Lynx is a constellation in the northern sky that was introduced in the 17th century by Johannes Hevelius. Named after the animal, it is a faint constellation whose brightest stars form a zigzag line. The orange giant Alpha Lyncis is the brightest star in the constellation, while the semiregular variable star Y Lyncis is a popular target for amateur astronomers. Six star systems have been found to contain planets. Those of 6 Lyncis and HD 75898 were discovered by the Doppler method; those of XO-2, XO-4, XO-5 and WASP-13 were observed as they passed in front of the host star. Within the constellation's borders lie NGC 2419, an unusually remote globular cluster; the galaxy NGC 2770, which has hosted three recent Type Ib supernovae; the distant quasar APM 08279+5255, whose light is magnified and split into multiple images by the gravitational lensing effect of a foreground galaxy; and the Lynx Supercluster, which was the most distant supercluster known at the time of its discovery in 1999.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(constellation)
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1270:
Yekuno Amlak deposed the last Zagwe king and seized the imperial throne of Ethiopia, beginning the reign of the Solomonic dynasty that would last for more than 700 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekuno_Amlak
1792:
French Revolution: Insurrectionists in Paris stormed the Tuileries Palace, effectively ending the French monarchy until it was restored in 1814. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_August_(French_Revolution)
1864:
After Uruguay's governing Blanco Party refused Brazil's demands, José Antônio Saraiva announced that the Brazilian military would exact reprisals, beginning the Uruguayan War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan_War
1901:
The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers began an ultimately unsuccessful strike to reverse its declining fortunes and organize large numbers of new members. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Steel_recognition_strike_of_1901
1966:
The Heron Road Bridge in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, collapsed during its construction, killing nine workers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron_Road_Workers_Memorial_Bridge
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
adroit: Deft, dexterous, or skillful. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adroit
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Reactionism is not the same thing as conservatism. It’s far more potent a brew. Reactionary thought begins, usually, with acute despair at the present moment and a memory of a previous golden age. It then posits a moment in the past when everything went to hell and proposes to turn things back to what they once were. It is not simply a conservative preference for things as they are, with a few nudges back, but a passionate loathing of the status quo and a desire to return to the past in one emotionally cathartic revolt. If conservatives are pessimistic, reactionaries are apocalyptic. If conservatives value elites, reactionaries seethe with contempt for them. If conservatives believe in institutions, reactionaries want to blow them up. If conservatives tend to resist too radical a change, reactionaries want a revolution. Though it took some time to reveal itself, today’s Republican Party — from Newt Gingrich’s Republican Revolution to today’s Age of Trump — is not a conservative party. It is a reactionary party that is now at the peak of its political power. --Andrew Sullivan https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Sullivan