be a good month for prominences, too. Enjoy the show.
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CELTIC LOVE KNOT MOONSTONE PENDANT: Nothing says "I love you" like a moonstone from the edge of space. On Jan. 27th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew this one to the stratosphere 115,158 feet above Earth's surface:
You can have it for $179.95. The moonstone is wrapped in a hand-crafted sterling silver Celtic love knot and suspended from a matching sterling silver chain. It comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight, and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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Every night, a network of
NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.
On Jul 01, 2025, the network reported 13 fireballs.
(12 sporadics, 1 Northern June Aquilid)
In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]
Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (
PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding
new ones all the time.
On July 2, 2025 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
 |
Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters: | Asteroid | Date(UT) | Miss Distance | Velocity (km/s) | Diameter (m) |
| 2025 MT1 | 2025-Jun-27 | 15.5 LD | 2.4 | 20 |
| 2014 DH | 2025-Jun-28 | 17.1 LD | 12.1 | 17 |
| 2025 MZ1 | 2025-Jun-28 | 3.4 LD | 4.6 | 16 |
| 2025 MS88 | 2025-Jun-28 | 4.4 LD | 10.1 | 22 |
| 2025 ML | 2025-Jun-28 | 6.7 LD | 11.7 | 25 |
| 2025 MV88 | 2025-Jun-29 | 9.2 LD | 21.7 | 35 |
| 2025 MJ91 | 2025-Jun-29 | 0.2 LD | 7.5 | 11 |
| 2025 NA | 2025-Jun-30 | 0.8 LD | 12.1 | 11 |
| 2025 MW89 | 2025-Jun-30 | 5.5 LD | 4 | 13 |
| 2025 MM | 2025-Jul-01 | 5.4 LD | 10.7 | 39 |
| 2025 MK90 | 2025-Jul-02 | 13.8 LD | 9.4 | 30 |
| 2025 MY88 | 2025-Jul-04 | 8.8 LD | 8.5 | 37 |
| 2025 MV89 | 2025-Jul-04 | 5.1 LD | 8.7 | 39 |
| 2025 MN88 | 2025-Jul-06 | 1.9 LD | 7.8 | 21 |
| 2025 MO | 2025-Jul-07 | 6.7 LD | 4.6 | 10 |
| 2019 JM | 2025-Jul-09 | 16.6 LD | 6.9 | 14 |
| 2019 NW5 | 2025-Jul-09 | 15.2 LD | 16.5 | 65 |
| 2025 MH90 | 2025-Jul-10 | 19.4 LD | 6.5 | 53 |
| 2025 MD89 | 2025-Jul-11 | 14.7 LD | 8 | 38 |
| 2005 VO5 | 2025-Jul-11 | 15.9 LD | 14.4 | 397 |
| 2025 MD1 | 2025-Jul-11 | 18 LD | 8.9 | 44 |
| 2025 MG1 | 2025-Jul-12 | 13.2 LD | 7.2 | 41 |
| 2025 MA90 | 2025-Jul-15 | 17 LD | 9.1 | 89 |
| 2022 YS5 | 2025-Jul-17 | 17.4 LD | 6.1 | 38 |
| 2018 BY6 | 2025-Jul-19 | 13.7 LD | 7.4 | 68 |
| 2019 CO1 | 2025-Aug-08 | 17.8 LD | 10.5 | 65 |
| 2022 QB1 | 2025-Aug-10 | 8.9 LD | 3.9 | 6 |
| 2021 PJ1 | 2025-Aug-15 | 4.4 LD | 9.3 | 24 |
| 2025 CO3 | 2025-Aug-16 | 19.8 LD | 8.4 | 90 |
| 1997 QK1 | 2025-Aug-20 | 7.9 LD | 9.8 | 315 |
| 2022 QD3 | 2025-Aug-21 | 15 LD | 6.9 | 35 |
| 2023 PX | 2025-Aug-22 | 2.4 LD | 8.3 | 23 |
| 2019 QQ6 | 2025-Aug-24 | 9.4 LD | 17.2 | 31 |
| 2017 RK15 | 2025-Aug-29 | 15.8 LD | 13.2 | 26 |
| 2020 TS1 | 2025-Aug-29 | 17.8 LD | 3.3 | 5 |
| 1998 SH2 | 2025-Aug-30 | 8.1 LD | 17.3 | 246 |
Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. | | Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere |
SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Almost once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with sensors that detect secondary cosmic rays, a form of radiation from space that can penetrate all the way down to Earth's surface. Our monitoring program has been underway without interruption for 10 years, resulting in a unique dataset of in situ atmospheric measurements.
Latest results (Nov. 2024): Atmospheric radiation is sharply decreasing in 2024. Our latest measurements in November registered a 10-year low:
What's going on? Ironically, the radiation drop is caused by increasing solar activity. Solar Cycle 25 has roared to life faster than forecasters expected. The sun's strengthening and increasingly tangled magnetic field repels cosmic rays from deep space. In addition, solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays, causing sharp reductions called "Forbush Decreases." The two effects blend together to bring daily radiation levels down.
.Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. They can alter the chemistry of the atmosphere, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. According to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan school of public health, crews of aircraft have higher rates of cancer than the general population. The researchers listed cosmic rays, irregular sleep habits, and chemical contaminants as leading risk factors. A number of controversial studies (#1, #2, #3, #4) go even further, linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.
Technical notes: The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.
Data points in the graph labeled "Stratospheric Radiation" correspond to the peak of the Regener-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Regener and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.
| | The official U.S. government space weather bureau |
| | The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. |
| | Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever. |
| | 3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory |
| | Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. |
| | information about sunspots based on the latest NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary |
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| | from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
| | fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. |
| | from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
| | the underlying science of space weather |
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