Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s science newsletter Wonder Theory. To get it in your inbox, register for free here.
CNN
—
As the full moon shines in the night sky this weekend, take a moment to enjoy its beauty and look for a large, dark plain.
The surface feature is the Mare Tranquillitatis, or Sea of Tranquility, where the Apollo 11 mission landed on the afternoon of July 20, 1969.
The full moon won’t peak until 6:17 a.m. ET Sunday, but the silvery orb will still be at its best on Saturday, the 55th anniversary of NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s first moonwalk of mankind.
Now that NASA and other space agencies are planning a more established human presence on the Moon through the Artemis program, it appears that the Sea of Tranquility may have 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 beneath the Sea of Tranquility, and it could provide 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 associated with pits covering the lunar surface.
The long, wide cave, discovered by reviewing NASA archival data, could be used to protect astronauts from heavy radiation and extreme temperature swings, as well as provide a new avenue for studying lunar rocks.
Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet with a cucumber-shaped orbit that could become another type of world.
The unusual orbit, which changes the temperatures of TIC 241249530 b from a warm summer day to hot enough to melt titanium, could be a sign that the planet is approaching its star.
Astronomers estimate that in hundreds of millions of years, the planet will need only a few days, not 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 asteroid Apophis as it makes a safe and close approach to Earth — 10 times closer than the Moon — in April 2029. The spacecraft could pick up earthquakes and landslides in space a rock as it is affected by the earth’s gravity.
Laurie Hilton
Before taking the plunge (left), Hamilton hated opening his eyes. After his eyelids were fixed (right), he is wide-eyed.
If flat-faced pets like the French Bulldog and Persian, or puffy-cheeked like the Maine Coon, squint and show behavioral problems, they may have a painful condition: eyelid disease.
Some dog and cat breeds are genetically more likely to have problems with misshapen eyelids, which causes eyelashes to rub against the cornea.
But what people would call cosmetic surgery is helping pets like Hamilton, a 4-year-old English bulldog, overcome the pain of deformed eyelids.
“These pinches and tucks are not cosmetic; they are critical to the animal’s health,” said Dr. Dana Varble, chief veterinarian of the North American Veterinary Association.
The Curiosity rover was about to settle into a new study site on Mars when it hit a rock — and accidentally made the “most unexpected” discovery of its 12-year mission so far, according to mission scientists.
Curiosity’s wheels revealed that inside the rock was something never before seen on the red planet: yellowish-green sulfur crystals. And it turns out there’s a whole field of them within an ancient channel carved into the side of Mount Sharp on Mars.
But scientists don’t know how, when or why sulfur formed on Mars, creating a new mystery for the rover team to solve.
Meanwhile, the recently launched African Space Agency is launching satellites to improve the quality of life on Earth, such as monitoring water quality and preventing illegal mining and fishing.
Courtesy of Dr. Jurgen Krivet
A fossil revealing the complete side view of the ancient Ptychodus shark, 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 large, rounded sharks that crushed prey with shells. But scientists have been able to speculate about the appearance of predators only after finding only teeth.
Paleontologists recently discovered a nearly complete skeleton of an ancient shark in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, unraveling the mystery of the prehistoric fish’s appearance.
Separately, cut marks on the fossilized remains of a giant armadillo in Argentina reveal that humans butchered the animal more than 20,000 years ago — and that the earliest humans in the Americas settled there earlier than expected.
Immerse yourself in these unexpected stories:
— Experts in New Zealand are determining whether a washed-up creature is a baleen whale, a species considered almost mythical because scientists have never recorded a live sighting.
— NASA beamed Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” some 158 million miles to Venus, marking the first time a hip-hop song has been sent into space.
— In Cambodia, a record number of Siamese crocodile eggs have just hatched in the wild, giving hope to a critically endangered species that was nearly extinct driven to extinction.
— A blazing meteor soared over New York this week and disintegrated over New Jersey, and sky watchers captured videos of the rare event.
Did you like what you read? Oh, but there’s more. Register here to get the next edition of The Miracle Theory in your inbox, brought to you by the writers of CNN Space and Science Ashley Strickland and Katie Hunt. They find wonders in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.
