Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, and Corona Australis, the Southern
Crown, are two small constellations among the 48 listed by the 2nd-
century astronomer Ptolemy. Corona Borealis, which generally represented
the crown given by the god Dionysus to the Cretan princess Ariadne, is
in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere, while Corona Australis, associated
with Sagittarius or Centaurus, is in the Southern. Corona Borealis
boasts the highly variable stars R and T Coronae Borealis and the huge
Corona Borealis Supercluster. Corona Australis, lying alongside the
plane of the Milky Way, hosts Epsilon Coronae Australis, the brightest
example of a W Ursae Majoris variable in the southern sky. It also
contains one of the closest star-forming regions to our Solar System,
about 430 light years away—a dusty dark nebula known as the Corona
Australis Molecular Cloud, with stars at the earliest stages of their
lifespan.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_Borealis>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1819:
Fifteen people were killed and 400–700 others were injured
when cavalry charged into a crowd gathered at St Peter's Field,
Manchester, England, to demand the reform of parliamentary
representation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterloo_Massacre>
1863:
After Spain had annexed the Dominican Republic, rebels raised
the Dominican flag in Santiago de los Caballeros to begin the War of
Restoration.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Restoration_War>
1927:
The Dole Air Race began; eight fixed-wing aircraft competed to
fly from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, but only two
successfully completed the flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dole_Air_Race>
1960:
Joseph Kittinger parachuted from a balloon over New Mexico at
102,800 feet (31,300 m), setting records for high-altitude jump, free-
fall height, and fastest speed by a human without an aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger>
2009:
Y. E. Yang won the 2009 PGA Championship to become the first
Asian-born golfer to win a men's major golf championship.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Yong-eun>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tormentress:
A female tormentor.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tormentress>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
True greatness is free, kind, familiar and popular; it lets
itself be touched and handled, it loses nothing by being seen at close
quarters; the better one knows it, the more one admires it.
--Jean de La Bruyère
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_de_La_Bruy%C3%A8re>