Science news this week: Gravitational waves and a winged Medusa medal

Space is the place for science news it seems, with a number of astounding discoveries from the cosmic realm getting us all starry-eyed this week.

The main headlines were the groundbreaking discovery of gravitational waves rippling in the cosmic background, and the first map of the Milky Way made with matter, not light, by tracing the galactic origins of thousands of "ghost particles," or neutrinos. However, we also had distortions in space-time putting Einstein's theory of relativity to the test, carbon compounds crucial to life found in star system 1,000 light-years from Earth, rare streaks of light above the U.S. signaling the fast-approaching solar maximum, and an alien planet hiding in our solar system — and it’s not "Planet X."

Back on Earth, we learned that the the world's largest crocodile living in captivity has passed a medical with flying colors, we saw an incredible video of a 28-year-old lab chimp seeing the open sky for the first time, and watched a shapeshifting eel with a “remarkably full tummy” swim in the deep sea. Sadly, we also found out that White Gladis, the orca that likely started the attacks on boats in Iberian waters, may have been pregnant at the time of her first strike, and was so hellbent on stopping boats that she neglected her calf once born.

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Outside of the animal kingdom, we found a silver medal with a winged Medusa at a Roman fort near Hadrian's Wall, some enigmatic Anglo-Saxon ivory rings, and a 2,000-year-old fresco in Pompeii that is definitely not a pizza (although it does offer a mouthwatering taste of the Roman diet).

Of course there is more, from controversial vaginal seeding to Yellowstone’s supervolcano, honey bee origins to collapsing mountain peaks, it has certainly been a busy one, so be sure to check back for the latest science news. Visit the site daily, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and sign up to our daily newsletter using the form below to stay up to date.

 Picture of the week 

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has become synonymous with jaw-dropping, full-color photos of some of the most compelling cosmic landscapes in the universe (if you don’t believe us, here are a few of our favorites). But, as new photos of Saturn reveal, even JWST's unprocessed black-and-white images are stunning.

JWST captured the new images of the ringed planet between June 24 and 25 as part of a project to study the planet's rings, moons and atmospheric composition.

Currently, the pictures are in stark — and somewhat eerie — black and white, which represent the number of photons JWST's Near Infrared Camera collects. Later, scientists will process and colorize the images into something more instantly recognizable. For now, they remain a ghostly and rarely seen portrait of the planet's icy rings.

 Weekend reading 

• Dust off your fedora and crack your bullwhip. The new Indiana Jones is out this weekend, but what do (real) archaeologists think of his legacy?
• Staying with Hollywood science, the meg returns to theaters in August. We don’t know how the movie will end, but this week we discovered how the giant sea monster probably met its demise. 
• If you can’t wait that long for your apex predator fix, here’s a few articles to dig your teeth into ahead of NatGeo’s Sharkfest — Seal is off the menu for sharks, but what’s replaced it? and some incredible stories of humans being "saved" from sharks by dolphins and whales.
• Water extinguishes fire, but how?
• The Euclid space telescope launches today. Here's what the groundbreaking mission will do.
• What caused the last ice age to end around 10,000 years ago?

 And finally… 

Point your telescope to the sky on Monday (July 3) to get a view of the beautiful Buck moon, the first supermoon of the year. Not only will the moon be closer to Earth than it typically is, but for most observers, the moon will also remain lower in the sky than at any other time this year.

The Earth-facing side of the moon will be fully lit by the sun at 6:40 a.m. EDT on Monday, but it will be best viewed at moonrise the previous evening as it appears in the southeastern sky. It will be in the constellation Sagittarius, and will appear bright and full on the nights of July 2 and 4 as well.

Of course, you don’t need a telescope to look at the moon, but if you’re interested in getting one, here’s our pick of the best, as well as our guide on the different types of telescope.