This is an AI Free Zone: Text created by Large Language Models is spreading across the Internet. It's well-written, but frequently inaccurate. If you find a mistake on Spaceweather.com, rest assured it was made by a real human being.
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POSSIBLE EARTH-DIRECTED CME: Yesterday, sunspot 4168 erupted, producing an M4.4-class solar flare (movie) and a partial-halo CME. According to a NASA model, the CME could graze Earth on Aug. 8th. Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible when the CME arrives. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
THE GREAT STARLINK RE-ENTRY EVENT: SpaceX just conducted a giant uncontrolled experiment in atmospheric chemistry.
Earlier this year, analysts noticed something strange: Starlink satellites were falling out of the sky--a lot of them. Four to five per day were re-entering Earth's atmosphere and vaporizing in plain sight. This went on for months. Between December 2024 and July 2025, more than 525 Starlinks deorbited.
Above: The number of Starlinks deorbited each month since 2020.
What’s going on? In short: routine housecleaning. These were mostly first-generation (Gen1) satellites, deliberately retired to make room for newer models. SpaceX is currently launching up to 50 new Starlinks per week, maintaining a fleet of 8,000 satellites. Weeding out the old ones is just business as usual.
What’s not usual is the atmospheric fallout. The fiery re-entry of even one Gen1 Starlink satellite produces about 30 kilograms of aluminum oxide vapor, a compound that erodes the ozone layer. A new study finds these oxides have increased 8-fold between 2016 and 2022, and the Great Re-entry Event increases this pollution even more.
To put this into perspective: Before the first Starlink launches began in 2019, only about 40 to 50 satellites re-entered per year. SpaceX just brought down ten years' worth in only six months, adding an estimated 15,000 kilograms of aluminum oxide to the upper atmosphere.
Right: A current map of Starlink satellites orbiting Earth. [more]
Even before the current surge, scientists were sounding the alarm. In February 2023, NASA flew a WB-57 aircraft over Alaska at 60,000 feet to collect stratospheric aerosols. A study published later that year found 10% of sampled particles contained aluminum and other metals from the "burn-up" of satellites.
With multiple companies racing to deploy megaconstellations, projections suggest more than 60,000 satellites could be in orbit by 2040. That means reentry debris could soon rival the natural influx of meteoroids, but with very different chemistry. Meteors are mostly rock. Satellites are mostly metal.
A simulation by NOAA scientists suggests that aluminum-rich space dust could heat the stratosphere and mesosphere by up to 1.5°C, and slow the southern polar vortex, potentially altering global weather patterns.
What happens next? We’re about to find out.
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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.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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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 Aug 06, 2025, the network reported 34 fireballs.
(16 Perseids, 14 sporadics, 2 Northern Delta Aquariids, 1 alpha Capricornid, 1 Southern Delta Aquariid)
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 6, 2025 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) |
| 2025 PE |
2025-Jul-31 |
2.1 LD |
15.5 |
57 |
| 2025 OD1 |
2025-Jul-31 |
9.8 LD |
12.3 |
35 |
| 2025 PC |
2025-Jul-31 |
0.3 LD |
9.5 |
5 |
| 2025 OR |
2025-Jul-31 |
12.8 LD |
8 |
35 |
| 2025 OC5 |
2025-Jul-31 |
12.6 LD |
3.4 |
9 |
| 2025 OY8 |
2025-Jul-31 |
1.8 LD |
10.7 |
11 |
| 2025 OY10 |
2025-Aug-01 |
2.4 LD |
7.8 |
9 |
| 2025 PU |
2025-Aug-02 |
0.1 LD |
10.5 |
3 |
| 2025 OU12 |
2025-Aug-03 |
5.9 LD |
4.4 |
7 |
| 2025 OC6 |
2025-Aug-03 |
6.3 LD |
4.1 |
8 |
| 2025 OW3 |
2025-Aug-03 |
7.7 LD |
13.9 |
21 |
| 2025 OA3 |
2025-Aug-04 |
6 LD |
13.6 |
37 |
| 2025 PA |
2025-Aug-04 |
8.6 LD |
9.9 |
37 |
| 2025 OT7 |
2025-Aug-05 |
11.4 LD |
21.6 |
53 |
| 2025 OW9 |
2025-Aug-06 |
14.8 LD |
6.9 |
13 |
| 2025 OQ5 |
2025-Aug-07 |
4.2 LD |
16.7 |
49 |
| 2025 OT4 |
2025-Aug-07 |
3.9 LD |
6 |
41 |
| 2025 OJ1 |
2025-Aug-08 |
13.4 LD |
14.2 |
97 |
| 2019 CO1 |
2025-Aug-08 |
17.8 LD |
10.5 |
65 |
| 2025 OX7 |
2025-Aug-09 |
20 LD |
4 |
15 |
| 2025 OY12 |
2025-Aug-09 |
4.1 LD |
12.3 |
32 |
| 2022 QB1 |
2025-Aug-10 |
8.9 LD |
3.9 |
6 |
| 2025 OR4 |
2025-Aug-12 |
3.5 LD |
4.6 |
18 |
| 2025 OJ10 |
2025-Aug-13 |
9.2 LD |
6.4 |
28 |
| 2025 OL10 |
2025-Aug-13 |
10.4 LD |
7.2 |
11 |
| 2021 PJ1 |
2025-Aug-15 |
4.4 LD |
9.3 |
24 |
| 2025 CO3 |
2025-Aug-16 |
19.8 LD |
8.4 |
90 |
| 2025 PM |
2025-Aug-17 |
2.7 LD |
13.5 |
50 |
| 2025 OV4 |
2025-Aug-20 |
7.6 LD |
10.8 |
52 |
| 1997 QK1 |
2025-Aug-20 |
7.9 LD |
9.8 |
315 |
| 2025 OB3 |
2025-Aug-21 |
8.8 LD |
7 |
50 |
| 2022 QD3 |
2025-Aug-21 |
15 LD |
6.9 |
35 |
| 2023 PX |
2025-Aug-22 |
2.4 LD |
8.3 |
23 |
| 2025 PR |
2025-Aug-23 |
17.6 LD |
3.4 |
24 |
| 2019 QQ6 |
2025-Aug-24 |
9.4 LD |
17.2 |
31 |
| 2025 PX |
2025-Aug-29 |
16.5 LD |
7 |
50 |
| 2017 RK15 |
2025-Aug-29 |
15.8 LD |
13.2 |
26 |
| 2020 TS1 |
2025-Aug-29 |
17.8 LD |
3.3 |
5 |
| 1998 SH2 |
2025-Aug-30 |
8.1 LD |
17.3 |
246 |
| 2025 OG1 |
2025-Sep-05 |
14.5 LD |
4.2 |
35 |
| 2019 JG1 |
2025-Sep-09 |
18.8 LD |
7.9 |
17 |
| 2009 FF |
2025-Sep-11 |
6.8 LD |
12.9 |
155 |
| 2015 SA |
2025-Sep-13 |
10.3 LD |
9.1 |
31 |
| 2022 SS2 |
2025-Sep-13 |
2.4 LD |
7.2 |
13 |
| 2025 FA22 |
2025-Sep-18 |
2.2 LD |
10.8 |
166 |
| 2022 SW12 |
2025-Sep-23 |
15 LD |
17.6 |
210 |
| 2021 RN16 |
2025-Sep-23 |
10.1 LD |
8.8 |
7 |
| 2018 QT1 |
2025-Sep-23 |
13 LD |
12.7 |
138 |
| 2019 SF6 |
2025-Sep-28 |
20 LD |
8.4 |
20 |
| 152664 |
2025-Sep-29 |
10.1 LD |
18.6 |
412 |
| 2020 GE1 |
2025-Oct-02 |
13.7 LD |
4.7 |
14 |
Notes: LD means
"Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance
between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256
AU.
| |
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 |
| |
The
first place to look for information about sundogs,
pillars, rainbows and related phenomena. |
| |
Researchers
call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO
is the most advanced solar observatory ever. |
| |
3D
views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial
Relations Observatory |
| |
Realtime
and archival images of the Sun from SOHO. |
| |
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 |
| |
from
the NOAA Space Environment Center |
| |
fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong. |
| |
from the NOAA Space Environment Center |
| |
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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