Supermoon Trilogy

But will your eye see that the moon is bigger on the night of August 29? Well … it depends. Are you an incredibly careful observer? Have you watched the full moon over a period of months, leading up to now? If so, says Daniel Fischer in Königswinter, Germany, you can discern the extra-large size of the supermoon using just your eye.

The closest and largest full supermoon of them all will fall on September 28, to stage a total eclipse of the moon. Some will call it a Blood Moon eclipse.

In North America, we often call the August full moon the Sturgeon Moon, Corn Moon or Grain Moon. The August 2015 full moon is also the first of three full-moon supermoons in 2015. Previously, we had three new moon supermoons in January, February and March, 2015. The full moons on August 29, September 28 and October 27 all enjoy the supermoon designation because the centers of these full moons and the center of Earth are less than 361,836 kilometers (224,834 miles) apart. The closest supermoon of the year comes with the September 28 full moon, presenting a moon that’s only 356,877 kilometers (221,753 miles) from Earth.

***

Coming Soon 

Stem Cells: The Future Is Now

Kaye

CME BLOW OUT SUN STORM

Wow! This is so interesting... 

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft captured a solar flare in multiple wavelengths of light. The X-class solar flare is the most powerful category of sun storm.

"Given the impulsive nature of this event, as well as the source location on the eastern limb of the sun, we are not expecting a radiation storm at Earth," scientists with the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado. Despite the radio blackouts, the blast is unlikely to cause major issues here on Earth, researchers said.

CMEs are massive clouds of solar particles rocketed into space at millions of miles per hour. Solar flares, by contrast, are blasts of high-energy radiation. CMEs that hit Earth can trigger geomagnetic storms that can disrupt power grids and satellite navigation.

Scientists classify strong solar flares into three categories: C (weakest), M (mid-level) and X (the most powerful). X flares are 10 times more potent than M flares. Wednesday's outburst clocked in at X2.7, outranking the previous flare champion of 2015 — an X2.2 storm that erupted March 11 from a sunspot known as AR12297.

There could be more sun-storm action coming soon, SWPC researchers said.