Notes:
From the images captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers led by Timothy Hamilton have discovered an unusual gravitational lensing configuration.
Named as ‘Hamilton’s Object,’ it consists of two images of a spiral background galaxy in a fold configuration and a third resolved image of the same spiral galaxy. Together, they create a tangential point configuration.

 

Notes:
Jezero crater is known to be a dry, wind-eroded depression in the surface of Mars. However, the first scientific analysis of images taken by NASA’s Perseverance rover has now confirmed that the Jezero crater was once a quiet lake.
It says that the lake was fed steadily by a small river over 3.7 billion years ago. The images also reveal evidence that the crater underwent flash floods. The new analysis is based on images of the outcropping rocks inside the crater on its western side.

Notes:
Paleontologists have discovered the fossilized upper molar tooth of Hippopotamus antiquus from Westbury Cave, in the UK.
It is an extinct species of hippo that lived in Europe during a warm period between 2 and 1 million years ago. The species is said to had been much larger than the modern African hippo, weighing around 3 tons. It is known to have been more reliant on aquatic habitats.

Notes:
Darwin’s ground sloth (Mylodon darwinii), lived in South America between 1.8 million years and 12,000 years ago.
Though the six living sloth species are relatively small and herbivorous tree-dwellers, some species roamed from Alaska to South America. As per findings of a recent study, the extinct species was between 3 and 4 m long and weighed between 1 and 2 tons. The study also contradicts that all sloths were necessarily herbivores.

 

Notes:
Amoria is a genus of marine gastropods (snails and slugs). These predatory creatures are found in onshore and offshore waters around the entire coast of Australia. Some species extend into waters of southern Indonesia.
Named Amoria thorae, the species is very rare and scientists have not seen a live specimen yet. The newly-identified species can be distinguished from other Amoria species by the combination of small shell size, shape, high spire, equal-sized thick plaits among others.