Wikipedia:Main Page history/2022 November 20b
From today's featured article
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Ceres is the smallest identified dwarf planet in the Solar System and the only one in the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 1 January 1801, by Giuseppe Piazzi, and for half a century was classified as the eighth planet. It is named after Ceres, a Roman goddess. With a diameter of about 950 km (590 miles), Ceres is the largest and most massive body in the asteroid belt and contains about a third of the belt's total mass. It is spheroidal and its surface probably consists of a mixture of water ice and various hydrated minerals like carbonates and clays. Ceres appears to be differentiated into a rocky core and icy mantle, with brines reaching the surface. From the Earth, the apparent magnitude of Ceres ranges from 6.7 to 9.3; at its brightest it is generally too dim to be seen with the naked eye. On 27 September 2007, NASA launched the space probe Dawn to explore the asteroid Vesta from 2011 to 2012, and Ceres from 2015 to 2018. (This article is part of a featured topic: Solar System.)
Did you know ...
- ... that after Taters Chatham stole the chelengk of Lord Nelson (replica pictured) in 1951 it was never recovered?
- ... that when rock musician Warren Zevon received a terminal diagnosis of lung cancer, he learned to "enjoy every sandwich"?
- ... that writer I. C. Vissarion was sentenced to death during the 1907 Romanian peasants' revolt, after it was alleged that he had created homemade bombs?
- ... that House of Waters repurposes the hammered dulcimer, an Appalachian folk music instrument, for international jazz fusion?
- ... that Sanne Wevers is the first Dutch female gymnast to have won an individual Olympic medal?
- ... that the Hosanna Meeting House was a station on the Underground Railroad and had a secret chamber to conceal fugitive slaves beneath its floorboards?
- ... that Dana International, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1998, received death threats following her selection to compete?
- ... that despite its sizable population, Cary is classified as a town?
In the news
- NASA's Artemis 1 (pictured) is successfully launched on an uncrewed test flight to the Moon.
- The United Nations estimates the world population to have exceeded eight billion.
- In cricket, the ICC Men's T20 World Cup concludes with England defeating Pakistan in the final.
- At least six people are killed and 81 others injured in a bombing in Istanbul, Turkey.
On this day
- 284 – Diocletian (bust pictured) became Roman emperor, eventually establishing reforms that ended the Crisis of the Third Century.
- 1739 – War of Jenkins' Ear: A British naval force arrived at the settlement of Portobello in the Spanish Main, capturing it the next day.
- 1902 – While discussing how to promote the newspaper L'Auto, sports journalist Géo Lefèvre came up with the idea of holding a cycling race that later became known as the Tour de France.
- 1979 – A group of armed insurgents attacked and took over the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, declaring that one of their leaders was the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam.
- 1991 – First Nagorno-Karabakh War: An Azerbaijani military helicopter carrying a peacekeeping mission team was shot down in Nagorno-Karabakh, disrupting ongoing peace talks.
- Thomas Chatterton (b. 1752)
- Cri-Zelda Brits (b. 1983)
- Ancel Keys (d. 2004)
Today's featured picture
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A yawn is a reflex consisting of the simultaneous inhalation of air and the stretching of the eardrums, followed by an exhalation of breath. Many animal species, including birds and fish, experience yawning. The study of yawning is called chasmology. Yawning (oscitation) most often occurs in adults immediately before and after sleep, during tedious activities and as a result of its contagious quality. This photograph shows a newborn girl yawning; research data strongly suggest that neither contagious nor story-induced yawning is reliable in children below the age of six years. Photograph credit: Martin Falbisoner
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