Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 August 8

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Today's featured article
The Oort cloud (artist's rendering pictured) is a hypothesized spherical cloud of comets that may lie nearly a light-year from the Sun. It is thought to comprise two separate regions: a spherical outer Oort cloud and a disc-shaped inner Oort cloud, or Hills cloud; the outer extent of the cloud defines the boundary of the Solar System. Objects in the Oort cloud are largely composed of ices, such as water, ammonia, and methane and are thought to have formed close to the Sun, later being scattered into space by the gravitational effects of the giant planets early in the Solar System's evolution. Although no confirmed direct observations of the Oort cloud have been made, astronomers believe that it is the source of all long-period and Halley-type comets entering the inner Solar System, as well as many of the Centaurs and Jupiter-family comets. (more...) Recently featured: Kylfings – HMS Lion – Dengue fever Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences operates JAGO (pictured), the only manned research submersible in Germany? ... that the Virginia spiraea may have become extinct in Pennsylvania due to damming of the Yough? ... that Olson House, made famous by its depiction in Christina's World, was designated a National Historic Landmark in June 2011? ... that the Cuno strikes on August 11, 1923, helped force the resignation of the German chancellor and his entire cabinet on August 12 and inspired the Communist Party to plan a coup? ... that the black sea cucumber releases special chemicals into the water to warn potential predators that it may taste bad? ... that Albert Schweitzer likened the bass line of an aria mentioning Satan in Bach's cantata Was willst du dich betrüben, BWV 107, "to the contortions of a huge dragon"? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Launch of the Juno spacecraft The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, the longest guided busway in the world, opens in England. Standard & Poor's downgrades the credit rating of the United States government to AA+ for the first time. Juno, the first solar-powered spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter, is launched (pictured) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. NASA announces that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured imagery of possible liquid water on Mars during warm seasons. Government forces crack down on protesters in Hama, a center of the Syrian uprising, killing more than 200 people. Horn of Africa famine Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
August 8: Tisha B'Av begins at sunset (Judaism, 2011); Father's Day in the Republic of China (Taiwan) 1786 – Michel-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat completed the first recorded ascent of Mont Blanc in the Alps, an act considered to be the birth of modern mountaineering. 1918 – The Battle of Amiens began in Amiens, France, marking the start of the Allied Powers' Hundred Days Offensive through the German front lines that ultimately led to the end of World War I. 1929 – German airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin (pictured) embarked on a flight to circumnavigate the world. 1967 – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand founded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. More anniversaries: August 7 – August 8 – August 9 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now August 8, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured list

In the aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Ottoman Empire began to draw up plans for the development of a stronger Ottoman Navy. Earlier Ottoman attempts to construct battleships, such as the Abdul Kadir, had ended in failure. As a result, the Ottoman Navy Foundation was established to purchase new ships rather than building them locally. However, the fleet's inability to respond to naval threats was still evident in its defeat by the Greek Navy in the battles of Elli and Lemnos in the First Balkan War. At the start of the First World War, half of the battleships owned by the Ottoman Empire were still under construction in the UK, and were either scrapped or seized by the British in the early days of the conflict. In an ironic twist, the Ottomans turned to assistance from Germany, and it was the donation of German-built ships that paved the way for a military alliance with that country and the eventual Ottoman entry into the war. (more...)

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The flower of a Mountain Rocket plant (Bellendena montana), the sole member of the Bellendena genus, which in turn is the sole member of the subfamily Bellendenoideae. It is endemic to high-altitude parts of Tasmania, Australia, but is not often cultivated because it is difficult to grow at low altitudes.

Photo: JJ Harrison

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