Pics du jour

🗺️🔍 The world’s longest modern-day treasure hunt is over. In 1993, communications expert Régis Hauser published a French armchair treasure hunt book with clues leading to a prize – the “Golden Owl,” a ~$240,000 item Hauser buried a replica of in a secret location. The treasure hunt appears to have ended last Thursday, after an unnamed treasure hunter found the replica.

🚀☄️ A European spacecraft set off on an asteroid “crime scene investigation.” The European Space Agency’s Hera mission aims to survey the aftermath from NASA’s 2022 DART mission, in which a spacecraft was intentionally slammed into an asteroid to alter its trajectory. The Hera spacecraft and two shoebox-size satellites lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket yesterday, and will arrive at their destination in late 2026.

🇳🇿🚢 New Zealand lost its first naval ship since WWII, creating a potential environmental disaster. The HMNZS Manawanui sank off the coast of Samoa on Sunday morning, hours after it lost power and ran aground while conducting a reef survey. All 75 passengers and crew made it off the ship safely. Officials say the wreck will likely generate an oil spill that harms the local environment.