Antlia (from Latin for "pump") is a constellation in the southern
celestial hemisphere. It was established by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in
the 18th century, and its name was later abbreviated from "Antlia
Pneumatica" by John Herschel. Completely visible from latitudes south of
49 degrees north, it is close to the stars forming the old constellation
of the ship Argo Navis. Antlia is a faint constellation; its brightest
star is Alpha Antliae, an orange giant that is a suspected variable
star, ranging between apparent magnitudes 4.22 and 4.29. S Antliae is an
eclipsing binary star system, changing in brightness as one star passes
in front of the other; sharing a common envelope, the stars are so close
they will one day merge to form a single star. Two star systems with
known exoplanets, HD 93083 and WASP-66, lie within Antlia, as do NGC
2997, a spiral galaxy, and the Antlia Dwarf Galaxy.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antlia>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1845:
American poet Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" (illustration
shown) appeared in The Evening Mirror, its first publication attributed
to Poe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven>
1943:
World War II: The Battle of Rennell Island, the last major
naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial
Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal Campaign, began.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rennell_Island>
1959:
The first Melodifestivalen, an annual Swedish music competition
that determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song
Contest, was held in Stockholm.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melodifestivalen>
2009:
The Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt ruled that people who
did not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions are
also eligible to receive government identity documents.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_identification_card_controversy>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Rafflesian:
1. Of or relating to Sir Stamford Raffles, a British colonial statesman
known for his founding of modern Singapore and British Malaya.
2. (Singapore) Of or relating to an educational institution named after
Sir Stamford Raffles.
3. (Singapore) A current or former student of an educational institution
named after Sir Stamford Raffles.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Rafflesian>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so
express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so
far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe
his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared
himself for the commission of every other crime.
--Thomas Paine
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine>