At www.spaceweather.com (september 22nd 2018) we learn that the Sun has just crossed the equator and is heading south and changing seasons. This event seems to be what causes the crack in Earth's magnetic field.
Also, the Japanese made history by landing two rovers on the surface of an asteroid, Ryugu. They are now hopping across the landscape, exploring the rocks. As gravity is weak on Ryugu this meant the rovers had to hop rather than roll along on wheels. These two rovers are a reconnaissance mission as two other rovers will be landed later this year (in October) if everything goes well with the guinea pigs. Ryugu is classified as potentially dangerous to the earth as its future orbit may come relatively close to that of the earth – or cross the orbit of the earth. It is just 900m in width.