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)>
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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>
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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>
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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>