Day: September 16, 2021

North America and the Pelican

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Fans of our fair planet might recognize the outlines of these cosmic clouds. On the left, bright emission outlined by dark, obscuring dust lanes seems to trace a continental shape, lending the popular name North America Nebula to the emission region cataloged as NGC 7000. To the right, just off the North America Nebula’s east coast, is IC 5070, whose avian profile suggests the Pelican Nebula. The two bright nebulae are about 1,500 light-years away, part of the same large and complex star forming region, almost as nearby as the better-known Orion Nebula. At that distance, the 3 degree wide field of view would span 80 light-years. This careful cosmic portrait uses narrow band images combined to highlight the bright ionization fronts and the characteristic glow from atomic hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen gas. These nebulae can be seen with binoculars from a dark location. Look northeast of bright star Deneb in the constellation Cygnus the Swan. via NASA https://ift.tt/3AhvdEX

Wikipedia article of the day for September 16, 2021

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Wikipedia article of the day is Roman withdrawal from Africa (255 BC). Check it out: Article-Link Summary: The Roman withdrawal from Africa in 255 BC was the attempt by the Roman Republic to rescue the survivors of their defeated expeditionary force to Carthaginian Africa (in what is now north-eastern Tunisia) during the First Punic War. A force of 390 warships fought and defeated 200 Carthaginian vessels off Cape Hermaeum (the modern Cape Bon or Ras ed-Dar), north of the town of Aspis. The Carthaginians had 114 of their ships captured, together with their crews, and 16 sunk. Most modern historians assume there were no Roman losses. The Romans landed in Aspis – where the Roman survivors of the previous year’s invasion were besieged – sortied, dispersed the besiegers and raided the surrounding country for food. All then re-embarked and left for Italy. While returning the Roman fleet encountered a storm off the south-east corner of Sicily; 384 ships were sunk and more than 100,000 men were lost.