SpaceWeather.com Archive — Sat, Jul 19, 2025

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LUNAR OCCULTATION OF THE PLEIADES: During the early morning hours of Sunday, July 20th, the crescent Moon will occult some of the stars of the Pleiades, a cover-up visible from most of North America. For maps and timetables, click here and follow the links for July 20th.

SPACEX JELLYFISH OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: SpaceX added 24 new Starlink satellites to its orbital network Friday night (July 18th) with a Falcon 9 launch from California. Griffith Observatory astronomer Laura-May Abron watched the rocket glide across the sky from Downey, CA:

"After some fun talks on satellite integration and launch at the Columbia Memorial Space Center, we all stepped out to see an actual satellite launch," says Abron. "The Falcon 9 continues to be an incredible rocket and workhorse."

With this launch, the Starlink network now includes more than 7,965 active units out of the more than 9,200 satellites launched since 2019. That's great news for Starlink subscribers, but not so great for the night sky.

more images: from David Blanchard of Flagstaff, Arizona; from Stephen Sullivan of Malibu, California

BIG SUNSPOTS AND MAGNETIC FROTH: A chain of large sunspots is approaching the sun's western limb. "Don't miss them before they go over the edge!" says amater astronomer Chris Schur, who photographed them yesterday from Payson, Arizona:

This picture is purple because Schur used a "Calcium K" (CaK) filter that passes violet-colored light from calcium ions in the sun's atmosphere. CaK filters are excellent detectors of magnetic froth--the bright, bubbly, turbulent sea of magnetism that surrounds active sunspots.

These sunspots will soon be connected to Earth. Just over the edge of the sun, magnetic fields curl back in a Parker spiral, which links the sun to Earth's magnetosphere. If any big flares occur at that time, energetic particles will be funneled in our direction, potentially causing a solar radiation storm.

more images: from Michael Karrer of Austria; from Ivar Hamberg of Stockholm, Sweden

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IT'S CHRISTMAS IN JULY: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Check out the Earth to Sky Store. It's filled with unique items that have flown to the edge of space onboard cosmic ray research balloons.

Carried aloft by giant helium balloons, these unique gifts have flown above 99.7% of Earth's atmosphere, experiencing space-like blasts of cosmic rays, extreme cold, and a wild ride parachuting back to Earth after the balloon explodes. Even Amazon doesn't carry items this far out.