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From today's featured article

Crater is a small constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere, one of 48 listed by the second-century astronomer Ptolemy. It depicts a krater, a type of cup used by the Greeks to water down wine, perched on the back of Hydra, the water snake, to its south and west. It has been associated with the mythological god Apollo. It is also bordered by Leo and Virgo to the north, Corvus to the east, and Sextans to the northwest. There is no star brighter than third magnitude in the constellation. Its two brightest stars, Delta Crateris of magnitude 3.56 and Alpha Crateris of magnitude 4.07, are ageing orange giant stars that are cooler and larger than the Sun. Beta Crateris is a binary star system composed of a white giant star and a white dwarf. Seven star systems have been found to host planets. A few galaxies, including Crater 2 and NGC 3981, and a quasar lie within the borders of the constellation. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Guangdong International Building

... that Rong Baisheng designed the Guangdong International Building (pictured), which became China's tallest building when completed in 1990?
... that in Andy Warhol's Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century, the "faces of the dead appear as if behind a veneer of modernity" according to the National Portrait Gallery?
... that al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra is credited with introducing iron stirrups to the warhorses of early Muslim armies?
... that Sarah Smarsh's 2018 memoir Heartland argues that belief in the American Dream leads to the continued oppression of those in poverty?
... that sports journalist Jack Gatecliff was inducted into both the Canadian Lacrosse and Buffalo Sabres Halls of Fame?
... that Faith of Our Fathers, a collection of Catholic hymns which became one of Ireland's best-selling albums, was the brainchild of an insurance broker with no experience in the music industry?
... that Birjis Qadr, the Nawab (leader) of Awadh state in northern India, became a poet while in exile in Nepal?
... that Hells Bells grow underwater in a cave in Mexico?

In the news

Se'are Mekonnen

The Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo are chosen as the joint hosts of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics.
In the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, regional president Ambachew Mekonnen and national-military chief of staff Se'are Mekonnen (pictured) are assassinated.
At least 184 people are killed during a heat wave in India.
Former President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi dies during his trial, at the age of 67.

On this day

June 29: Armed Forces Day in the United Kingdom (2019)

Isabel Perón

1613 – The original Globe Theatre in London burned to the ground after a cannon employed for special effects misfired during a performance of John Fletcher and William Shakespeare's Henry VIII and ignited the theatre's roof.
1864 – Canada's worst railway accident took place when a passenger train fell through an open swing bridge into the Richelieu River near present-day Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec.
1927 – The United States Army Air Corps aircraft Bird of Paradise landed at Wheeler Field on the Hawaiian island of Oahu to complete the first transpacific flight.
1974 – Isabel Perón (pictured) was sworn in as the first female acting President of Argentina, replacing her ill husband Juan, who died two days later.
1995 – The Shuttle–Mir Program began when Space Shuttle Atlantis became the first space shuttle to dock with the Russian space station Mir.

Thomas Dunn English (b. 1819) · Ludwig Beck (b. 1880) · Lana Turner (d. 1995)

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Today's featured picture

The Caribbean reef squid (Sepioteuthis sepioidea) is a species of small, torpedo-shaped squid with undulating fins that extend nearly the entire length of the body, approximately 20 centimetres (8 in) in length. The species is found throughout the Caribbean Sea, as well as off the coast of Florida, commonly in small schools of four to thirty individuals in the shallows associated with reefs. The habitat of the reef squid changes according to its stage of life and size. New hatchlings tend to reside close to the shore, in areas from 0.2 to 1 metre (1 to 3 ft) below the surface, on or under vegetation.

This picture shows a Caribbean reef squid in Bari Reef, just off the coast of Bonaire, a Dutch territory in the Caribbean.

Photograph credit: Betty Wills

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