Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 May 27

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From today's featured article

The Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–1914), headed by Douglas Mawson, explored the largely uncharted coast of Antarctica due south of Australia. Mawson was inspired to lead his own venture by his experiences on Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod expedition in 1907–1909. During its time in Antarctica, the Australasian Antarctic Expedition's sledging parties covered around 2,600 miles (4,180 km) of unexplored territory. Its ship, SY Aurora (pictured), navigated 1,800 miles (2,900 km) of unmapped coastline. Scientific activities included meteorological measurements, magnetic observations, an expansive oceanographic program, and the collection of many biological and geological samples, including the discovery of the first meteorite found in Antarctica. The expedition was the first to establish and maintain wireless contact between Antarctica and Australia. Its broad exploration program laid the groundwork for Australia's later territorial claims in Antarctica. (Full article...)

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Meerkats

... that meerkats (examples pictured) use alarm calls that can identify the type of predator posing the risk, the level of danger, and the caller itself?
... that United States district judge Douglas P. Woodlock ordered Guatemalan general Héctor Gramajo to pay $47.5 million in damages for human rights abuses?
... that a series of bollards mark the route taken by the 2nd Armoured Division during the liberation of France?
... that after New York City's Q79 bus was discontinued due to low ridership, a private car service was provided, which was later also discontinued for the same reason?
... that the facade of the Collegio Ghislieri in Rome was preserved from the building's 1936 demolition and incorporated into the Liceo Classico Virgilio?
... that Galveston Bay, the largest of the estuaries of Texas, is home to the second busiest port in the United States?
... that on 22 April 2020, the UK House of Commons met virtually for the first time in its 700-year history due to the COVID-19 pandemic?
... that art patron and collector São Schlumberger had her portrait painted by Warhol and Dalí, but did not like the one by Dalí?

In the news

COVID-19 pandemic

The aircraft involved in the accident, in 2015

A Pakistan International Airlines passenger aircraft (pictured) crashes in Karachi, killing ninety-seven people.
Cyclone Amphan impacts eastern India and Bangladesh, killing over one hundred people and forcing the evacuation of more than four million others.
The Iranian Navy frigate Jamaran accidentally strikes the Iranian support vessel Konarak with a missile, killing nineteen sailors.

On this day

May 27

Christopher Reeve

1199 – King John, who posthumously became known as one of the most reviled English monarchs, was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1799 – War of the Second Coalition: Austrian forces defeated troops of the French Army of the Danube, capturing the strategically important Swiss town of Winterthur.
1917 – Pope Benedict XV promulgated the Pio-Benedictine Code, the first official comprehensive codification of Latin canon law.
1940 – World War II: Ninety-seven soldiers of the British Royal Norfolk Regiment were killed after surrendering to German forces.
1995 – American actor Christopher Reeve (pictured) was thrown from his horse, leaving him quadriplegic; he later became an activist on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries.

John Cockcroft (b. 1897)
Cilla Black (b. 1943)
John William Finn (d. 2010)

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Today's featured picture

Monoceros is a faint constellation on the celestial equator, not easily visible to the naked eye. Its name is Greek for 'unicorn'. The constellation is attributed to the 17th-century Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius. Clockwise from north, it is bordered by Gemini, Orion, Lepus, Canis Major, Puppis, Hydra and Canis Minor.

This illustration is plate 31 of Urania's Mirror, a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards illustrated by Sidney Hall and first published in 1824. Monoceros is fancifully depicted here as a prancing unicorn, being ridden by a small dog, representing Canis Minor. Underneath the unicorn is "Atelier Typographique", an obsolete constellation representing a printing press that has since been absorbed into Puppis. Urania's Mirror was originally advertised as containing "all the constellations visible in the British Empire", but that was not in fact the case, as some of the southern constellations are missing. The first edition showed only the stars in the featured constellations, with surrounding stars omitted; this illustration is from the second edition and includes the surrounding stars.

Lithograph credit: Sidney Hall; restored by Adam Cuerden

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