It is the 3167th Martian day, or sol, of the Rover mission. Curiosity climbs Mount Sharp within the basin of Gale Crater. And the Mastcam shoots the fantastic panorama you see above. Curiosity landed nine years ago, on Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (Aug. 6, 2012 EDT), to study whether different Martian environments could have supported microbial life in the planet’s ancient past when lakes and groundwater existed within Gale Crater.

Scientists have spotted a previously unrecognized feature of our Milky Way galaxy: A contingent of young stars and star-forming gas clouds is sticking out of one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms like a splinter poking out from a plank of wood. The structure stretches some 3,000 light-years. What makes it special is its orientation which is dramatically different from the arm’s. The newly discovered feature offers insight into the large-scale structure of our galaxy.

On Earth, in most regions, we are used to clouds; they consist of water and can have all kinds of shapes, often leading to just staring at clouds and fantasizing about what we can see in them. They are an essential part of the water cycle on Earth, so they are not only beautiful, or sometimes impressive, or scary, but also crucial by bringing rain and feeding plants and trees. Water could be called the essence of life on Earth.