Pavo is a constellation in the southern sky whose name is Latin for
"peacock". It is one of twelve constellations established by Petrus
Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick
de Houtman. First appearing on a 35 cm (14 in) diameter celestial
globe published in 1598 in Amsterdam by Plancius and Jodocus Hondius, it
was depicted in Johann Bayer's star atlas Uranometria of 1603. Pavo's
brightest member, Alpha Pavonis, is also known as Peacock and appears as
a 1.91-magnitude blue-white star, but is actually a spectroscopic
binary. Delta Pavonis is a Sun-like star some 19.9 light years distant.
Six of the star systems in Pavo have been found to host planets,
including HD 181433 with a super-Earth, and HD 172555 with evidence of a
major interplanetary collision in the past few thousand years. Pavo also
contains NGC 6752, the fourth-brightest globular cluster in the sky, and
NGC 6744, a spiral galaxy which closely resembles our Milky Way, with a
diameter twice as wide.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavo_%28constellation%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1891:
During a visit of the French Navy to Kronstadt in Russia, the
two nations reached a secret agreement on a joint response to any future
war in Europe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronstadt%E2%80%93Toulon_naval_visits>
1921:
The first National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party
opened in a house in Shanghai.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Communist_Party>
1968:
A shootout between police and a Black power group began in
Cleveland, Ohio, sparking three days of rioting.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenville_shootout>
2001:
Megawati Sukarnoputri became the first female president of
Indonesia after her predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid was removed from
office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megawati_Sukarnoputri>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
oakum:
1. Coarse fibres separated by hackling from flax or hemp when preparing
the latter for spinning.
2. Fibres chiefly obtained by untwisting old rope, which are used to
caulk or pack gaps between boards of wooden ships and joints in masonry
and plumbing, and sometimes for dressing wounds.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oakum>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is the best day ever — and so is yesterday, and so is
tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and even Wednesdays, and every day
from now until forever!
--Barbie
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbie_%28film%29>