The Cosmos Today — May 19, 2026

0:03 Calorogus Shark Media. You're listening to Space news and weather today. Our tourist blazes overhead tonight an orange giant star about twenty five times larger than our sun. It's the bottom point of the kite shaped boots constellation. Quick solar update. The Sun is quite active, with numerous sunspot groups visible. That means a moderate chance of northern lights tonight for those in northern latitudes. Look north after dark if skies are clear. Venus dominates the western sky after sunset, while Saturn rises in the southeast after midnight. Its rings tilted beautifully for telescope viewing. SpaceX has a Falcon nine on the pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, set to fly tomorrow. The mission is called Starlink Internet Satellites. The booster will attempt to land back at Vandenberg something to ponder.

1:09 Radio signals from Earth have been traveling through space for about one hundred years. Any civilization within one hundred light years could potentially detect us. The Moon is at first quarter, half lit and setting around midnight, perfect for evening observing, bright enough to see detail, dark enough later for deep sky objects. New observations of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, reveal that its auroras share detailed structural similarities with auroras on Earth, suggesting that the physical processes that generate these lights may be universal across different types of celestial bodies. That's your space update for today, compiled by AI from NASA and Spaceflight News