This is an AI Free Zone: AI writing is everywhere -- except here. Spaceweather.com is written 100% by Dr. Tony Phillips, a carbon-based lifeform with 30 yrs of forecasting experience. If you find a mistake, rest assured it was made by a real human being.
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LUNAR ECLIPSE--TONIGHT! Everyone in the contiguous USA can see it. On the night of Aug. 27-28 (tonight!) the Moon will enter Earth's shadow for a 96% eclipse. These time zone graphics will help you figure out when to look: UT, EDT, CDT, MDT, PDT, Alaska, Hawaii. Or sign up for our Backyard Alert Service, and you'll receive a reminder text at the perfect time.
THE 4513 SMOKER: This week, sunspot 4513 produced seven M-class solar flares. David Wilson photographed the one that failed to launch. He calls it the "4513 Smoker."
"I got this lucky capture just after I got out of bed," says Wilson, who monitors the sun using a backyard telescope in Inverness Scotland. "I saw a huge expulsion of cooler plasma swirls. They were expelled, swirled around for a bit and were then sucked back to where they started from."
Not every explosion from 4315 failed. At least one CME is heading for Earth. ETA: Aug. 28th. Stay tuned for auroras. CME Impact Alerts: SMS Text.
THE LAST JELLYFISH? Sunrise on Aug. 25th was a little different for sky watchers along the US East Coast. It was filled with jellyfish. "I have never seen one as bright as this. Spectacular, very bright and huge!" reports Ricky Johnson, who sends this photo from Brunswick, Georgia:
This is a "SpaceX jellyfish." It forms when a rocket climbs out of Earth's shadow into high-altitude sunlight. The sun beams through the exhaust, creating a glowing umbrella visible for hundreds of miles.
The jellyfish Johnson saw was created by a Falcon 9 lifting off from Cape Canaveral at 5:33 in the morning. It was seen and photographed all the way from Florida to New York City.
In recent years, SpaceX jellyfish have become a routine sight along both coasts of the USA. Twilight launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and Cape Canaveral in Florida create jellyfish several times a month with sightings in dozens of states.
However, this may be the last East Coast jellyfish for a while. Hours after the Aug. 25th launch, SpaceX VP Kiko Dontchev announced that Falcon 9 rockets would no longer launch Starlink satellites from Florida. "From here on, Starlink missions out of Florida will fly on Starship," he said. No timeline was given for the transition.
"If this was the last jellyfish for the near future, it was the most dramatic one I have ever seen," says Jeremy Gilchrist, who sends this picture from Rayleigh, North Carolina:
"Pictures did not do it justice!" he says.
Meanwhile, Vandenberg launches will continue unabated, producing Western jellyfish on a regular basis. When the Starship megarocket takes over in Florida, Eastern jellyfish will be even more spectacular than before. So, no, it was not the last.
Would you like to see a SpaceX jellyfish? Sign up for Backyard Astronomy Alerts. Our proprietary jellyfish-prediction software has been field tested and calibrated, and it will give you the best chance to see one from your own backyard.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Space Weather Newsletter
SOLAR SYSTEM CRYSTAL NIGHT LIGHT: Think of it as a combination optics experiment and fundraiser. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched this crystal ball to the stratosphere, and they're selling it to help pay their helium bill. It's the Solar System Crystal Night Light:
You can have it for $134.95. The premium K9 crystal ball contains the sun and eight planets--plus the most important moons. Best of all, it comes with an LED light stand that turns the orb red, green, yellow or blue in six different combinations. WIth your purchase, you will receive a full-color greeting card showing the crystal ball in flight--a truly far-out night light!
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
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 August 27, 2026, the network reported 13 fireballs.
(13 sporadics)
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 August 27, 2026 there were 2349 potentially hazardous asteroids.
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Recent
& Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:
| Asteroid |
Date(UT) |
Miss Distance |
Velocity (km/s) |
Diameter (m) |
| 2026 QA |
2026-Aug-22 |
14.7 LD |
15.3 |
38 |
| 2026 QX1 |
2026-Aug-22 |
3.8 LD |
3.4 |
10 |
| 2026 QV1 |
2026-Aug-22 |
6.3 LD |
4.9 |
12 |
| 2026 QP2 |
2026-Aug-22 |
2.9 LD |
9.7 |
16 |
| 2026 PX |
2026-Aug-23 |
2.5 LD |
6.8 |
26 |
| 2026 QN1 |
2026-Aug-23 |
4.4 LD |
13.2 |
16 |
| 2026 QC3 |
2026-Aug-24 |
0.1 LD |
8.2 |
9 |
| 2026 QC2 |
2026-Aug-24 |
4.9 LD |
12.6 |
19 |
| 2026 QW1 |
2026-Aug-25 |
5.5 LD |
17.4 |
24 |
| 2026 QD3 |
2026-Aug-25 |
17.4 LD |
12.2 |
16 |
| 2023 RL |
2026-Aug-25 |
12.9 LD |
4.8 |
7 |
| 2026 QV2 |
2026-Aug-26 |
4.4 LD |
6.8 |
13 |
| 523609 |
2026-Aug-27 |
18.5 LD |
22.7 |
441 |
| 2026 QY1 |
2026-Aug-28 |
4.6 LD |
9.5 |
26 |
| 2025 QM9 |
2026-Aug-28 |
15.2 LD |
11.1 |
20 |
| 2026 PP |
2026-Aug-28 |
9.8 LD |
6.7 |
51 |
| 221455 |
2026-Aug-28 |
9.4 LD |
19 |
443 |
| 2017 BP31 |
2026-Aug-28 |
11.2 LD |
20.5 |
382 |
| 2007 EK |
2026-Aug-30 |
10.9 LD |
9.1 |
5 |
| 2026 QQ1 |
2026-Aug-31 |
2.8 LD |
7.3 |
69 |
| 2017 RH16 |
2026-Aug-31 |
8.7 LD |
12.1 |
21 |
| 2026 QB2 |
2026-Sep-01 |
5.2 LD |
13.7 |
22 |
| 2025 CL3 |
2026-Sep-01 |
9.6 LD |
13.5 |
30 |
| 2018 RD2 |
2026-Sep-01 |
19.5 LD |
9.6 |
14 |
| 2025 QV5 |
2026-Sep-02 |
14.2 LD |
7.3 |
12 |
| 2022 RK |
2026-Sep-06 |
13.7 LD |
8.6 |
24 |
| 2024 RV12 |
2026-Sep-09 |
5.6 LD |
12.1 |
22 |
| 2026 OH3 |
2026-Sep-11 |
12.4 LD |
20.2 |
195 |
| 2025 RQ2 |
2026-Sep-11 |
17.5 LD |
12.1 |
17 |
| 2010 FX9 |
2026-Sep-14 |
9.4 LD |
11.1 |
55 |
| 2025 SC |
2026-Sep-14 |
19.2 LD |
1.9 |
3 |
| 2024 RP12 |
2026-Sep-15 |
18.5 LD |
6.6 |
51 |
| 2026 NT2 |
2026-Sep-17 |
16.1 LD |
12.5 |
320 |
| 2018 SP2 |
2026-Sep-30 |
5 LD |
14.3 |
39 |
| 2024 SH7 |
2026-Oct-04 |
10.5 LD |
10.8 |
12 |
| 2024 TD16 |
2026-Oct-07 |
14.2 LD |
11.8 |
17 |
| 2015 TS238 |
2026-Oct-08 |
4.7 LD |
15.8 |
30 |
| 2019 SD8 |
2026-Oct-10 |
18.7 LD |
9.5 |
12 |
| 2022 UP6 |
2026-Oct-15 |
2.6 LD |
9 |
8 |
| 2000 SZ162 |
2026-Oct-16 |
19.9 LD |
5.7 |
12 |
| 2020 FN3 |
2026-Oct-20 |
12.4 LD |
5.8 |
45 |
| 2017 UX7 |
2026-Oct-22 |
17 LD |
10.3 |
27 |
Notes: LD means
"Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance
between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256
AU.
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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.
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The
official U.S. government space weather bureau |
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The
first place to look for information about sundogs,
pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. |
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Researchers
call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO
is the most advanced solar observatory ever. |
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3D
views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial
Relations Observatory |
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Realtime
and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. |
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information about sunspots based on the latest NOAA/USAF Active Region Summary |
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current counts of failed and deployed Starlink satellites from Jonathan's Space Page. See also, all satellite statistics. |
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Authoritative predictions of space junk and satellite re-entries |
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from
the NOAA Space Environment Center |
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fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. |
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from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
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the
underlying science of space weather |
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Got a chipped or cracked windshield that prevents you from seeing space weather events while driving? Get windshield replacement from SR Windows & Glass with free mobile auto glass service anywhere in the Phoenix area. |
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