Epsilon Eridani is a star in the constellation of Eridanus. Viewable
from most of Earth's surface along a declination 9.46° south of the
celestial equator, it is 10.5 light-years away and has an apparent
magnitude of 3.73. It is the third-closest individual star or star
system visible to the unaided eye. Estimated at less than a billion
years old, the young star has a higher level of magnetic activity than
the present-day Sun, with a stellar wind 30 times as strong. Epsilon
Eridani is smaller and less massive than the Sun, with a greater
proportion of hydrogen and helium. It is a main-sequence star of
spectral class K2, which means that energy generated at the core through
nuclear fusion of hydrogen is emitted from the surface at a temperature
of about 5,000 K, giving it an orange hue. Observations for more than
twenty years have yielded evidence of a giant planet orbiting the star,
making it one of the nearest systems with a candidate exoplanet. The
detection of this planet, Epsilon Eridani b, was announced by Bruce
Campbell, Gordon Walker and Stephenson Yang in 1987.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Eridani>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1779:
English explorer James Cook was killed near Kealakekua when he
tried to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief of the Island of
Hawaii.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Kalani%CA%BB%C5%8Dpu%CA%BBu_by_Captain_James_Cook>
1943:
World War II: General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim's 5th Panzer Army
launched a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sidi_Bou_Zid>
1961:
Lawrencium, the metallic radioactive synthetic element with
atomic number 103, was first made at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrencium>
1979:
Adolph Dubs, United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, was
kidnapped by unknown agents and killed during a gun battle between
Afghan police and the perpetrators.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Dubs>
1989:
A fatwa was issued for the execution of Salman Rushdie for
authoring The Satanic Verses, a novel Islamic fundamentalists considered
blasphemous.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tachycardia:
A rapid resting heart rate, especially one above 100 beats per minute.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tachycardia>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Love is the mystery of divine revelations! Love is the effulgent
manifestation! Love is the spiritual fulfillment! Love is the breath of
the Holy Spirit inspired into the human spirit! Love is the cause of the
manifestation of the Truth (God) in the phenomenal world! Love is the
necessary tie proceeding from the realities of things through divine
creation! Love is the means of the most great happiness in both the
material and spiritual worlds! Love is a light of guidance in the dark
night! Love is the bond between the Creator and the creature in the
inner world! Love is the cause of development to every enlightened man!
Love is the greatest law in this vast universe of God! Love is the one
law which causeth and controleth order among the existing atoms! Love is
the universal magnetic power between the planets and stars shining in
the loft firmament! Love is the cause of unfoldment to a searching mind,
of the secrets deposited in the universe by the Infinite! Love is the
spirit of life in the bountiful body of the world! Love is the cause of
the civilization of nations in this mortal world! Love is the highest
honor to every righteous nation! The people who are confirmed therein
are indeed glorified by the Supreme Concourse, the angels of heaven and
the dwellers of the Kingdom of El-Abha!… O beloved of God! Be ye the
manifestations of God and the lamps of guidance throughout all regions
shining with the light of love and union! How beautiful the effulgence
of this light!
--`Abdu'l-Bahá
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%60Abdu%27l-Bah%C3%A1>
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