On 27 December 2004, a magnetar, a neutron star with an extreme magnetic field, unleashed a burst of gamma rays. In a fraction of a second, it released more energy than the Sun does in over 100,000 years. Despite the distance, the flash measurably disturbed Earth's upper atmosphere. It's one of the most powerful ever recorded.
A large share of Earth's water molecules formed in the interstellar cloud that existed before the Sun was even born, more than 4.6 billion years ago. You are literally drinking a cosmic fossil.
By day, the Martian sky looks butterscotch because of fine dust hanging in the air. But at dusk, those same grains scatter blue light forward, creating a bluish glow around the Sun. Rovers have photographed these blue sunsets: the exact reverse of what we see on Earth.