Corvus is a small constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere.
Its name means "raven" in Latin. In the Babylonian star catalogues
dating from at least 1100 BCE, it was called the Babylonian Raven. One
of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy,
it depicts a raven, a bird associated with stories about the god Apollo,
perched on the back of Hydra the water snake. It is also bordered by the
constellations Virgo and Crater. Its four brightest stars, Gamma, Delta,
Epsilon, and Beta Corvi, form a distinctive quadrilateral in the night
sky. With an apparent magnitude of 2.59, Gamma Corvi—also known as
Gienah—is the brightest star in the constellation. It is an aging blue
giant around four times as massive as the Sun. The young star Eta Corvi
has been found to have two debris disks. Three star systems have
exoplanets, and a fourth planetary system is unconfirmed. TV Corvi is a
dwarf nova—a white dwarf and brown dwarf in very close orbit.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvus_(constellation)>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1159:
Pope Alexander III was chosen as the successor of Pope Adrian
IV in a disputed election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_election,_1159>
1778:
Anglo-French War: France invaded the island of Dominica and
captured its British fort before the latter even knew that France had
allied with the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Dominica_(1778)>
1936:
The last thylacine died in captivity in Hobart Zoo in
Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine>
1940:
Second World War: The Luftwaffe changed their strategy in the
Battle of Britain and began bombing London and other British cities and
towns for more than 50 consecutive nights (Heinkel bomber pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz>
2010:
A Chinese fishing trawler, operating in disputed waters,
collided with Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats near the Senkaku
Islands, sparking a major diplomatic dispute between the two countries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Senkaku_boat_collision_incident>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
fester:
1. (intransitive) To become septic; to become rotten.
2. (intransitive) To worsen, especially due to lack of attention.
3. (transitive) To cause to fester or rankle.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fester>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Let us learn to dream, gentlemen, and then perhaps we shall learn
the truth . . . but let us beware of publishing our dreams before they
have been put to the proof by the waking understanding.
--August Kekulé
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/August_Kekul%C3%A9>