Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis: A Rhinoceros from the Pleistocene of Romania.

Three species of Rhinoceros are known from the Middle-to-Late Pleistocene of Romania, the Woolly Rhinoceros, Coelodonta antiquitatis, a cold-adapted species associated with the various glacial phases, the Narrow-nosed rhinoceros, or Steppe Rhinoceros, Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, a species associated with the warmer, interglacial phases, and Merck's Rhinoceros, Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis, a larger species which may have reached as much as three tonnes, making it larger than the White Rhinoceros, Ceratotherium simum, the largest extant Rhinoceros species. Merck's Rhinoceros also appears to have favoured warmer phases, and possibly to have been restricted to the Eemian Interglacial (between 130 000 and 150 000 years ago), although specimens have been found from Siberia which apparently lived alongside Woolly Rhinoceroses, suggesting the species may have been longer lived more tolerant of climatic variation than it is generally given credit for.

In a paper published in the North-Western Journal of Zoology on 15 June 2026, Vlad Codrea of the Paleotheriology and Quaternary Geology Laboratory at Babeș-Bolyai University, the Department of Natural Sciences at Mureș County Museum, the Department of Natural History at Țării Crișurilor Museum, and the Emil Racoviță Speleological Institute, and Aurelian Popescu of the Department of Natural Sciences at the Museum of Oltenia Craiova, describe a partial Rhinoceros mandible from Dolj County in southwestern Romania. 

The mandible was discovered by English engineer William Heerlein Lindley, who was working on a water supply system for the city of Craiova, which had undergone a period of rapid expansion during the late nineteenth century, leaving the system of wells which had traditionally provided water for its residents wholly inadequate. It is unclear exactly where Lindley found the mandible, but it probably came from the Upper Terrace of the Jui River Basin, which reaches its greatest width to the east of Craiova, and where Lindley carried out considerable work, channelling water from natural springs into a system of cast-iron pipes to supply the city. The Upper Terrace has also yielded Woolly Mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, Woolly Rhinoceros, Coelodonta antiquitatis, and Irish Elk, Megaloceros giganteus, fossils, and is considered to be Late Pleistocene in age.

Location of the municipality of Craiova. Codrea & Popescu (2026).

Lindley gave the mandible to Alexandru and Aristia Aman, who had a collection of art, antiquities, and books, which in turn was passed to the Olteniei Museum in Craiova in the 1950s, with the specimen becoming part of that museum's natural history collection.

The specimen is the rear part of the mandible of a large Perissodactyl, with the anterior portion broken off, a broken area on the anterior edge of the coronoid process. This broken area makes it hard to judge the  elevation of the anterior edge of the vertical branch of the mandible. The teeth have also been broken from the jaw, but this is recent damage, probably caused during its excavation.

Right half mandible from the Malu Mare area of Dolj County, Romanina, in (a) lateral buccal view, (b) lateral lingual view, and (c) upper view. Codrea & Popescu (2026).

The damage to the jaw removes many of the diagnostic features used when classifying Perissodactyls, though its large size rules out anything but a large Rhinoceros, while still being too small for the truly enormous Elasmotherium. It also has a nutrient foramina on the ventral side of the symphysis, a feature associated with Merck's Rhinoceros, leading Codrea and Popescu to conclude that it should be assigned to this species.

While the teeth of the specimen are missing, they were clearly all fully erupted, indicating that it was an adult at time of death. It was probably of about average size for a specimen of Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis. The exact age of the specimen is impossible to know, given the circumstances of its discovery. If it does come from the sediments Lindley excavated at Malu Mare when laying his pipeline, then it would be the oldest known Rhinoceros from Romania, as well as having come from deposits which also yielded cold-adapted species such as Woolly Rhinoceros, Woolly Mammoth, and Irish Elk, although it is possible that Lindley discovered it elsewhere, so this cannot be asserted with any confidence.

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The Kappa Cygnid Meteor Shower.

The Kappa Cygnid Meteor Shower is visible some years between the months of June and September, peaking between 3 and 25 August, with the best peak rate generally falling before dawn on 18 August, when the shower can produce 2-3 meteors per hour, with these tending to be bright fireballs with multiple fares. The meteor shower gains its name from the star Kappa Cygnus, which it is close to at the peak of its activity, and which is circumpolar in the Northern Hemisphere (i.e., close to the North Pole, and permanently above the horizon), although generally invisible in the Southern Hemisphere. If the shower does appear, viewing should be reasonably good, as activity will peak two days before the first quarter Moon, which will be in the constellation of Virgo, providing minimal light interference. However, the meteor shower is notoriously erratic, not being seen every year; it was last seen in the Augusts of 2020 and 2021, and before that in 2013 and 2014, then before that in 2007.

The radiant point of the Kappa Cygnid Meteor Shower. The Sky Live.

Meteor showers are thought to be largely composed of material from the tails of comets. Comets are composed largely of ice (mostly water and carbon dioxide), and when they fall into the inner Solar System the outer layers of this boil away, forming a visible tail (which always points away from the Sun, not in the direction the comet is coming from, as our Earth-bound experience would lead us to expect). Particles of rock and dust from within the comet are freed by this melting (strictly sublimation, transforming directly from a solid to a gas due to the low pressure on it's surface) of the comet into the tail and continue to orbit in the same path as the comet, falling behind over time.

The Earth passing through a stream of comet dust, resulting in a meteor shower. Not to scale. Astro Bob.

The source body of the Kappa Cygnid Meteors remains somewhat of an enigma. The low number of asteroids, and their irregular arrival, suggests they are an old shower potentially derived from an object no longer visiting the Inner Solar System, whereas the brightness of the meteors suggests a younger origin. One possible solution to this is that they are derived from a body whose orbit undergoes a sinusoidal oscillation, something which can be caused if a body is forced into an orbital resonance with a larger body, often Jupiter in our Solar System. 

How the passage of the Earth through a meteor shower creates a radiant point from which they can be observed. In The Sky.

One potential parent body for the Kappa Cygnid Meteors which has been suggested is 2008 ED69, an asteroid which has an orbit with a 2:1 resonance with that of Jupiter and an orbital period of 4.96 years, which is thought to have been pushed into and out of Earth-crossing orbits repeatedly over the past 6000 years. However, more recent studies have established that the Kappa Cygnid Meteor Shower has an orbital period of 7.12 years and is locked into a 5:3 orbital resonance with Jupiter, ruling out 2008 ED69 as a potential parent body.

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At least 53 dead following Magnitude 7.7 Earthquake off the coast of Flores Island, Indonesia.

The Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency recorded a Magnitude 7.7 Earthquake at a depth of about 15 km, to the north of the Island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia slightly before 5.00 am on Saturday 15 August 2026, Eastern Indonesian Time (slightly before 10.00 pm on Friday 14 August, GMT). The Earthquake was felt as far away as Bali, and caused a tsunami as high as 1.6 m on some parts of the coast of Flores. The initial event has been followed by more than three hundred aftershocks.

The approximate location of the 15 August 2026 Flores Earthquake. USGS.

At least 53 people have died as a result of this event, the majority of them killed in their sleep as buildings collapsed onto them, making this the most deadly Earthquake to hit Indonesia since 2022. A further 135 people are known to have been injured, with more than 5000 people displaced and over 1900 homes damaged or destroyed. The Earthquake also caused damage to at least 93 educational facilities, 36 health facilities, 38 government offices, and five places of worship. A maritime passenger terminal collapsed in Maumere on the north coast of Flores.

Damaged and collapsed building in the city of Mbay on the north coast of Flores. Ignasius Kunda/EPA.

Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which are located on the northern part of the Timor Microplate. This is trapped between the converging Eurasian and Australian Plates, both of which are being subducted beneath it. In the south the Australian Plate is passing under the island of Timor, while in the north the Eurasian Plate is being subducted in the same way. This is not a smooth process; the rocks of the various plates constantly stick together, only to break apart again as the pressure builds up, causing Earthquakes in the process.

The subduction zones beneath the Timor Microplate. Hamson (2004).

Earthquakes along subductive margins are particularly prone to causing tsunamis, since these often occur when the overlying plate has stuck to the underlying plate, being pulled out of shape by its movement. Eventually the pressure builds up too far and the overlying plate snaps back, causing an Earthquake and a tsunami. 

Simplified graphic showing tsunami generation along a convergent margin, and how this can be monitored using ground-based GPS systems to give early warnings of the arrival of tsunamis. NASA/JPL/CalTech.

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Total Solar Eclipse to be visible from Greenland and Spain.

 A total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from parts of Greenland and Spain, as well as intervening parts of the Atlantic Ocean, on Wednesday 12 August 2026, with a partial eclipse visible from the rest of western Europe, Canada, eastern parts of the United States, and parts of North and West Africa. The event will occur between 4.35 pm and 8.57 pm GMT, although local start and end times will vary within this window.

The Moon's shadow projected onto the Earth as the eclipse proceeds. The hemisphere of the Earth facing the Sun is shown. Contours show where various fractions of the Sun's disk is covered. In-The-Sky.

Eclipses are a product of the way the Earth, Moon and Sun move about one-another. The Moon orbits the Earth every 28 days, while the Earth orbits the Sun every 365 days, and because the two Sun and Moon appear roughly the same size when seen from Earth, it is quite possible for the Moon to block out the light of the Sun. At first sight this would seem likely to happen every month at the New Moon, when the Moon is on the same side of the Earth as the Sun, and therefore invisible (the Moon produced no light of its own, when we see the Moon, we are seeing reflected sunlight, but this can only happen when we can see parts of the Moon illuminated by the Sun).

The relative positions of the Sun, Moon and Earth during a Solar eclipse. Starry Night.

However, the Moon does not orbit in quite the same plane as the Earth orbits the Sun, so the Eclipses only occur when the two orbital planes cross one-another; this typically happens two or three times a year, and always at the New Moon. During Total Eclipses the Moon entirely blocks the light of the Sun, however most Eclipses are Partial, the Moon only partially blocks the light of the Sun.

How the differing inclinations of the Earth and Moon's orbits prevent us having an eclipse every 28 days. Starry Skies.

Although the light of the Sun is reduced during an Eclipse, it is still extremely dangerous to look directly at the Sun, and viewing eclipses should not be undertaken without appropriate equipment.

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Archaeologists uncover Bronze Age kitchen in western Azerbaijan.

A group of Italian and Azerbaijani archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be a Bronze Age ceremonial kitchen at a site called Tava Tepe in western Azerbaijan, according to a press release issued by the University of Catania on 3 August 2026. The site, which was discovered in 2024 and which sits on top of an artificial earthen terrace, has since been excavated by archaeologists from the University of Catania, the Baku Academy of Sciences, and La Sapienza University in Rome, providing unique insights into life in the Caucasus during the late Bronze Age.

The location of the Tava Tepe archaeological site. Google Maps.

The site is thought to have been occupied between about 1300 and 1000 BC, and comprises a series of layers that suggest the site was rebuilt several times, whilst retaining its function and layout. At the centre of the site is a large circular brazier, which appears to have served as a location for a main cooking fire. Over time this appears to have been enhanced by the addition of a series of ovens, and spaces for food preparation. Many bowls and dishes, as well as remains of food, were found at the site, some of them stacked within the ovens. The whole are appears to have been covered by a roof of wooden branches, which would have made the location visible from a great distance.

The central brazier at the Tave Tepe site and associated pottery. University of Catania.

Surrounding this central area are traces of what have been interpreted as a series of wooden huts with beaten limestone floors, which appear to have been dedicated to the preparation of foods. Notable finds within these include a series of terracotta moulds, and items interpreted as pintaderas, stamps used to imprint a pattern upon bread.

A series of terracotta objects interpreted as pintaderas, stamps used to imprint a pattern upon bread, from the Tave Tepe site. University of Catania.

Examination of food remains from the site has revealed the nature of at least one meal eaten there, a dish of beef accompanied by a sort of polenta made from Millet, to which honey had been added. Professor Nicola Laneri of the University of Catania, the lead archaeologist at the site, believes that communities living along the Kura River in the late Bronze Age may have periodically met up at the Tave Tepe site for ceremonial meals, meetings which would also have helped to cement social cohesion among these groups.

An aerial view of the Tava Tepe site. University of Catania.

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