DO PLANETARY ALIGNMENTS AFFECT SOLAR ACTIVITY?
There’s a planetary alignment this week. Could it affect solar activity? One researcher says “yes,” and explains how on today’s edition of Spaceweather.com.
Above: Jupiter, Earth, Venus and Mars are arrayed in an approximate line this week, exerting their “spring tides” on the sun. Can these feeble tides affect solar activity?
31/Atlas is an alien comet, not an alien craft, even though it is not accelerating due only to gravity. –CPL
Space Weather News for Dec. 16, 2025
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THE NON-GRAVITATIONAL ACCELERATION OF 3I/ATLAS: New data from NASA’s Psyche spacecraft and ESA’s Mars Trace Gas Orbiter confirm that interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is not moving under the force of gravity alone. It has a “non-gravitational acceleration.” The effect can be explained entirely by cometary outgassing, and allows astronomers to weigh the comet from afar. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.
Space Weather News for Nov. 24, 2025
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A COMET IS EXPLODING NEAR THE NORTH STAR: Golden Comet ATLAS (C/2025 K1) is breaking into multiple fragments–four and counting–as it brightens near the North Star. Fresh images suggest even more pieces may form soon. Sky maps and movies @ Spaceweather.com.
sky might be partly clear tonight, worth looking for aurora.
Space Weather News for Nov. 5, 2025
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STRONG GEOMAGNETIC STORMS PREDICTED: Solar activity is suddenly high with multiple X-class and strong M-class solar flares since Monday. At least three CMEs are expected to graze or directly hit Earth this week, potentially sparking strong geomagnetic storms on Nov. 6-7. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.
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Above: An X1.8-class solar flare from sunspot 4274 on Nov. 4, 2025.
Space Weather News for Oct 28, 2025
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INTERSTELLAR COMET 3I/ATLAS IS NOT HIDING FROM EARTH: The internet is buzzing with claims that interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS is “hiding behind the sun.” It’s not. Coronagraphs on GOES-19, SOHO, and NASA’s new PUNCH mission are watching it every day–and it’s behaving like a comet, not a spaceship.
3I/ATLAS AT PERIHELION: Is Comet 3I/ATLAS really a spaceship? We’re about to find out. On Oct. 29th, the interstellar object will make its closest approach to the sun. Perihelion is the perfect time to perform a Solar Oberth maneuver or to deploy stealthy probes. If we see any unexpected non-gravitational acceleration, artificial lights, or excess heat (engine activity), it could point to alien tech. Otherwise, 3I/ATLAS is what it appears to be–a comet. Contrary to widespread reports, we can see 3I/ATLAS from Earth, so this will be a legitimate “acid test” of the spaceship hypothesis.
Space Weather News for Oct 16, 2025
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EVENING COMET ALERT: Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) is approaching Earth for a close encounter on Oct. 21st. Already an easy target for binoculars and ordinary cameras, the comet could become a naked-eye object in the nights ahead. Details and finder charts @ Spaceweather.com.
Auroras are possible tonight: Multiple CMEs are expected to strike Earth on Oct. 16-17, bringing a chance of photographic auroras to northern-tier US states. Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive instant text messages when the CMEs arrive.
If the sky is clear on the 7th, look for auroras.– CPL
A SIGMOID ERUPTION ON THE SUN: When you see an “S” on the sun, it usually means something is about to explode. On Sept. 4th, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a textbook sigmoid eruption:
Researchers have long known that sigmoid structures in the sun’s atmosphere herald strong explosions. Their magnetic field lines are twisted like a slinky. When enough tension builds up, they un-twist explosively.
This sigmoid hurled a dark plume of plasma more than 700,000 km long into space. The plume is dark because the plasma inside is relatively cool and dense–two qualities that can make potent CMEs.
The explosion hurled a CME directly toward Earth. NOAA and NASA models agree that it will reach our planet on Sept. 7th. The impact could spark a G1 to G2-class geomagnetic storm with high-latitude auroras visible during the lunar eclipse. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
THE BACKWARD TAIL OF COMET 3I/ATLAS: Last month, when astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to photograph 3I/ATLAS, they had a “Eureka!” moment. The mysterious interstellar visitor had a fuzzy atmosphere and a growing tail. Clearly, it was a comet.
However, something was not quite right. Take a look, and see if you can spot the problem:
The tail of 3I/ATLAS points almost straight toward the sun. Normally, comet dust tails are pushed away from the sun by radiation pressure. 3I/ATLAS is doing the opposite—it’s backwards.
Why? Researchers led by David Jewitt of UCLA believe they have an explanation: “It is due to the preferential sublimation of ice on the hot day side of the nucleus and the near absence of sublimation on the night side,” they wrote in a paper reporting the observations.
In other words, 3I/ATLAS *is* a comet, but only the sun-heated side is producing lots of dust. The emerging dust particles are too big for radiation pressure to bend them back into an ordinary tail.
This is unusual, but not unheard of. Solar system comets have been known to produce sunward fans or jets, typically from localized “hot spots” on their rotating nuclei. What makes 3I/ATLAS different is the dominance of its sunward plume, dwarfing a barely visible anti-solar tail behind it.
Space Weather News for July 24, 2025
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EQUATORIAL PLASMA BUBBLES ARE COMING FOR YOUR GPS: Earth’s ionosphere is a bit like Swiss cheese. It contains holes called “equatorial plasma bubbles.” If any of these bubbles drift across your sky–grip the steering wheel–your GPS might go haywire.
That’s exactly what happened during a geomagnetic storm in March 2023. A new study published in the research journal Space Weather recounts how GPS radio signals began to rapidly flicker, akin to the twinkling of a star, causing positioning errors across a wide swath of the Americas.
GPS satellites transmitting through a bubbly ionosphere. Inset: a simulation of equatorial plasma bubbles. Video.
“This is the most intense event we have analyzed,” says Fabiano Rodrigues, a physics professor at the University of Texas at Dallas and one of the paper’s lead authors. “It produced extremely intense disruptions at low latitudes for more than 10 hours and was even detectable by our mid-latitude sensor in Dallas (UTD in the diagram below), which is unusual.”
Completely surrounding Earth, the ionosphere is a shell of ionized gas created by the sun. Solar ultraviolet radiation ionizes air near the edge of space, creating a dynamic layer of plasma that varies with solar activity, time of day, and latitude. The ionosphere plays a critical role in GPS systems by reflecting or distorting radio waves passing through it.
When the sun sets, the ionosphere becomes unstable. This happens because the sun’s ionizing radiation suddenly disappears. A Rayleigh-Taylor instability takes hold, and bubbles of low-density plasma begin to rise, much like blobs in a lava lamp.
These structures are especially common near the magnetic equator, where electric and magnetic fields enhance the effect. That’s why they’re called equatorial plasma bubbles.
The March 23-24, 2023, event was remarkable because the bubbles were so widespread. They are normally confined within +/- 20 degrees of the magnetic equator, but during this storm, they spread at least twice as far, affecting population centers at middle latitudes. Peak position errors were wider than urban roadways.
