SpaceWeather.com Archive — Mon, Aug 4, 2025

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INCREASING CHANCE OF FLARES: Don't be surprised if there's a strong solar flare today. Over the weekend, two sunspots developed unstable 'delta-class' magnetic fields: 4167 and 4168. Both harbor energy for X-flares and significant CMEs. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text

MORNING SKY SHOW: Set your alarm for dawn. The two brightest planets in the solar system are converging for a close encounter in the morning twilight sky. "Clear weather in the eastern United States gave us an opportunity to see the narrowing gap between Venus and Jupiter," says Eric G. David, who took this picture on Aug. 3rd from Fredericksburg, Virginia:

His full-sized photo shows the planets in context of six constellations. Venus has just joined Jupiter inside the perimeter of Gemini, where the two planets will remain for the rest of August.

The alignment is about to get much tighter and considerably more beautiful. Every morning this week, Jupiter and Venus will draw closer together until on Aug. 11-13, they will be less than 1 degree apart. Wake up early and enjoy the show!

Sky maps: Aug. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.

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NASA SPACEWALKER $1 COINS: The US Mint has just released a new set of limited edition $1 coins to honor NASA's astronaut core. Yesterday, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched them to the edge of space onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. Here they are, parachuting back from the stratosphere:

You can have a single coin for $49.95 or an entire unbroken roll for $299.95. No longer available from the US Mint, these rare coins flew 113,949 feet above the Sierra Nevada on July 31, 2025. One side shows an American astronaut conducting a spacewalk outside the International Space Station; the other side features the Statue of Liberty in profile.

Bonus: If you need to, you can spend these coins. They're real legal tender.

The students are selling space coins to support to support their cosmic ray research program. (Helium is expensive!) Each order comes with a greeting card showing the coins in flight and telling the story of their journey to the stratosphere and back again.