Canis Minor is a small constellation in the northern celestial
hemisphere. In the second century, it was included as an asterism, or
pattern, of two stars in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted
among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for "smaller dog"
(1801 illustration shown) in contrast to Canis Major, the "larger dog".
Canis Minor contains only two stars brighter than fourth magnitude,
Procyon and Gomeisa. Procyon is the seventh-brightest star in the night
sky, as well as one of the closest. A yellow-white main sequence star,
it has a white dwarf companion. Gomeisa is a blue-white main sequence
star. Luyten's Star is a ninth-magnitude red dwarf and the Solar
System's next closest stellar neighbour in the constellation after
Procyon. The fourth-magnitude HD 66141, which has evolved into an orange
giant towards the end of its life cycle, was discovered to have a planet
in 2012. Known as Thor's Helmet or the Duck Nebula, NGC 2359 is a tenth-
magnitude nebula surrounding a Wolf-Rayet star. There are two faint deep
sky objects within the constellation's borders. The 11 Canis-Minorids
are a meteor shower that can be seen in early December.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canis_Minor>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1788:
American pioneers established the town of Marietta (in modern
Ohio), the first permanent American settlement outside the original
Thirteen Colonies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pioneers_to_the_Northwest_Territory>
1862:
American Civil War: Union forces defeated Confederates at the
Battle of Shiloh, the bloodiest battle in U.S. history at the time, in
Hardin County, Tennessee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Shiloh>
1948:
The United Nations established the World Health Organization to
act as a coordinating authority on international public health.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization>
1955:
Aware that he was slowing down both physically and mentally in
his old age, Winston Churchill retired as Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill>
2010 - Thousands rioted in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek resulting in
the collapse of the Kurmanbek Bakiyev government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrgyz_Revolution_of_2010>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
lollapalooza:
(informal) An outstanding, extreme, or outrageous example of its kind.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lollapalooza>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I call that mind free, which jealously guards its intellectual
rights and powers, which calls no man master, which does not content
itself with a passive or hereditary faith, which opens itself to light
whencesoever it may come, which receives new truth as an angel from
heaven.
--William Ellery Channing
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Ellery_Channing>