Wikipedia:Main Page history/2017 March 12

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From today's featured article

Eta Carinae is a stellar system of at least two stars with a combined luminosity over five million times that of the Sun, around 7500 light-years distant in the constellation Carina. First recorded as a 4th-magnitude star, it brightened considerably beginning in 1837 in an event known as the Great Eruption, becoming the second-brightest star in the sky between 11 and 14 March 1843 before fading well below naked eye visibility. It has been getting brighter again since about 1940, peaking above magnitude 4.5 in 2014. Eta Carinae is always above the horizon south of latitude 30°S, and never visible north of about latitude 30°N. The two main stars of the system orbit each other with a period of 5.54 years. The primary is a peculiar star similar to a luminous blue variable, initially 150–250 times as massive as the Sun but now at least 30 solar masses lighter, and is expected to eventually explode as a supernova. The secondary star is hot and also highly luminous, around 30–80 times as massive as the Sun. The system is heavily obscured by the Homunculus Nebula, material ejected from the primary during the Great Eruption. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Audrey Hepburn

... that the molecular biologist Nessa Carey cites the slight figure of actress Audrey Hepburn (pictured) to illustrate the possible impacts of epigenetics?
... that Birdy, the first feature film partially shot with the Skycam camera system, was described by a reviewer as "a heavy adult drama about best friends and the after-effects of war"?
... that gunmen of Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes shot down a Mexican Army helicopter using a rocket-propelled grenade?
... that the 2017 Manchester Gorton by-election was called after the death of the Father of the House?
... that the Adiyogi Shiva statue is the world's tallest bust of the Hindu god Shiva?
... that fans of the composer and conductor Robert Farnon attended tapings of the television series Tony Bennett at the Talk of the Town to hear his instrumentals?
... that gas chromatography–mass spectrometry equipment, first developed by Robert E. Finnigan, was fundamental to the EPA's ability to carry out environmental testing in the 1970s?
... that video game character Chris Redfield was suspected of abusing steroids?

In the news

Park Geun-hye

South Korea's Constitutional Court removes President Park Geun-hye (pictured) from office.
Donald Tusk is re-elected as President of the European Council despite opposition from his home country, Poland.
An attack on a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills 49 people and injures more than 60 others.
The Azure Window, a limestone natural arch on the Maltese island of Gozo, collapses during a storm.
WikiLeaks begins releasing Vault 7, a series of documents detailing activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to perform electronic surveillance and cyberwarfare.
The United States begins deployment of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea.

On this day...

March 12: Shushan Purim begins at sunset in Jerusalem and Susa (Judaism, 2017)

Harry S. Truman

538 – Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths, ended his siege of Rome, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Roman general, Belisarius.
1881 – Andrew Watson made his debut with the Scotland national football team and became the world's first black international footballer.
1913 – The future capital of Australia was officially named Canberra during a ceremony officiated by Gertrude, Lady Denman, the wife of Governor-General Lord Denman.
1947 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman (pictured) proclaimed the Truman Doctrine to help stem the spread of communism.
1952 – British diplomat Hastings Ismay was appointed as the first Secretary General of NATO.

Charles Boycott (b. 1832) · Jessica Hardy (b. 1987) · Lazare Ponticelli (d. 2008)

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Today's featured picture

The Chapel of the Gate of Dawn is a Catholic chapel and pilgrimage site on the city gates of the Lithuanian city of Vilnius. It is home to Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn, a painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Northern Renaissance style. In this image, the painting is covered in expensive and elaborate silver and gold clothes, leaving only the face and hands visible.

Legend tells that in 1702, when Vilnius was captured by the Swedish army during the Great Northern War, Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn rescued the city: at dawn, the heavy iron city gates of the gate fell, killing four Swedish soldiers and promoting a successful Lithuanian counter-attack near the gate.

Photograph: David Iliff

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