The Sun has been active lately, with several sunspot grou... — June 16, 2026

0:03 Calaruga Shark Media. Welcome to Space news and weather today. The gas giants are returning. Saturn rises around eleven PM, while Jupiter appears in the east a few hours before dawn. Both will dominate summer nights. Look west after sunset to catch the thin crescent Moon. It'll set early, leaving the rest of the night nice and dark. Scorpius crawls above the southern horizon, its curved tail unmistakable. The red supergiant Antares marks the scorpion's heart, a star so large it would engulf Mars if placed at our Sun's position. Around fourteen hours before a partial solar eclipse crossed the Dolomites in northern Italy, a cluster of spruce trees showed a sharp synchronized rise in electrical activity. A new opinion paper argues that this spike did not reflect any anticipatory response to the eclipse, but was instead triggered by a local thunderstorm and nearby lightning. Heads up for asteroid fans. Two thousand and three l N six passes Earth in the next couple of days, roughly three times the Moon's distance.

1:22 It's about the size of a jumbo jet. Harmless but fun to track. NASA's space weather trackers also note a burst of solar material was seen leaving the Sun. The Sun has been active lately, with several sunspot groups dotting its surface. Solar flares are possible over the next day or two. For now, Aurora chances are moderate for those in far northern latitudes. That's your space update for today, compiled by AI from NASA and Spaceflight News.