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Rare Blue Supermoon Brightens the Night Sky This Week in the Closest Full Moon of the Year 

A supermoon rises through clouds over the skyline of lower Manhattan, Aug. 1, 2023, as seen from West Orange, N.J. (AP)
A supermoon rises through clouds over the skyline of lower Manhattan, Aug. 1, 2023, as seen from West Orange, N.J. (AP)
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Rare Blue Supermoon Brightens the Night Sky This Week in the Closest Full Moon of the Year 

A supermoon rises through clouds over the skyline of lower Manhattan, Aug. 1, 2023, as seen from West Orange, N.J. (AP)
A supermoon rises through clouds over the skyline of lower Manhattan, Aug. 1, 2023, as seen from West Orange, N.J. (AP)

Stargazers are in for a double treat this week: 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.

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Varieties

Victory for Prince Harry as Murdoch Papers Admits Wrongdoing by Sun 

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex steps out of a car, outside the Rolls Building of the High Court in London, Britain June 7, 2023. (Reuters)
Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex steps out of a car, outside the Rolls Building of the High Court in London, Britain June 7, 2023. (Reuters)
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Victory for Prince Harry as Murdoch Papers Admits Wrongdoing by Sun 

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex steps out of a car, outside the Rolls Building of the High Court in London, Britain June 7, 2023. (Reuters)
Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex steps out of a car, outside the Rolls Building of the High Court in London, Britain June 7, 2023. (Reuters)

Prince Harry settled his privacy claim against Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper group on Wednesday after the publisher admitted unlawful actions at its Sun tabloid for the first time, bringing the fiercely-contested legal battle to a dramatic end.

In a stunning victory for Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles, News Group Newspapers (NGN), publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, also admitted it had intruded into the private life of his late mother, Princess Diana.

Harry's lawyer, David Sherborne, said the publisher had agreed to pay the prince substantial damages. A source familiar with the settlement said it involved an eight-figure sum.

Harry had been suing NGN at the High Court in London, accusing its newspapers of unlawfully obtaining private information about him from 1996 until 2011.

The trial to consider the royal's case, and a similar lawsuit from former senior British lawmaker Tom Watson, was due to start on Tuesday but following last-gasp talks, the two sides reached a settlement, with NGN saying there had been wrongdoing at The Sun, something it had denied for years.

"NGN offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun," Sherborne said.

"NGN further apologizes to the Duke for the impact on him of the extensive coverage and serious intrusion into his private life as well as the private life of Diana, Princess of Wales, his late mother, in particular during his younger years."

ACCOUNTABILITY

NGN has paid out hundreds of millions of pounds to victims of phone-hacking and other unlawful information gathering by the News of the World, and settled more than 1,300 lawsuits involving celebrities, politicians, well-known sports figures and ordinary people who were connected to them or major events.

But it had always rejected any claims that there was wrongdoing at The Sun newspaper, or that any senior figures knew about it or tried to cover it up, as Harry's lawsuit alleges.

Harry said his mission was to get the truth and accountability, after other claimants settled cases to avoid the risk of a multi-million-pound legal bill that could be imposed even if they won in court but rejected NGN's offer.

He said the reason he had not settled was because his lawsuit was not about money, but because he wanted the publishers' executives and editors to be held to account and to admit their wrongdoing.