SpaceWeather.com Archive — Thu, Aug 7, 2025

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EARTH-DIRECTED CME (UPDATED): Yesterday, sunspot 4168 erupted, producing an M4.4-class solar flare (movie) and a partial-halo CME. According to a NASA model, the CME should graze Earth on Aug. 8th, sparking G1 to G2-class geomagnetic storms. Full moonlight could pose a challenge for photographers, but auroras will be present at high latitudes. CME impact alerts: SMS Text

THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWER IS UNDERWAY: The Perseids are back. Right now, Earth is entering the dusty wake of Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, and meteor activity is picking up. On Aug. 6th, NASA cameras counted 16 Perseid fireballs over the USA, a number that will multiply this weekend as Earth moves deeper into the debris stream.

Above: A Perseid fireball over Møns Klint, Denmark, photographed by Ruslan Merzlyakov

The shower's peak is expected to occur on the nights of August 11th through 13th, when rates could exceed 30 to 50 meteors per hour under moonlit skies. The best time to look is between midnight and dawn, when Earth’s rotation turns your location directly into the meteor stream.

Even now, before the peak, an observer in a dark location might catch 5 to 10 meteors per hour. To watch them, find a safe place away from city lights, lie back, and look up. No telescope is needed--just your eyes and a little patience. Submit your photos here.

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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 corps. On July 31st, 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. 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.