wunder.newsA little wonder every day

Friday, October 23, 2026

Real NASA satellite map: sea level across the Pacific on Oct. 12, 2026; red is higher than normal water.
Real NASA satellite map: sea level across the Pacific on Oct. 12, 2026; red is higher than normal water. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin, NASA/JPL-Caltech data · Public domain (NASA image; NASA media usage guidelines) · Source ↗

A Pacific pattern that rivals a strong one from years ago, a space telescope in its final tests, a quiet jet flown faster than sound, and a new green horned toad. Here's today's wonder.

In this edition

  1. EarthNASA maps show 2026 El Niño rivals the 1997 event
  2. SpaceRoman telescope enters final testing before science
  3. TechnologyNASA pilot flies the quiet X-59 at Mach 1.4
  4. DiscoveryScientists name a new green horned toad from the Himalayas

Every fact comes straight from primary sources, listed below.

The stories

Technology · Oct 23, 2026

NASA pilot flies the quiet X-59 at Mach 1.4

NASA test pilot Mike Lippert flew the X-59 quiet supersonic research jet for the first time on Wednesday, reaching Mach 1.4 and 55,000 feet in a one-hour flight at Armstrong Flight Research Center.

Discovery · Oct 23, 2026

Scientists name a new green horned toad from the Himalayas

A peer-reviewed paper in Zoosystematics and Evolution describes a new Asian horned toad, Megophrys motuoensis, and places it in a new branch, Viridophrys, from Motuo County in the eastern Himalayas of southwestern China.

Sources & credits for this edition5 sources

Sources

  1. NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day: El Nino Then and Now (Oct. 23, 2026; maps from NASA/JPL-Caltech sea-level altimetry)science.nasa.gov ↗ · used in NASA maps show 2026 El Niño rivals the 1997 event
  2. NASA Roman Space Telescope blog: NASA's Roman Space Telescope Enters Final Commissioning Phase (Oct. 22, 2026)science.nasa.gov ↗ · used in Roman telescope enters final testing before science
  3. NASA Quesst blog: NASA's Mike Lippert Takes Controls of X-59 for First Time (Oct. 22, 2026)nasa.gov ↗ · used in NASA pilot flies the quiet X-59 at Mach 1.4
  4. Zoosystematics and Evolution paper: A striking new subgenus and species of Asian horned toads (Liu, Zhang, Chen, Yuan et al., published Oct. 21, 2026; doi 10.3897/zse.102.183945)zse.pensoft.net ↗ · used in Scientists name a new green horned toad from the Himalayas
  5. Same paper, full text (Pensoft XML of doi 10.3897/zse.102.183945)zse.pensoft.net ↗ · used in Scientists name a new green horned toad from the Himalayas

Image and footage credits