Browsing: Nature

A Brief History On January 5, 2005, American astronomer Michael E. Brown (of CalTech, Princeton, and Berkeley) with fellow astronomers David L. Rabinowitz (Yale University and University of Arizona) and Chad Trujillo (University of Hawaii, Gemini Observatory and Northern Arizona University) were given credit for their discovery of a planetoid they called Eris, at the time, the largest dwarf planet known in the Solar System.  The astronomical team actually discovered Eris in 2003, but its (relatively) small size and distance from Earth required rigid documentation for the discovery to be accepted.  Eris is larger than Pluto, the dwarf planet that…

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A Brief History On December 27, 1966, the largest cave in the world was discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosi, Mexico.  Boasting a single cavern that covers a ground space of 994 feet long by 442 feet wide, the so called Cave of Swallows (alternately called “The Cave of the Swallows”) had been known for many generations by indigenous Huastec people, and was considered “discovered” only when a documented descent into the cave was made by T. R. Evans, Charles Borland and Randy Sterns, the first outsiders known to have visited the cave. Digging Deeper Known as a “pit” type…

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A Brief History On December 21, 2018, at 5:23 pm (EST), the Northern half of the world will experience its annual Winter Solstice, so Happy Solstice Everybody!!!  This astronomical event marks the time each year when the Sun is at its lowest “excursion,” meaning the tilt of the Earth in relation to the Sun puts the direct rays of sunlight at the Tropic of Cancer, a line of latitude a little more than 23 degrees South of the Equator.  In the Southern Hemisphere, this event is their Summer Solstice. Digging Deeper The Winter Solstice marks the first day of Winter…

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A Brief History On December 16, 1901, British artist and conservationist Beatrix Potter self-published the book that would launch her literary career, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, a book that would sell 45 million copies.  (Note: Number of copies sold and ranking among various best selling lists vary by source.  The initial success of the book led to it being published by an established publisher a year later.)  Peter Rabbit would end up as perhaps the 10th best selling Children’s Book of all time, and around the 35th best selling book of any type in history.  Ah, but Potter was…

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A Brief History On November 19, 1911, the infamous “Doom Bar” located at the mouth of the River Camel in Cornwall, England where it empties into the Celtic Sea claimed another pair of ships, sinking both.  The Island Maid and Angele both had run aground on the permanent sandbar, formerly known as the less poetic “Dunbar sands,” killing everyone aboard the Angele except, oddly enough, the captain.  As can be expected by the demonstrative name, the Doom Bar is infamous for causing the sinking or grounding of many ships over the years. The River Camel estuary serves as access to…

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