On this week's news update…

Super Blue Moon

A super blue moon…

Hottest July Recorded

The hottest July on record…

Pyramid Wind Turbine

And a pyramid wind turbine.

First up…

You might have heard the phrase “once in a blue moon,” but did you know that a blue moon is a real occurrence? It happens when two full moons appear in the same calendar month.

The second one is known as a blue moon—though despite the name, they don’t change color!

Blue moons are rare and only happen every few years. But this month’s blue moon is extra rare, as it is a super blue moon!

super blue moon

That means it’s the second super full moon in one calendar month.

A super full moon is when a full moon appears bigger, brighter, and closer to Earth than normal. There are usually three or four super full moons a year—most recently on August 1. But a super blue moon, like the one that’s due to appear on August 30, won’t happen again until August 2032.

So, if you want to catch this unusual phenomenon, keep your eyes on the sky at the end of this month!

Up next…

This July has seen some of the hottest global temperatures on record.

Death Valley in California, one of the hottest places on Earth, saw temperatures hit near record highs. Major tourist attractions in Europe, like the Parthenon in Greece, closed due to rocketing temperatures. And in Phoenix, Arizona, temperatures were over 110 degrees Fahrenheit for a record 31 days in a row, surpassing the city’s previous heatwave record, which was 18 days.

Climate scientists have now confirmed that across the world the average temperature for July was the hottest ever recorded, exceeding the previous record by over half a degree Fahrenheit.

And finally…

Designers at X1 Wind have created a pyramid-shaped turbine that can move position to follow the direction of the wind.

Only one of its three corners is anchored to the seabed, which allows it to turn.

single point mooring

This is called a single point mooring or SPM.

Using this system, the turbine’s platform can rotate around its one fixed point, to position itself with the wind. This allows it to generate electricity almost continuously.

The system was first tested in an indoor pool. A fully functional turbine named the X30 was then assembled on land and towed into position in the Canary Islands of Spain, where it became Spain’s first floating wind turbine to use a cable on the ocean floor to export power.

Now designers are using what they have learned in the Canary Islands trial to plan the installation of larger models in France to generate even more green energy.

That's all for this week, we'll see you next time!