A large rock broke off Marss surface when an asteroid struck the planet, sending it flying through space. The roughly 54-pound slab then traveled 140 million miles to Earth, where it breached the atm… [+2897 chars]

A massive Mars meteorite sold for a record-breaking $5.3 million at a Sotheby’s auction, making it the highest selling meteorite ever.

The Washington Post

A massive rock from Mars landed on Earth. It sold for a record $5.3M. - The Washington Post

Wild tomatoes rooted on the raw lava of Fernandina and Isabela Islands have done something biologists once filed under nearly impossible, reviving a molecular defense that disappeared from their rela… [+5029 chars]

Wild tomatoes from the Galápagos Islands are reversing evolution and regaining an ancient chemical defense after millions of years.

Earth.com

Scientists find a surprising case of 'reverse evolution' in wild tomatoes - Earth.com

Astronomers have discovered that radiation emitted by a rapidly spinning neutron star, or "pulsar," is dominated by the impact of its powerful particle winds — and not by the material it strips from … [+4276 chars]

"Transitional millisecond pulsars are cosmic laboratories that help us understand how neutron stars evolve in binary systems."

Space.com

NASA X-ray spacecraft reveals secrets of a powerful, spinning neutron star - Space

On July 15, a solar filament erupted from the Suns upper left side, ejecting a powerful blast of plasma and magnetic fields into space. The resulting explosion was so massive that it seared a deep, f… [+1790 chars]

The explosion created a 250,000-mile-long, boiling trench of hot plasma and debris in the star’s outer atmosphere.

Gizmodo.com

Colossal Eruption Carves ‘Canyon of Fire’ Onto the Sun’s Surface - Gizmodo

Two of the strangest structures in the galaxy just got even stranger.
Ballooning above and below the Milky Way's center like a massive hourglass, the mysterious Fermi bubbles
 loom large over our g… [+4125 chars]

Twin orbs of superhot plasma at the Milky Way's center known as the "Fermi bubbles" contain inexplicable clouds of cold hydrogen, new research reveals. They could help scientists figure out when our galaxy's black hole last erupted.

Live Science

'Ice cube' clouds discovered at the galaxy's center shouldn't exist — and they hint at a recent black hole explosion - Live Science

The northern lights have a chance of appearing again in the northern United States on Tuesday night, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predictedalthough likely only viewers in the n… [+2090 chars]

The aurora borealis has a chance to appear for viewers in Alaska and the upper Midwest, including Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Forbes

Northern Lights Forecast: These Eight States Could See The Aurora Borealis Tonight - Forbes

Look at all of those satellite bargains! — NASAWatch.com 
Keith’s note: Update on the earlier post Going Out Of Business Sale For JPL Satellites: emails are circulating within JPL and NASA that ment… [+366 chars]

Nasawatch.com

But Wait: More Used Satellite Bargains At NASA - NASA Watch

Mammals have developed some unusual eating habits over the past 100 million years, but a new study has uncovered the surprising lengths to which some have gone to satisfy one of the more peculiara ta… [+6824 chars]

Mammals have developed some unusual eating habits over the past 100 million years, but a new study has uncovered the surprising lengths to which some have gone to satisfy one of the more peculiar—a taste for ants and termites.

Phys.Org

Mammals have evolved into ant eaters 12 times since the dinosaur age, study finds - Phys.org

Astronomers have discovered a massive new solar system body located beyond the orbit of Pluto. The weird elongated orbit of the object suggests that if "Planet Nine" exists, it is much further from t… [+4504 chars]

"It is possible that a planet once existed in the solar system but was later ejected, causing the unusual orbits we see today."

Astronomers discover a cosmic 'fossil' at the edge of our solar system. Is this bad news for 'Planet 9'? - Space

A new method turns noise into valuable data to enhance understanding of chemical reactions and material properties with unprecedented detail at the atomic level. The results of this research are now … [+7071 chars]

A new method turns noise into valuable data to enhance understanding of chemical reactions and material properties with unprecedented detail at the atomic level. The results of this research are now published in Nature.

2014 Nobel Prize idea used to reach super-resolution imaging, turning noise into data - Phys.org

The Seahorse Nebula (left) was captured alongside the Fireworks Galaxy and the 'Ghost Bush' open star cluster (right). (Image credit: Greg Meyer)
Astrophotographer Greg Meyer has captured a spectacu… [+3175 chars]

10 supernova explosions have been seen brightening the Fireworks Galaxy over the past century.

Astrophotographer captures galactic fireworks near the Seahorse Nebula in eerie deep-space photo - Space

Researchers have pulled the perfectly-preserved skull of an ice age horse
 from a mine in Yukon, Canada, new pictures show.
Based on the soil around the skull and the depth of sediments where it wa… [+2520 chars]

New pictures taken in Yukon, Canada, show a perfectly preserved fossil skull, which experts say belonged to a male, teenage horse that lived during the last ice age.

'Beautifully preserved' ice age horse skull unearthed in Yukon mine - Live Science

A giant plasma plume dubbed "The Beast" was recently spotted dancing above the sun
 as it showered our home star with blobs of impossibly fast fire. The shapeshifting projection, which stretched mor… [+3788 chars]

Astrophotographers have snapped stunning shots of a giant shapeshifting solar prominence, dubbed "The Beast," which appeared over the sun's northeastern limb on July 12 and rained impossibly fast fire over our home star.

Behold, 'The Beast': Gigantic animal-like plasma plume 13 times wider than Earth hovers over the sun - Live Science

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered an oddball galaxy, dubbed the Infinity Galaxy, that could be host to a "direct collapse black hole." That is, a black hole ori… [+8274 chars]

"The biggest surprise of all was that the black hole was not located inside either of the two nuclei but in the middle. We asked ourselves: How can we make sense of this?"

JWST finds unusual black hole in the center of the Infinity Galaxy: 'How can we make sense of this?' - Space

Earlier this month, astronomers were thrilled to spot an interstellar object only the third of its kind ever observed hurtling toward the center of the solar system on an extremely unusual trajectory… [+4371 chars]

Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb suggests that if interstellar object 3I/ATLAS isn't a comet, nor an asteroid, it may have been "sent" to us.

Futurism

Astronomer Says the Object Approaching Us From Beyond the Solar System Is Not What We Think - Futurism

Astronomers have witnessed the birth of a planetary system that could one day resemble the solar system. The discovery offers scientists a proxy to study how our home planetary system formed around t… [+4905 chars]

"For the first time, we have identified the earliest moment when planet formation is initiated around a star other than our sun."

Astronomers witness the birth of a planetary system for the 1st time (video) - Space

As NASA continues its transition toward a commercial low Earth orbit marketplace, an agency-supported commercial space station, Starlab, recently completed five development and design milestones. Sta… [+2421 chars]

As NASA continues its transition toward a commercial low Earth orbit marketplace, an agency-supported commercial space station, Starlab, recently completed

NASA

NASA Sees Key Progress on Starlab Commercial Space Station - NASA (.gov)

In a new Nature Physicspaper, researchers report the first experimental observation of the transverse Thomson effect, a key thermoelectric phenomenon that has eluded scientists since it was predicted… [+6741 chars]

In a new Nature Physics paper, researchers report the first experimental observation of the transverse Thomson effect, a key thermoelectric phenomenon that has eluded scientists since it was predicted over a century ago.