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As the full moon shines in the night sky this weekend, take a moment to revel in its beauty and look for a large dark plain.
The surface feature is Mare Tranquillitatis, or the Sea of Tranquility, where the Apollo 11 mission landed on the afternoon of July 20, 1969.
The full moon won’t reach its peak until 6:17 a.m. ET Sunday, but the silvery orb will still appear at its best Saturday, the 55th anniversary of humanity’s first moon walk by NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Now, as NASA and other space agencies plan for a more established human presence on the Moon through the Artemis program, it turns out that the Sea of Tranquility may hold an unexplored treasure worth revisiting.
NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
Scientists have discovered a large lunar cave connected to a pit found in the moon’s Sea of Tranquility.
Scientists have discovered an underground cavity under the Sea of Tranquility, which could serve as a shelter for future lunar astronauts in the form of a cave.
Lunar caves, or underground passages formed by volcanic processes during the Moon’s early history, are connected to pits covering the lunar surface.
The long, wide cave, discovered by examining NASA’s archival data, could be used to protect astronauts from intense radiation and extreme temperature swings, as well as provide a new avenue for studying moon rocks.
Astronomers have detected an exoplanet with a cucumber-shaped orbit that could transform into a different kind of world.
The unusual orbit, which causes temperatures on TIC 241249530 b to rise from a hot summer day to hot enough to melt titanium, may be a sign that the planet is moving closer to its star.
Astronomers estimate that in hundreds of millions of years, the planet will take just a few days, rather than six months, to orbit its star and become a hot version of Jupiter.
Separately, the European Space Agency plans to send a spacecraft named Ramses to accompany the asteroid Apophis on its safe, close approach to Earth — 10 times closer than the moon — in April 2029. The spacecraft could capture earthquakes and landslides on the space rock as it is affected by Earth’s gravity.
Lori Hilton
Before his surgery (left), Hamilton hated opening his eyes. After his eyelids were repaired (right), he has wide eyes.
If pets with flat faces, such as French bulldogs and Persians, or puffy cheeks, such as Maine coons, are squinting and exhibiting behavioral problems, they may be suffering from a painful condition called eyelid disease.
A dog and a cat Breeds are genetically more likely to have malformed eyelid problems, which cause the eyelashes to rub against the corneas.
But what humans would call cosmetic surgery is helping pets like Hamilton, a 4-year-old English bulldog, overcome the pain of deformed eyelids.
“These treatments are not cosmetic; they are essential to the health of the animal,” said Dr. Dana Varble, chief veterinary officer for the North American veterinary community.
The Curiosity rover was about to settle into a new exploration site on Mars when it crashed into a rock – and accidentally made the “most unexpected” discovery of its 12-year mission to date, mission scientists say.
Curiosity’s wheels revealed that the rock’s interior contained something never before seen on the Red Planet: yellowish-green sulfur crystals. And it turns out there’s a whole field of them in an ancient channel carved into the side of Mars’ Mount Sharp.
But scientists don’t know how, when or why sulfur formed on Mars, creating a new puzzle for the rover team to solve.
Meanwhile, the recently launched African Space Agency is launching satellites to improve the quality of life on Earth, including by monitoring water quality and preventing illegal mining and fishing.
Courtesy of Dr. Jürgen Kriwet
A fossil revealing the complete side view of the ancient shark Ptychodus, with almost all skeletal elements, has been discovered in Mexico.
While dinosaurs roamed the Earth during the Cretaceous Period, sharks with unusual teeth swam the seas.
Sharks of the genus Ptychodus had rows of broad, rounded teeth that crushed their shelled prey. But scientists were only able to make assumptions about the predators’ appearance after they discovered teeth.
Paleontologists recently discovered a nearly complete skeleton of an ancient shark in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, solving the mystery of what this prehistoric fish looked like.
Meanwhile, cut marks on the fossilized remains of a giant armadillo-like creature in Argentina reveal that humans slaughtered the animal more than 20,000 years ago – and that the first inhabitants of the Americas settled there earlier than previously thought.
Dive into these unexpected stories:
— Experts in New Zealand are trying to determine whether a creature washed ashore is a toothed whale, a species considered almost mythical because scientists have never recorded a live sighting.
— NASA beamed Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” about 160 million miles from Venus, marking the first time a hip-hop song has been sent into space.
— In Cambodia, a record number of Siamese crocodile eggs have hatched in the wild, giving hope to a critically endangered species that was nearly wiped out. leads to extinction.
— A flaming meteorite soared above New York City this week and disintegrated over New Jersey, and skywatchers captured video of the rare event.
Liked what you read? Oh, but there’s more. register here to receive the next issue of Wonder Theory, presented by the editors of CNN Space and Science, in your inbox Ashley Strickland And Katie HuntThey marvel at planets beyond our solar system and discover things from the ancient world.