Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 31 January 2018

Blue moon, supermoon, total lunar eclipse rolled into one

By MARCIA DUNN — just over 223,000 miles from a telescope in Hawaii,
AP Aerospace Writer (359,000 kilometers). That’s while also collecting data
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. about 1,500 miles (2,400 from NASA’s moon-circling
(AP) — The moon is provid- kilometers) farther than Lunar Reconnaissance Or-
ing a rare triple treat this the supermoon on Jan. 1. biter, launched in 2009.
week. Midway through Wednes- Just like the total solar
On Wednesday, much of day’s eclipse, the moon eclipse in the U.S. last Au-
the world will get to see not will be even farther away gust cooled the Earth’s sur-
only a blue moon and a su- — 223,820 miles (360,200 face, a lunar eclipse cools
permoon, but also a total kilometers) — but still with- the moon’s surface. It’s this
lunar eclipse, all rolled into in unofficial supermoon abrupt cooling — from the
one. There hasn’t been a guidelines. heat of direct sunlight to
triple lineup like this since While a supermoon is con- essentially a deep freeze
1982 and the next won’t sidered less serious and — that researchers will be
occur until 2037. scientific than an eclipse, studying.
The eclipse will be visible it represents a chance to Totality will last more than
best in the western half of In this Aug. 28, 2007, file photo, the moon takes on different encourage people to start an hour.
the U.S. and Canada be- orange tones during a lunar eclipse seen from Mexico City. looking at the moon, ac- “The moon is one of the
fore the moon sets early Associated Press cording to Petro. most amazing objects in
Wednesday morning, and A blue moon is the second Bowl of moons,” lunar sci- “I’m a lunar scientist. I love our solar system,” Petro
across the Pacific into Asia full moon in a month. entist Noah Petro said the moon. I want to ad- said.
as the moon rises Wednes- A supermoon is a par- Monday from NASA’s God- vocate for the moon,” he “It really is the key to un-
day night into Thursday. ticularly close full or new dard Space Flight Center said. derstanding the solar sys-
The U.S. East Coast will moon, appearing some- in Greenbelt, Maryland. Throw in a blue moon, and tem, through interpreting
be out of luck; the moon what brighter and bigger. Others prefer “super blue “that’s too good of an op- the geology and surface
will be setting just as the A total lunar eclipse — or blood moon.” portunity to pass,” accord- of the moon.”
eclipse gets started. Eu- blood moon for its red- Either way, it’s guaranteed ing to Petro. NASA plans to provide a
rope and most of Africa dish tinge — has the moon to impress, provided the As the sun lines up perfect- live stream of the moon
and South America also completely bathed in skies are clear. ly with the Earth and then from telescopes in Califor-
will pretty much miss the Earth’s shadow. The moon will actually be moon for the eclipse, scien- nia and Arizona, beginning
show. “I’m calling it the Super closest to Earth on Tuesday tists will make observations at 5:30 a.m. EST.q
Volkswagen suspends

exec over monkey trials

By DAVID McHUGH the first consequences” as Mueller said in the state-
AP Business Writer it investigates the activities ment that “we are investi-
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) of EUGT, the entity backed gating in detail the work of
— Automaker Volkswagen by Volkswagen and other EUGT, which was dissolved
has suspended its head of carmakers that commis- in 2017, and drawing the
external relations and sus- sioned the monkey experi- necessary conclusions.”
tainability in response to ment. He said that Steg “has de-
controversy over experi- The move follows a report clared that he takes full re-
ments in which monkeys in The New York Times that sponsibility, and I respect
were exposed to diesel ex- the now-disbanded EUGT that.”
In this Aug. 1, 2017 file photo, the brand logo of German car haust. commissioned the monkey Volkswagen said the probe
maker Volkswagen, VW, is photographed on a car in Berlin, The company said in a test to show how Volkswa- would be carried out “at
Germany. statement Tuesday that gen’s diesel technology top speed.”
Thomas Steg was stepping was succeeding in control- Government officials, envi-
away from his duties at his ling harmful emissions. ronmental groups and ani-
own request. Steg had said But the test was done with mal rights activists all con-
in an interview published a vehicle that used illegal demned the experiment.
in the Bild newspaper that software to cheat on emis- Daimler and BMW also
he had known about the sions tests, turning controls condemned the experi-
experiment but did not in- off when the vehicle was ment and said they were
form the company’s then- not being tested. That investigating.
CEO, Martin Winterkorn. practice was exposed in The New York Times re-
The statement from the 2015, toppling then-CEO port said that the three
automaker said that the Martin Winterkorn. companies backed EUGT
company was “drawing Volkswagen CEO Matthias financially.q