Aurora Outbreak, Meteor Shower & Rocket Launch: Sky Spectacle on Aug 31-Sep 1, 2025

by Marcin Frąckiewicz
in Astronomy, Events, Science
on 31 August 2025

Key Facts

Geomagnetic Storm Watch: A full-halo coronal mass ejection (CME) is due to hit Earth on Sept 1, sparking G2–G3 geomagnetic storms (NOAA scale Moderate to Strong) swpc.noaa.gov. The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) warns of auroras possibly visible at mid-latitudes on Sept 1–2 if a G3 storm materializes spaceweather.com. Space forecasters say auroral displays could reach as far south as states like Virginia, Missouri and Colorado in the U.S. spaceweather.com and analogous mid-latitude regions in Europe and Asia.
Rare Meteor Shower Peaks: The Alpha Aurigid meteor shower reaches its peak on the night of Aug 31–Sept 1. It’s a minor but rare shower expected to produce up to 5–10 meteors per hour under dark-sky conditions in-the-sky.org starwalk.space. The Aurigids’ radiant rises late (after ~11 p.m. local time in mid-northern latitudes) and climbs highest before dawn, so best viewing is in the early hours of Sept 1.
Moon & Planets Lineup: The Moon is at first quarter phase on Aug 31 earthsky.org. On Aug 30–31 evenings, the half-lit Moon shines near Antares, the red “heart” of Scorpius earthsky.org – even occulting (covering) Antares briefly for observers in parts of Africa and New Zealand around 11:00 UTC Aug 31 earthsky.org. Meanwhile, Saturn (just past its August opposition) is visible all night, and brilliant Venus and Jupiter form a striking duo in the pre-dawn eastern sky earthsky.org. In fact, Venus and Jupiter were so close around mid-August that skywatchers “might even have mistaken [them] for a pair of UFOs,” astronomers joked ts2.tech. Now the gap is widening, but they remain the two brightest morning planets. Mercury is also emerging low on the horizon at dawn – a challenging but improving sight toward the end of August for keen-eyed observers ts2.tech ts2.tech.
Solar Activity Surge: The Sun has been busy – Active Region 4199 (a sunspot complex) unleashed an M2.7 solar flare on Aug 30 that lasted a whopping 3 hours spaceweather.com, long enough to hurl the Earth-directed CME now en route. Solar scientists note that we are near the peak of Solar Cycle 25. However, “this doesn’t mean that this is the peak of solar activity we’ll see this cycle,” cautions Elsayed Talaat, NOAA’s space weather operations director science.nasa.gov. The Sun is in its maximum phase, but the true peak won’t be known until well after the fact science.nasa.gov – so more surprises like this CME can occur at any time. NOAA forecasters currently give a 75% chance of M-class flares in the next 24–48 hours and even a 20% chance of X-class flares spaceweather.com, meaning further solar eruptions are quite possible.
Impacts on Tech: The impending G3 (Strong) geomagnetic storm could have minor impacts on technology. NOAA notes that during G3-level storms, GPS and satellite navigation may suffer intermittent errors, HF radio signals can fade, and power grids at high latitudes might see voltage fluctuations swpc.noaa.gov. Satellite operators are on alert: increased atmospheric drag can alter orbits of low-Earth satellites, and sensitive spacecraft may experience surface charging or orientation issues swpc.noaa.gov swpc.noaa.gov. (These effects are not expected to be disruptive for the general public, but aurora enthusiasts should be ready!)
Rocket Launch Visible at Dawn: SpaceX plans a Falcon 9 rocket launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral early on Aug 31, carrying a batch of Starlink internet satellites. Liftoff is scheduled for 7:49 a.m. EDT (11:49 UTC) on Sunday morning spaceflightnow.com. Observers along Florida’s Space Coast and potentially up the U.S. East Coast might glimpse the rocket’s bright plume against the dawn sky shortly after launch. (If skies are clear, Falcon 9 dawn launches can produce a stunning “jellyfish” effect as sunlight catches the expanding exhaust.) This mission will mark SpaceX’s 1,900th Starlink satellite launched in 2025 spaceflightnow.com, a record pace of launches.
Falling Satellites & Debris: Not only are rockets going up – some are coming down. A Russian Soyuz 2.1b rocket stage from a recent launch is predicted to reenter Earth’s atmosphere around Aug 31 (±11 hours) aerospace.org aerospace.org. Its exact reentry time and location are uncertain, but if it occurs in darkness over populated areas, it could create a long-lasting fireball visible for hundreds of miles. Additionally, aging Starlink satellites are being deorbited regularly: at least two Starlink craft reentered in the past week aerospace.org, burning up as artificial meteors. (One such retired Starlink satellite sparked a brilliant, widely seen fireball over the Western U.S. back in January space.com.) These planned reentries underscore the growing issue of managing orbital debris – but they also occasionally provide an accidental light show for skywatchers.

Auroras Incoming: Solar Storm on September 1–2

The biggest excitement for this weekend’s skywatchers is the aurora alert triggered by an Earth-directed solar eruption. On Aug 30, a small sunspot (NOAA AR 4204, part of larger region 4199) surprised forecasters by erupting with a long-duration M2.7-class solar flare spaceweather.com. Though moderate in X-ray intensity, the flare’s 3-hour span flung a full-halo CME – essentially a billion-ton cloud of magnetized solar plasma – directly toward Earth swpc.noaa.gov spaceweather.com.

When will it arrive? According to NOAA and NASA models, the CME impact is expected late on Sept 1 (UTC), with geomagnetic disturbances likely spilling into Sept 2 swpc.noaa.gov spaceweather.com. In response, NOAA/SWPC issued a Geomagnetic Storm Watch for Sept 1–2, predicting G2 (Moderate) storm conditions initially and escalating to G3 (Strong) conditions as the main blast sweeps past swpc.noaa.gov.

For aurora chasers, this is big news. A G3 storm can supercharge Earth’s polar magnetic field enough to deliver auroral displays well beyond the Arctic and Antarctic circles. During strong G3-level events, auroras have been spotted as far south as geomagnetic latitude ~50° – roughly overhead in Illinois, Oregon, Germany or Poland swpc.noaa.gov. The coming event could reach that level. SpaceWeather.com notes that auroras might dip into the continental United States (upper Midwest, New England) and comparable latitudes in Europe/Asia if the storm unfolds as predicted spaceweather.com. Even at lower mid-latitudes, a faint auroral glow or low green arcs near the horizon could be visible on the night of Sept 1/2, especially in areas with dark, unpolluted northern skies.

“Stay tuned for updates as the CME approaches,” SpaceWeather.com advised, emphasizing the uncertainty inherent in predicting how a CME will interact with Earth’s magnetic field spaceweather.com. Not every solar blast delivers the light show we hope for – but this one has a strong chance.

How to watch the auroras: If you’re in northern-tier U.S. states, Canada, Northern Europe (e.g. Scotland, Scandinavia), or down under in Tasmania/NZ, be ready on the nights of Aug 31 and Sep 1–2. The peak activity is expected after the CME strikes, i.e. UTC evening of Sept 1 into early Sept 2, but auroras could start beforehand if Earth’s magnetic field gets hit by preliminary shock waves. Get away from city lights and look north (or south, in the Southern Hemisphere) on both nights. With the Moon at first quarter and setting around midnight, skies will be nice and dark in the post-midnight hours in-the-sky.org – perfect for spotting the ethereal green ripples of the aurora if they emerge ts2.tech. High-latitude skywatchers may see corona bursts or rapid pulsations overhead, while mid-latitude observers should watch for a diffuse greenish glow or faint pillars on the horizon.

Space Weather Forecast: Besides auroras, the solar storm brings potential side effects. Airlines routing flights over polar regions might prepare for possible radio blackouts (HF radio disruption) and elevated radiation at high altitudes if energetic particles accompany the CME. GPS users could experience sporadic navigation errors. And satellite operators will be monitoring their spacecraft – a G3 storm can cause satellite drag to increase, and might induce surface charging or slight orientation anomalies on satellites swpc.noaa.gov. Power grid managers in northern areas have procedures in place in case geomagnetic currents cause voltage swings. The good news is, these impacts are generally mild for G2–G3 storms. In fact, such geomagnetic storms occur dozens of times in each 11-year solar cycle swpc.noaa.gov swpc.noaa.gov. They’re handled routinely, but they do remind us how space weather can directly affect our technology.

Space scientists are excited to observe this storm as a test of the Sun’s activity heading into 2025’s solar maximum. NOAA’s Elsayed Talaat noted that while the Sun is clearly in an active phase, it’s hard to pinpoint the exact peak: “While the Sun has reached the solar maximum period, the month that solar activity peaks on the Sun will not be identified for months or years” science.nasa.gov. In other words, we should expect more flares and CMEs in the coming year, possibly even stronger ones. The current event is a solid G2–G3, but X-class flares or G4/G5 storms (which can produce auroras deep into mid-latitudes and stronger impacts) remain a possibility as the cycle continues to ramp up. For now, this weekend’s solar storm watch offers an exciting opportunity for skywatchers to possibly catch the Northern (or Southern) Lights dancing outside their usual polar realm.

(If you do snap any aurora photos, space weather officials encourage sharing – such observations help confirm the storm’s extent. And as always, never look at the Sun without proper protection, even during solar activity – solar events themselves are observed with specialized telescopes, not the naked eye.)

Rare Aurigids Meteor Shower at Dawn

The turn of the month brings a lesser-known celestial event: the Alpha Aurigids meteor shower. Active each year from about Aug 28 to Sept 5, the Aurigids are notorious among meteor enthusiasts for being a “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” shower – typically producing only a handful of meteors per hour in-the-sky.org. However, what it lacks in quantity it makes up in intrigue. The Aurigids originate from a long-period comet (C/1911 N1 Kiess) with an orbit of some 2,000 years starwalk.space. Because the comet’s debris stream is narrow and sparse, Earth usually only scrapes through it, yielding few meteors. Most years, rates peak around a Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of ~5–10 at best in-the-sky.org starwalk.space. But occasionally, observers have been surprised by outbursts – past Aurigid displays in 1935 and 1986, and a spectacular one in 2007, delivered bursts of tens or even hundreds of meteors per hour starwalk.space starwalk.space. These are unpredictable and rare, hence the Aurigids’ reputation as one of the rarest meteor showers.

Peak timing: In 2025, the predicted peak falls on the night of August 31 to September 1. Model forecasts center the peak around 22:00 UTC on Aug 31 (which is late evening Aug 31 in the Americas, pre-dawn Sept 1 in Europe/Africa, and dawn Sept 1 in Asia) in-the-sky.org. In practical terms, observers in North America might see peak activity in the hour or two before dawn on Sept 1, while those in Europe could see it before their sunrise on Sept 1 as well. East Asia might be out of luck this year, as dawn comes too soon after the peak.

How to watch: Find a dark site away from city lights, bring a comfy chair or blanket, and face generally east or northeast after midnight. The meteors will appear to radiate from the constellation Auriga (near the bright star Capella). For Northern Hemisphere viewers, Auriga rises in the NE by late evening and climbs high by pre-dawn, which is ideal starwalk.space in-the-sky.org. In mid-northern latitudes, start watching around 1–2 a.m. local time onward starwalk.space. By 4–5 a.m., Auriga will be high and the sky darkest (the Moon will have set around midnight) in-the-sky.org, maximizing your chances to catch meteors. In the Southern Hemisphere, Auriga sits lower – the radiant only rises a few hours before sunrise, so meteors will be few and coming from near the horizon starwalk.space.

Expect long gaps of inactivity with only the occasional shooting star. Any Aurigid meteor you do catch is a little piece of Comet Kiess burning up ~100 km overhead. They tend to be fast meteors (hitting at ~65 km/s) so they’ll streak quickly across the sky facebook.com. Many may be faint, but the brightest ones could leave brief trains of glowing dust. If you’re lucky, you might witness a rare fireball meteor from this stream – past Aurigid outbursts produced some very bright ones. The good news is that moonlight will not interfere much this year; the half-illuminated Moon sets by around 23:30 local time on Aug 31 in-the-sky.org, leaving plenty of dark hours for meteor-spotting in the early morning.

For context, the Aurigids cap off the summer “meteor season.” The famous Perseids have just wrapped up in mid-August – they were active until Aug 24 or so, but are essentially done by the end of August amsmeteors.org amsmeteors.org. In early September, another minor shower (the September Perseids or Epsilon Perseids) peaks around Sept 9, but that is an extremely weak shower. So, the Aurigids are a final summer treat for meteor fans until the autumn Orionids and Draconids roll around. Keep expectations modest – it’s not a prolific shower – but as the American Meteor Society notes, these late August/early September showers are part of the broader “Perseus-Auriga complex” active this time of year amsmeteors.org. Even a handful of meteors with Capella and the winter stars rising can make for a delightful pre-dawn experience. And who knows – the Aurigids have surprised observers before!

(Pro tip: To distinguish an Aurigid meteor from a sporadic or straggler from another shower, trace its path backward. If it leads to the Auriga/Capella region, it’s likely an Aurigid. Also, because rates are low, consider also enjoying the beautiful late summer Milky Way arching across the sky – August’s dark nights are great for stargazing in general.)

Moon Meets Antares; Planetary Highlights

Moon and Antares: On the evenings of Aug 30 and 31, skywatchers get a pretty conjunction in the southwest sky at nightfall – the half-full Moon will glide past Antares, the brightest star of Scorpius. On August 30, the roughly 50%-lit Moon appears just to the west of Antares. By the next evening (Aug 31), as the Moon reaches its exact First Quarter phase (at 6:25 UTC on Aug 31) earthsky.org, it will have moved to Antares’ east, creating a lovely pairing of lunar silver and stellar red. They’ll be closest for observers in Africa and Europe. In fact, parts of the Southern Hemisphere are in for a treat: the Moon will occult Antares around 11:00 UTC on Aug 31 earthsky.org. For a short time, Antares will disappear behind the Moon’s lit side and reappear from the dark side – a heavenly peek-a-boo! This occultation is visible from regions including southern Africa, Madagascar, and New Zealand (check local astronomy resources for timing). Outside those zones, most of us will just see the Moon near Antares in the sky. Fun fact: Antares is a red supergiant often called the “Rival of Mars” for its ruddy hue. Compare its color to the pale moonlight – the contrast is striking in binoculars.

Planet Parade in the Morning: Early risers are rewarded these days with a planetary showcase before dawn. In the eastern sky, you can’t miss Venus and Jupiter – the two brightest planets. Venus, the “Morning Star”, blazes low in the east, and golden Jupiter is higher up. They had an exceptionally close conjunction on Aug 12 (just 0.8° apart) ts2.tech; since then Venus has been sinking slightly lower each morning (it’s on the way to inferior conjunction later in the fall), while Jupiter climbs higher. They are still relatively nearby, forming a brilliant pair that outshines everything else at dawn. With binoculars, you might even catch some of Jupiter’s moons or Venus’s tiny crescent phase. As one astronomy outreach site quipped, “these two brilliant planets [were] so bright and close… they might even be mistaken for a pair of UFOs!” ts2.tech – a tongue-in-cheek testament to how eye-catching the Venus-Jupiter duo is.

Just above the horizon below Venus lurks Mercury. Mercury is notoriously tricky to spot, but late August offers one of its better morning apparitions of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. Around Aug 31, Mercury will be about 10° above the east horizon at dawn (for mid-northern latitudes) and shines at around magnitude +0.8 – visible with the naked eye if you have a clear, unobstructed view and know where to look ts2.tech. Each morning into early September, Mercury climbs a bit higher before it quickly fades in brightness. Tip: Use Venus as a guide – scan below it toward the horizon ~30–40 minutes before sunrise; Mercury will be the modest “star” twinkling low in the glow of sunrise.

Meanwhile, Saturn rules the night on the opposite side of the sky. Saturn reached opposition in late August 2025 (when Earth was directly between Saturn and the Sun), so it is currently at its biggest and brightest for the year astronomy.com. It rises around sunset and is visible all night long, high in the south by midnight and descending in the west by dawn earthsky.org. Look for a yellowish “star” in the constellation Aquarius. With even a small telescope, you can enjoy Saturn’s magnificent rings (now tilted at an angle to our line of sight) and maybe a few moons like Titan. In fact, Saturn and the Moon have a photo-op as well: on Sept 3, the nearly full Moon will sit near Saturn in the sky (though that’s just outside our Aug 31–Sep 1 window).

Also of note, Neptune is nearing its own opposition (coming in mid-September). It’s located not far from Saturn in the sky (in Pisces, east of Saturn), though far too faint to see without a telescope. Interestingly, some sky charts show Saturn and Neptune relatively close together this August – a conjunction of sorts, though about 7° apart (so you won’t see them in one view). If you have a telescope, you could try to spot Neptune (magnitude ~7.8) as a tiny bluish “star” a few degrees away from Saturn’s much brighter glow astronomy.com.

Mars is unfortunately out of the game right now – it’s lost in the Sun’s glare (approaching a solar conjunction). And Uranus (mag ~5.7) lies high in Aries before dawn, theoretically naked-eye under dark skies but best seen with binoculars or a telescope. To summarize the lineup: all naked-eye planets (Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn) are visible these days except Mars, making for a four-planet morning lineup. If you include Uranus and Neptune (with optical aid), that’s six planets strung across the sky before sunrise – a true “planet parade”. Such multi-planet displays aren’t everyday occurrences; the last time six planets aligned in the sky was earlier in August ts2.tech, and another similar opportunity comes in early 2026 ts2.tech. So it’s a fine time to wake up early and “collect” planets.

Artificial Lights in the Sky: Satellite Reentries and Launches

Our manmade creations will also be putting on brief shows in the sky this weekend. Here are a couple to watch for:

SpaceX Dawn Launch (Aug 31): On Sunday morning, August 31, SpaceX is slated to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket will boost 28 Starlink satellites to orbit on mission “Starlink 10-14” spaceflightnow.com. Launch is targeted for 7:49 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time spaceflightnow.com. For those in Florida and along the Southeast U.S. coast, a launch around dawn can be a visual treat: the exhaust plume might catch sunlight in the upper atmosphere, creating a glowing halo or “jellyfish” shape. Keep an eye low in the east about a few minutes after launch time. Even if you’re farther away (Georgia, Carolinas), sometimes the plume of a high-altitude rocket can be seen as a strange fan-shaped cloud in the twilight sky. (If cloudy or if the schedule slips, don’t worry – another Starlink launch is planned just two days later, on Sep 2 from California, and yet another on Sep 3 from Florida spaceflightnow.com spaceflightnow.com – it’s a busy week for SpaceX.)
Satellite Reentries: Satellites don’t last forever – and a wave of them are coming down. Starlink satellites, in particular, have a ~5-year lifespan and SpaceX actively deorbits old ones. In the last week of August, multiple Starlink units reentered Earth’s atmosphere aerospace.org. For example, Starlink-1487, launched in 2020, burned up on Aug 27; Starlink-4698, launched in 2022, was predicted to reenter around Aug 30 aerospace.org. Most of these reentries happen over oceans or uninhabited areas and go unnoticed, but a few have been seen. (Earlier this year, on Jan 28, a Starlink reentry created a brilliant streak over Wisconsin and Michigan that was widely reported space.com.) If you see a slow-moving, fragmenting fireball in the sky that lasts 30+ seconds, chances are you’ve caught a satellite or rocket body reentry rather than a normal meteor. They tend to move slower and often break into sparkler-like fragments.
- One notable reentry in progress: a Russian rocket stage from the Bion-M No.2 mission (a biological research satellite launch on Aug 20) is coming down. The Soyuz 2.1B second stage is a hefty piece of space hardware, and Aerospace Corp predicts reentry on Aug 31 at ~11:47 UTC (±11 hours) aerospace.org. That broad window means it could come down anytime from the night of Aug 30 to the night of Aug 31, depending on atmospheric drag uncertainties. If it happens to reenter over land at night, it could be visible. These events can rival the drama of a fireworks show – eyewitnesses often report a slow fireball splitting into multiple glowing pieces, with a lingering ionization trail. Keep in mind the odds of it passing directly over any given location are low, but it’s a reminder that space junk is regularly raining back down. (Rest assured, the vast majority of these objects burn up completely and pose little risk to people on the ground.)
ISS Passes: Lastly, don’t forget to look for the International Space Station if you’re out stargazing. The ISS is making evening passes over parts of Europe and morning passes over North America around this time (pass timings vary by location). It’s always a crowd-pleaser to see the bright, steady ISS gliding across the stars – a reminder of humanity’s constant presence in orbit.

Looking Ahead

While this weekend offers plenty of sky excitement, even more is on the horizon. Eclipse alert: In one week, on September 7, 2025, the Moon will undergo a Total Lunar Eclipse (the first one visible in North America since 2022) ts2.tech. It will occur in the pre-dawn hours for the Americas (and evening of Sept 7 for Asia/Australia). The Moon will turn a deep coppery red during totality – a must-see event for skywatchers in those regions. So if the auroras elude you or clouds spoil the view this weekend, take heart that a guaranteed celestial show (weather permitting) is just days away. Later in September, on the 21st, a Partial Solar Eclipse will occur over the South Pacific (not visible in Europe/Americas) ts2.tech.

For now, mark your calendars for tonight (Aug 31) and tomorrow (Sep 1) to catch the auroras, meteors, moon/planet sights, and maybe even a rocket launch. It’s a smorgasbord of skywatching opportunities packed into 48 hours. Clear skies, and happy observing!

Sources: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center swpc.noaa.gov swpc.noaa.gov; SpaceWeather.com spaceweather.com spaceweather.com; NASA/NOAA Solar Cycle Update science.nasa.gov; EarthSky.org earthsky.org earthsky.org; StarWalk (Vito Technology) starwalk.space; In-The-Sky.org in-the-sky.org in-the-sky.org; American Meteor Society amsmeteors.org; Spaceflight Now spaceflightnow.com; The Aerospace Corporation Reentry Database aerospace.org aerospace.org.