Astronomy News 30 July 2025

3I/ATLAS: The Fastest Interstellar Comet Ever—Here’s What Scientists Are Saying

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS – Third Cosmic Visitor Unveiled, Fast and Enormous

3I/ATLAS is the third interstellar object ever recorded. It was first spotted on July 1, 2025 by the ATLAS survey telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile. The designation 3I/ATLAS marks it as the third interstellar object in our solar system. Its orbit is hyperbolic with an eccentricity of about 6.2, meaning it is unbound and will exit the solar system. A faint coma was observed around 3I/ATLAS within days of discovery, confirming it is a comet. The object was traveling over 60 km/s at discovery and about 68 km/s at perihelion. Perihelion was predicted for October 29–30, 2025 at roughly 1.4

2 August 2025

You Won’t Believe Where the Next Total Solar Eclipse Will Happen – Upcoming Solar Eclipses from 2025 Onward

September 21, 2025 – Partial Solar Eclipse visible mainly from the Southern Hemisphere, with up to 80% Sun obscured over the South Pacific, including Fiji, Tahiti, New Zealand, and parts of Antarctica. February 17, 2026 – Annular “ring of fire” over Antarctica, with annularity lasting about 2 minutes at maximum, while a partial eclipse will be visible across southern South America, southern Africa, and surrounding oceans. August 12, 2026 – Total Solar Eclipse crossing Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain (plus a small corner of Portugal) with totality up to about 2 minutes 18 seconds. February 6, 2027 – Annular Solar

2 August 2025

Astronomy · Future Phenomena · Science News · Solar Eclipses · Space Events

Blasting Off: The Ultimate Guide to Every Upcoming Rocket Launch Worldwide 🌎🚀

Aug 4, 2025: Blue Origin New Shepard NS-34 launches from Site One, West Texas, on a suborbital tourism flight carrying a private crew of six, Blue Origin’s 14th crewed mission. Aug 4, 2025: SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Starlink 10-30 from SLC-40, Cape Canaveral, delivering a batch of 22 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, adding to SpaceX’s fleet of over 7,000 Starlinks in orbit. Aug 8, 2025: ULA Vulcan Centaur conducts USSF-106 from SLC-41, Cape Canaveral, marking its debut national security mission and replacing Atlas V with BE-4 engines to loft dozens of military satellites. Aug 12, 2025: Arianespace Ariane

2 August 2025

Astronomy · Guide · Rocket Launches · Space · Upcoming Events

Eyes to the Skies August 2–3, 2025: Meteor Showers, Auroras, and Planets Put on a Show

During the Aug 2–3 predawn hours under dark skies at mid-northern latitudes, observers could see about 20 meteors per hour as the Perseids rise. The Moon is in first-quarter and will set in the early morning, washing out fainter Perseids and potentially reducing observed rates by about 75% near the maximum. Delta Aquariids are tapering after their July 30 peak and may contribute only a few meteors per hour on Aug 2–3, while Alpha Capricornids are sparse but known for bright fireballs. Saturn and Neptune are in conjunction on Aug 6, and during Aug 2–3 they rise together; Saturn is

2 August 2025

Astronomy · Auroras · Meteor Showers · Night Sky · Planets

Skywatchers’ Delight: Meteor Showers, Auroras & Planet Parade Light Up This Weekend (Aug 1–2, 2025)

The Perseids are active now and ramp toward their mid-August peak, with up to 50 to 100 meteors per hour at best, though moonlight will reduce counts. The Southern Delta Aquariids are active, producing about 3–4 meteors per hour in early August as they radiate from Aquarius and originate from Comet 96P/Machholz. Alpha Capricornids peaked on July 30 and typically yield about 2 meteors per hour, with slow, bright trails and occasional fireballs. NOAA forecasts active to G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm conditions from August 1–4 due to a recurrent high-speed solar wind stream, raising the chance of auroras at high

1 August 2025

Astronomy · Events · Science · Skywatching · Space

Space Drama: Astronaut Launch Scrub, Secret Satellites & Surprise Alliances (July 31–Aug 1, 2025)

On July 31, 2025, NASA’s Crew-11 mission to the ISS was scrubbed due to weather, with liftoff canceled just over a minute before launch and the crew—Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Kimiya Yui, and Oleg Platonov—set to retry on Aug. 1 at 11:43 a.m. ET. SpaceX Falcon 9 booster B1094 landed at Cape Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1 after the Crew-11 attempt, reportedly the final planned use of LZ-1 under new Space Force rules. The Crew-11 mission marked the sixth flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour, setting a new reuse record for SpaceX crew capsules. By Aug. 2, Crew-11 docked with the

1 August 2025

Astronomy · News · Science · Space · Technology

Sky Show Spectacular: Twin Meteor Showers, Planet Parade & Aurora Hints (July 31–Aug 1, 2025)

Delta Aquariids peak on the nights of July 30–31 with rates up to 15–20 meteors per hour in the Southern Hemisphere and fewer than 10 per hour from mid-northern latitudes, under a slender 25–30% lit Moon that sets early. Alpha Capricornids peak around July 30–31, averaging 2–5 meteors per hour, but delivering slow, bright fireballs that can rival Venus in brightness. With both showers active and a few early Perseids, observers under dark skies could see several dozen meteors per hour during July 30–Aug 1. On July 31 the Moon is a 30% illuminated crescent near Spica in Virgo, with

31 July 2025

Astronomy · Aurora · Meteor Showers · Planets · Sky Events

The Telescope Revolution of 2025–2026: From Backyard Stargazing to Giant Cosmic Eyes

Celestron Origin Intelligent Home Observatory, introduced in 2024 and shipping through 2025, uses a 6-inch Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) at f/2.2 with an integrated 8.3-megapixel Sony STARVIS IMX178 color sensor, has no eyepiece, a fully motorized one-arm alt-azimuth mount with StarSense plate solving, built-in autofocus and dew control, and about 6 hours of cordless operation. The ZWO SeeStar S50, launched in 2023, is a portable 50 mm aperture triplet apochromatic telescope with a built-in color sensor, 64 GB storage, a dual-band nebula filter, a dew heater, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth control, and weighs about 2.5 kg. The DwarfLab DWARF III series includes the

31 July 2025

Astronomy · NYSE:SNE · Space · Stargazing · Technology · Telescopes

Cosmic Objects That Could Hit Earth: Real Threats and What Scientists Are Saying

101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36) is about 490 m in diameter and has a potential impact date of September 24, 2182 with a probability of about 1 in 2,700 (0.037%), though NASA says there is no chance of a hit for at least a century and a 1.4‑billion‑ton TNT impact could trigger an years‑long global “impact winter.” 1950 DA is roughly 1.3 km across and could hit on March 16, 2880 with a probability of about 1 in 34,500 (0.0029%), a Palermo value around −2.7, and an energy release of about 75 billion tons of TNT. 2023 TL4 is ~330 m

31 July 2025

Asteroids · Astronomy · Earth Threats · Science · Space

December 2025 Skywatch Alerts: Geminids Meteor Storm, Rare Planetary Sights & Auroras Galore

The Geminid meteor shower peaks overnight on December 13–14, 2025, with as many as 100–150 meteors per hour under dark skies, originating from asteroid 3200 Phaethon. The Ursid meteor shower peaks around December 21–22, 2025, near 11:00 UTC, typically producing 5–10 meteors per hour under dark skies thanks to a new Moon on December 20. Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation on December 7, 2025, about 20° west of the Sun, with magnitude around −0.5 and visible low in the southeastern dawn sky about 30–45 minutes before sunrise. On December 7, 2025, a Moon–Jupiter conjunction occurs with a Moon about

30 July 2025

Astronomy · Auroras · Geminids · Meteor Showers · Planetary Events

Don’t Miss November 2025’s Sky Spectacles – Meteor Fireballs, Supermoon & Auroras Galore

The Taurid meteor showers peak with the Southern Taurids around November 5 and the Northern Taurids around November 9, 2025, in a year noted for a Taurid “swarm” of larger meteoroids. The Leonid meteor shower peaks on the night of November 16–17, 2025, under a ~9% illuminated Moon, offering about 15 meteors per hour and some of the fastest at ~70 km/s. November 5, 2025, hosts the Beaver Moon full Moon, the brightest full Moon of 2025 and about 7–8% larger than average, which can flood the sky with light. There are no solar or lunar eclipses in November 2025;

30 July 2025

Astronomy · Auroras · Meteors · Sky Events · Supermoon

Don’t Miss These Skywatch Wonders in October 2025

The Draconid meteor shower peaks around October 8, 2025, but a full Moon on October 6–7 will wash out most meteors, making outbursts of hundreds to thousands per hour unlikely, and its parent comet is 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. The Orionids peak on the nights of October 21–22, 2025, producing about 20 meteors per hour under dark skies from Halley’s Comet debris, with a near-new Moon (~2% illumination) aiding viewing. The Harvest Moon and first Harvest Supermoon of 2025 occurs on October 6, 2025, when the full Moon reaches peak fullness at 11:47 p.m. EDT near its perigee. Saturn remains a prominent evening

30 July 2025

Astronomy · Celestial Wonders · Meteor Showers · October Events · Skywatching

Astronomy News 30 July 2025 - 2 August 2025