SpaceWeather.com Archive — Sun, Jul 27, 2025

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GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: A G1-class geomagnetic storm is possible today, July 27th, when a minor CME is expected to strike Earth's magnetic field. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras alongside the slender crescent Moon. Aurora alerts: SMS Text

THE MYSTERIOUS KAPPA-CYGNID METEOR SHOWER: Every August, skywatchers around the world head outside to witness the Perseid meteor shower. But sprinkled among the Perseids is a lesser-known shower: the Kappa-Cygnids. These slow-moving fireballs streak from the constellation Cygnus, and their origin is unknown.

Czech astronomer Petr Horálek has been photographing Kappa-Cygnids for more than a decade, and here is every one he has seen:

Credit: Petr Horálek, Josef Kuja, Tomáš Slovinský, Mahdi Zamani

"Since 2012, I have spent more than 381 hours of 50 nights photographing Kappa-Cygnids," says Horálek. "This blended timelapse image shows that 12 years is long enough to let the Kappa-Cygnids emerge from the shadow of the more active and famous Perseids."

Where do they come from? Asteroid 2008 ED69 shares the same orbit as the Kappa-Cygnid debris stream, but there’s a catch: The stream appears to contain more mass than the asteroid itself. This has led to speculation that both may be remnants of a larger parent body that broke apart between 4000 and 1600 BC.

The Kappa-Cygnid shower peaks this year on August 13th. Step outside and look up. For every 10 to 20 Perseids you see, you might catch one Kappa-Cygnid. Enjoy the mystery!

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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.