Grus is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the crane, a type of bird. It is one of twelve constellations conceived by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Grus first appeared on a celestial globe published in 1598 in Amsterdam by Plancius and Jodocus Hondius and was depicted in Johann Bayer's star atlas Uranometria of 1603 (shown here). French explorer and astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille gave Bayer designations to its stars in 1756, some of which had previously been considered part of the neighbouring constellation Piscis Austrinus. The constellations Grus, Pavo, Phoenix and Tucana are collectively known as the "Southern Birds". The constellation's brightest star, Alpha Gruis, is also known as Alnair and appears as a 1.7-magnitude blue-white star. Beta Gruis is a red giant variable star with a magnitude of 2.3 to 2.0. Six star systems have been found to have planets: the red dwarf Gliese 832 is one of the closest stars to Earth that has a planetary system. Another—WASP-95—has a planet that orbits every two days. Deep-sky objects found in Grus include the planetary nebula IC 5148, also known as the Spare Tyre Nebula, and a group of four interacting galaxies known as the Grus Quartet.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grus_(constellation)
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1437:
King James I of Scotland was murdered at Perth in a failed coup by his uncle and former ally Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_I_of_Scotland
1848:
Communist theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto, which became one of the world's most influential political tracts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Communist_Manifesto
1921:
Rezā Khan seized Tehran to make himself the most powerful person in Iran, which eventually led to the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1921_Persian_coup_d%27etat
1965:
Black nationalist Malcolm X was assassinated while giving a speech in New York City's Audubon Ballroom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X
1971:
The Convention on Psychotropic Substances, a United Nations treaty designed to control psychoactive drugs, was signed at a conference of plenipotentiaries in Vienna. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Psychotropic_Substances
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
jump the shark: 1. (idiomatic, of a television program or other narrative) To undergo a storyline development which heralds a fundamental and generally disappointing change in direction. 2. (more generally) To experience a decline in quality, appeal, popularity, etc. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jump_the_shark
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
All writers have concealed more than they revealed. The artist is the only one who knows that the world is a subjective creation, that there is a choice to be made, a selection of elements. It is a materialization, an incarnation of his inner world. Then he hopes to attract others into it. He hopes to impose his particular vision and share it with others. And when the second stage is not reached, the brave artist continues nevertheless. The few moments of communion with the world are worth the pain, for it is a world for others, an inheritance for others, a gift to others, in the end. When you make a world tolerable for yourself, you make a world tolerable for others. --Anaïs Nin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ana%C3%AFs_Nin