By Marcia Dunn
Stargazers are in for a double treat on Aug. 30: a rare blue supermoon with Saturn peeking from behind.
The cosmic curtain rises Wednesday night with the second full moon of the month, the reason it’s considered blue. It’s dubbed a supermoon because it’s closer to Earth than usual, appearing especially big and bright.
This will be the closest full moon of the year, just 222,043 miles (357,344 kilometers) or so away. That’s more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) closer than the Aug. 1 supermoon.
As a bonus, Saturn will be visible as a bright point 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon at sunset in the east-southeastern sky, according to NASA. The ringed planet will appear to circle clockwise around the moon as the night wears on.
If you missed the month’s first spectacle, better catch this one. There won’t be another blue supermoon until 2037, according to Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project.
Clouds spoiled Masi's attempt to livestream the supermoon rising earlier this month. He’s hoping for clearer skies this time so he can capture the blue supermoon shining above St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
Weather permitting, observers don’t need binoculars or telescopes — “just their own eyes." said Masi.
“I’m always excited to admire the beauty of the night sky,” he said, especially when it features a blue supermoon.
The first supermoon of 2023 was in July. The fourth and last will be in September.
The FDA has approved Opvee, which can reverse fentanyl and other opioid overdoses.
Powerful Typhoon Mawar churned slowly over the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam on Thursday, lashing the island with wind and rain, tearing down trees, walls and power lines, flipping cars, and pushing dangerous storm surge ashore as first-responders waited for daylight to see the full extent of the damage.
U.S. health regulators on Monday approved a new easy-to-use version of a medication to reverse overdoses caused by fentanyl and other opioids driving the nation’s drug crisis.
Be Well: Toni Braxton Shares Her Experience of Living With Lupus
Millions of Americans are impacted by mental health issues and a growing number of them are teenagers, causing concerns for parents across the country. Psychiatrist Dr. Liat Jarkon spoke with Cheddar News about how parents can have open and honest conversations with their kids.
A new study shows that climate change is making it harder to fall asleep. The study, published in Cell Press over the weekend, shows that millions of people are already sleeping less because of higher overnight temperatures.
Jeff Bezos' rocket company has won a NASA contract to land astronauts on the moon, two years after it lost out to SpaceX.
The natural burst of El Nino warming that changes weather worldwide is far costlier with longer-lasting expenses than experts had thought, averaging trillions of dollars in damage, a new study found.
Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. went up slightly last year after two big leaps during the pandemic.
Be Well: How Boxing Can Elevate Your Personal Fitness Program
