A region of space full of newly forming stars 390 light-years from Earth shines in a new photo from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.
Why it matters: The young stars in this image are all similar in mass to our Sun, allowing scientists to peer into what the early history of our nearest star likely looked like.
Earth's 4.5 billion-year history is divided into geological epochs that each typically span millions of years. On Tuesday, scientists announced that sediment at the bottom of a lake in Ontario, Canada, contains key indicators that the world has entered a new epoch called the Anthropocene.
The big picture: These researchers say humans, rather than a natural phenomenon like an asteroid strike, pushed the planet into this phase — one in which Earth is being rapidly transformed.
A mission that would mark the pinnacle of a decades-long quest to explore Mars with robots is being evaluated as NASA reckons with itspossibly extreme cost.
Why it matters: The mission to return samples of rock from the Red Planet back to Earth for researchers to study up close could shed light on whether Mars was ever inhabited.
An "extremely dangerous" heat wave is ramping up from Florida to California, and is poised to topple records and threaten public health.
The big picture: The extreme heat has prompted the National Weather Service to issue heat alerts for more than 86 million people, according to heat.gov, with the hottest temperatures destined for the Southwest.
Severe storms sweeping the U.S. Northeast caused catastrophic flooding that officials in Vermont said Monday had surpassed levels experienced by the remnants of the deadly 2011 Hurricane Irene, which washed away homes and roads.
The big picture: Tuesday morning, much of the state capital of Montpelier was inundated after the Winooski River soared above levels seen during the flooding associated with the remnants of Irene.
Residents in New York and New England are experiencing flooding not seen since the remnants of the deadly Hurricane Irene destroyed roads and inundated homes in 2011.
The big picture: Heavy rainfall has inundated streets and prompted multiple water rescues and road closures in N.Y. and Vermont since it hit the region Sunday. At least one death was confirmed in N.Y. as officials continued to respond to the extreme weather event Monday. Studies show climate change is increasing the frequency of precipitation extremes.
