Full moon dazzles in the night sky: See photos of 2025 Sturgeon Moon
Named after a massive fish that traces back 136 million years ago and was once bountiful in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, the Sturgeon Moon rises each year in August.
This month, the full moon peaked just before 4 a.m. ET on Saturday morning, Aug. 9. But Americans have been treated to a bright light in the night sky for a few days now, as Earth's neighbor has appeared completely illuminated by direct sunlight since entering its "full" phase this week.
Viewers saw the Sturgeon Moon approach its peak when it began to shine after sunset Friday evening, Aug. 8, which came a few minutes after 8 p.m. local time in New York City, according to Time and Date. Elsewhere in the country, onlookers got a better glimpse after sunset times around 7:21 p.m. in Phoenix, 7:46 p.m. in Los Angeles, and 7:59 p.m. in Chicago.
Take a look at this year's Sturgeon Moon as it shined in the night sky this year.
See photos of the August 2025 full moon
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Photos show August 2025 full moon dazzling in night sky
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Eye of Sauron' spotted in deep space
Billions of light-years away, a cosmic jet bearing a striking resemblance to the eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings is swirling at the heart of a very active galaxy. The unique cosmic body was spotted thanks to 15 years of observations using the Earth-based Very Long Baseline Ar-ray and is helping scientists better understand the anatomy of cosmic jets,powerful beams of plasma and energy that come from black holes, neutron stars, and other celestial bodies. The unique attributes of this 'Eye of Sauron' cosmic jet is detailed in a study published August 12 in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. 'When we reconstructed the image, it looked absolutely stunning,' Yuri Kovalev, study co-author and astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, said in a statement. 'We have never seen anything quite like it—a near-perfect toroidal [doughnut shaped] magnetic field with a jet, pointing straight at us.' The villanesque cosmic jet is spewing out of a blazar called PKS 1424+240. Powered by a supermassive black hole, blazars are a large type of active galaxy nucleus that belong to a class of galaxies called active galactic nuclei. Blazars are a ventral hub of power and light within these galaxies that aren't powered by stars. A blazar's black hole launches a jet of plasma that moves at roughly the speed of light and blazars. As far as blazars go, PKS 1424+240 has long puzzled astronomers. It is the brightest known blazar that emits neutrinos, or tiny subatomic particles that are so difficult to detect they are nicknamed 'ghost particles.' High energy gamma rays also radiate out from PKS 1424+240, making this unique blazar appear to glow. Even with all of these energetic gamma rays and neutrinos, the cosmic jet appeared to move much more slowly than expected. Only the fastest celestial jets were believed to power high-energy emissions like this, and not PKS 1424+240's glacial pace. Using the Very Long Baseline Ar-ray, an array of ten antennas positioned across the continental United States and in Hawaii and St Croix, researchers stitched together the incredible image of the jet coming out of the blazar, which looks unquestionably Lord of the Rings-esque. PKS 1424+240 and its jet are almost exactly aligned with the Earth. This amplifies the high-energy emissions in the jet when astronomers look at it. 'This alignment causes a boost in brightness by a factor of 30 or more,' co-author and astronomer Jack Livingston added. 'At the same time, the jet appears to move slowly due to projection effects—a classic optical illusion.' The rare opportunity to look at the blazar head-on allowed the team to peer directly into the heart of its stunning jet. Using polarized radio signals, the team mapped out the jet's magnetic field and structure. The magnetic field might be shaped like a spiral (called helical) or doughnut shaped (called toroidal). The magnetic field's structure likely plays a major role in how the plasma flows out of a blazar's cosmic jet. [ Related: Astronomers now know how supermassive black holes blast us with energy. ] The discovery is part of the MOJAVE program, a decades-long effort to monitor jets in active galaxies. To monitor these jets, scientists use a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). VLBI connects radio telescopes across the globe to form a giant virtual telescope roughly the size of the Earth. Connecting all of these radio telescopes provides the highest resolution available in astronomy, giving us the fine details of distant cosmic jets. 'When we started MOJAVE, the idea of one day directly connecting distant black hole jets to cosmic neutrinos felt like science fiction,' said MOJAVE co-founder Anton Zensus 'Today, our observations are making it real.' Solve the daily Crossword
Politico
2 hours ago
- Politico
NIAID acting director's view of ‘risky research'
THE LAB Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger, acting director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says conducting so-called gain-of-function research shouldn't be dismissed. He discussed the controversial topic with his boss, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, on the latter's 'Director's Desk' podcast this week. What is it? Gain-of-function involves genetically altering pathogens to make them deadlier or more transmissible to better study them. But the research is a lightning rod issue for President Donald Trump and many Republicans in Congress who believe the Covid-19 pandemic was caused by a lab leak stemming from gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, where the virus first emerged. That thinking puts them at odds with most of the scientific community who believe the virus most likely spilled over from animals into humans. In May, Trump signed an executive order banning all 'present and all future' federal funding for gain-of-function research in countries like China,which Trump said has insufficient research oversight. He also ordered the National Institutes of Health to review and possibly halt experiments the administration believes could endanger Americans' lives. In Congress, Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) Risky Research Review Act, which hasn't yet been taken up by the full Senate, would create a panel to review funding for gain-of-function research. Not black and white: During the podcast, Bhattacharya asked Taubenberger how the institute should approach gain-of-function research. 'It's not a simple black-and-white issue,' replied Taubenberger, a senior investigator in virology who's a leading expert on the 1918 flu pandemic and sequenced the virus that caused it. He's also co-leading the effort to develop a universal flu vaccine, backed with $500 million from the Trump administration. 'Very reasonable, very well-informed people could fall on opposite sides of the line, wherever you draw the line,' he said. 'Having a wide variety of people with different levels of expertise — not just logic expertise, but safety, national security, all sorts of other questions — having them weigh in on this is really important.' Regardless of where people fall, gain-of-function work shouldn't be shut down, he said. 'Work on nasty bugs that have the potential to kill people, for which we want to develop better therapeutics, diagnostics, prognostics, treatments and preventatives, needs to happen. That's important for global health. It's important for U.S. health,' Taubenberger said. But that research has to be done very carefully, with oversight and should be evaluated on a risk-benefit basis, he warned. While the pandemic turbocharged the issue, the controversy over gain-of-function predates Covid-19. The government paused funding for the research roughly a decade ago, Taubenberger pointed out, while they put stronger oversight mechanisms in place. 'I favor this kind of work being done, where possible, in U.S. government labs, by U.S. government scientists, monitored by U.S. government safety officials and regulators — with openness and transparency.' What didn't come up in conversation: The implementation of Trump's executive order hasn't gone as smoothly as the podcast discussion might have suggested. A July post on the NIH's X account implied that staff at the NIAID had acted inappropriately by omitting certain grants while compiling a list of potentially dangerous gain-of-function research experiments in compliance with the order. Contacted by POLITICO at the time, an official at HHS described the behavior as 'malicious compliance' and said the administration wouldn't tolerate it. NIH Principal Deputy Director Matt Memoli, according to The Washington Post, overrode staff by classifying tuberculosis studies NIH reviewers deemed safe as potentially dangerous gain-of-function research. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) described undergoing mental health treatment with the psychedelic drug ibogaine to the New York Times. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Ruth Reader at rreader@ or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@ Want to share a tip securely? Message us on Signal: RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. TECH MAZE Under Gov. Gavin Newsom, California has moved faster than other states to regulate artificial intelligence, including signing a bill last year barring health insurers in the state from using AI to deny claims. Now, a prominent AI company is urging the Democratic governor to consider a less rigid regulatory approach. In a letter to Newsom, obtained by our POLITICO colleagues at California Decoded, OpenAI suggests that California should consider AI companies that sign onto national and international AI agreements as compliant with state AI rules. The letter, dated Monday, from OpenAI's Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane, comes as Sacramento continues to debate key AI legislation, including Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener's bill SB 53, which would require large AI developers to publish safety and security protocols on their websites. Lehane recommended that 'California take the lead in harmonizing state-based AI regulation with emerging global standards' when it comes to the technology, dubbing it the California Approach. World view: OpenAI and other developers have already signed, or plan to sign, onto the EU's AI code of practice and have committed to conducting national security-related assessments of their programs. Lehane said that 'we encourage the state to consider frontier model developers compliant with its state requirements when they sign onto a parallel regulatory framework like the [European Union's] CoP or enter into a safety-oriented agreement with a relevant US federal government agency.' Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said, 'We have received the letter. We don't typically comment on pending legislation.' Worth noting: The EU code is a voluntary way for companies to comply with the bloc's AI Act and is nonbinding in the U.S., which has no equivalent. Commitments to work with federal regulators don't necessarily cover all the areas, like deepfakes or chatbots, where Sacramento wants to regulate AI. But the letter offers Newsom something of an off-ramp, after he vetoed Wiener's broader AI safety bill last year that would have required programs to complete prerelease safety testing. Last week, Newsom spoke with cautious positivity about Wiener's effort this year, saying it was in the spirit of an expert report on AI regulation he commissioned. But SB 53 — which would establish whistleblower protections for AI workers and require companies to publish their own internal safety testing — still faces opposition from the tech industry. Lehane's letter puts an industry-sponsored solution on the governor's desk. He framed the simplified California Approach as a way to give 'democratic AI' an edge in the race with Chinese-built programs by removing unnecessary regulation, a key priority for the Trump administration. 'Imagine how hard it would have been during the Space Race had California's aerospace and technology industries been encumbered by regulations that impeded rapid innovation,' Lehane wrote.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Star Trying to Swallow a Black Hole May Have Triggered a New Type of Supernova
In 2023, astronomers recorded one of the most extraordinary space explosions they had ever seen. It took place some 750 million light-years away, flaring into the detectors of the Zwicky Transient Facility on 7 July. At first, it looked just like a normal supernova – the explosive death of a star – and astronomers named it SN 2023zkd. Six months later, a search for cosmic anomalies flagged the explosion as a little odd. A look back at data collected since its initial discovery revealed SN 2023zkd had done something really weird: it brightened again. Related: Space Could Be Littered With Eerie Transparent Stars Made Entirely of Bosons A new analysis offers up an absolutely Bizarro explanation: this strange sequence of events could be the result of a giant star trying to swallow a black hole like it's from Rand McNally. "Our analysis shows that the blast was sparked by a catastrophic encounter with a black hole companion, and is the strongest evidence to date that such close interactions can actually detonate a star," says astronomer Alexander Gagliano of the NSF Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions. Supernovae can happen in quite a variety of ways. They usually (but not always) involve the death of a massive star or the runaway thermonuclear explosions on a white dwarf. They're also relatively common, popping up across the Universe at a rate of a few hundred observable ones per year. Astronomers know more or less how they should play out: a flare of light that bursts onto the scene, followed by a gradual dimming that follows a pretty predictable curve over the ensuing weeks and months. Initial observations of SN 2023zkd looked relatively typical; a flare recorded by Zwicky was indicative of the early stages of a supernova. Then in January 2024, a tool designed to find unusual events in archives noted it was worth a second look. Data from different observatories around the world trained on the location had recorded the typical, fading lightcurve. Then it happened: 240 days after Zwicky discovered the event, it brightened again, nearly to the same level as the initial supernova. That's not something that most supernovae do, so Gagliano and his colleagues turned to archival observations of that sector of the sky to see if any behavior prior to the Zwicky detection could yield any clues, using machine learning to pick up signals humans might miss. They found that, for more than four years prior to the explosion, the object had been steadily brightening, with some strange fluctuations. This sort of long-term behavior isn't typical of stars about to explode. The scenario closest to the observations, the researchers determined, involved a massive dying star and a compact object such as a black hole, locked in a tight orbit. As they whirled around each other in a decaying orbit, the star shed a great deal of its mass, which in turn started to glow. Eventually, the researchers believe, the two objects drew close enough together that the star exerted its gravitational pull to subsume the black hole; however, the gravitational pull exerted by the black hole stressed the star to such a degree that it triggered a supernova. The first peak in brightness was from the blast of the supernova colliding with low-density gas around the system. The second peak was from a slower, more sustained collision with the thick cloud of material ejected by the star in its final years. The strange fluctuations prior to the explosion were indicative of a system stressed by the presence of a black hole. This is not as impossible as it might sound. A black hole only has as much gravity as a star of comparable mass; if you're at a reasonable distance, as you would be for a star, things behave the same way. However, a black hole is so compact that you can get much closer, to the point where you would be inside a star of comparable mass, the strength of its gravitational field increasing as you go. The Sun, for instance, is about 1.4 million kilometers (865,000 miles) across. The event horizon of a black hole with the same mass as the Sun is about 6 kilometers across. So, if the star in the binary had a greater mass than the black hole, then it would be considered that the star pulled the black hole in, before the black hole's extreme close gravity brought the star to a sticky end. The other possibility is that the black hole completely devoured the star before it could explode; both scenarios exhibit the same collision with the material around the system. Either way, the end result is a bigger black hole. "We're now entering an era where we can automatically catch these rare events as they happen, not just after the fact," Gagliano says. "That means we can finally start connecting the dots between how a star lives and how it dies, and that's incredibly exciting." The research is due to be published in The Astrophysical Journal, and a preprint is available on arXiv. Related News Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Seen in Stunning New Hubble Image Fast Radio Burst Source Traced Record Distance Across The Universe Tiny 'Coral' Discovered by Rover in Martian Crater Solve the daily Crossword
