Day: June 1, 2021

Starlink over Orion

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What are those streaks across Orion? Most are reflections of sunlight from numerous Earth-orbiting Starlink satellites. Appearing by eye as a series of successive points floating across a twilight sky, the increasing number of SpaceX Starlink communication satellites are causing concern among many astronomers. On the positive side, Starlink and similar constellations make the post-sunset sky more dynamic, satellite-based global communications faster, and help provide digital services to currently underserved rural areas. On the negative side, though, these low Earth-orbit satellites make some deep astronomical imaging programs more difficult, in particular observing programs that need images taken just after sunset and just before dawn. Planned future satellite arrays that function in higher orbits may impact investigations of the deep universe planned for large ground-based telescopes at any time during the night. The featured picture, taken in 2019 December, is a digital combination of over 65 3-minutes exposures, with some images taken to highlight the background Orion Nebula, while others to feature the passing satellites. via NASA https://ift.tt/3p8MivT

Wikipedia article of the day for June 1, 2021

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Wikipedia article of the day is Treaty of Lutatius. Check it out: Article-Link Summary: The Treaty of Lutatius was the agreement of 241 BC between Carthage and Rome which ended the First Punic War after 23 years. The Romans had defeated a Carthaginian fleet attempting to lift the blockade of its last strongholds on Sicily. Accepting defeat, the Carthaginian Senate ordered the local commander to negotiate a peace treaty. One was rapidly agreed, but when referred to Rome for ratification, it was rejected. Rome then sent a commission which agreed that Carthage would cede what it held of Sicily, relinquish several groups of islands nearby (map pictured), release all Roman prisoners without ransom, and pay large reparations over 10 years. In 237 BC Carthage prepared an expedition to recover the island of Sardinia, which had been lost to rebels. Cynically, the Romans announced that this was an act of war and that their peace terms were the ceding of Sardinia and Corsica and the payment of an additional indemnity; these were added to the treaty as a codicil.