Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 January 4

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From today's featured article

Canis Major (greater dog in Latin) is a constellation in the southern hemisphere's summer sky and northern hemisphere's winter sky. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Along with Canis Minor (lesser dog), it is commonly represented as following the constellation of Orion the Hunter through the skies. The Milky Way passes through Canis Major. Several open clusters lie within its borders, including M41, which covers an area around the same size as the full moon. Sirius, also called the dog star, is the brightest star in the night sky, and one of the closest stars to Earth. The other bright stars in the constellation are much farther away but very luminous. At magnitude 1.5, Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara) appears as the second brightest star of the constellation and the brightest source of extreme ultraviolet radiation in the night sky. Next in brightness are the yellow-white supergiant Delta (Wezen) at 1.8, the blue-white giant Beta (Mirzam) at 2.0, and the blue-white supergiant Eta (Aludra) at 2.4. The red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest stars known, while the neutron star RX J0720.4-3125 has a radius of a mere 5 km. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that Anton Bruckner composed two settings of Iam lucis orto sidere for the Wilhering Abbey (pictured), and a third setting 18 years later?
... that Ioana Dumitriu began taking graduate mathematics courses as a college freshman, and became the first female Putnam Fellow the following year?
... that with a weight of 19 g (0.67 oz) and a length of 140 mm (5.5 in) the creeping vole (Microtus oregoni) is the smallest in Oregon?
... that in humans, body temperature is typically highest during the mid- to late afternoon?
... that the Armenian liberal daily Aravot was prevented from being published following the deadly 2008 protests?
... that a bin lorry in Glasgow recently went out of control, killed six pedestrians and injured ten others, and crashed into a hotel in George Square?
... that Indian actor Deepak Tijori started his directorial career with a film based on male strippers?

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In the news

Lithuania becomes the 19th member of the Eurozone.
At least 36 people are killed as a result of a stampede at a New Year's Eve celebration in Shanghai.
Authorities confirm the discovery of debris and bodies from Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 (aircraft pictured), which crashed en route to Singapore with 162 people on board.
Italian ferry Norman Atlantic catches fire in the Adriatic Sea with 466 passengers and crew on board, killing at least 11 people.
A militant attack on tribal people and subsequent retaliations in Assam, India, result in at least 85 deaths.
Beji Caid Essebsi wins the Tunisian presidential election.

Ongoing: Southeast Asian floods – Ebola outbreak – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Recent deaths: Mario Cuomo – Luise Rainer – Tomaž Šalamun

On this day...

January 4: Perihelion of the Earth (06:36 UTC, 2015); Independence Day in Burma (1948)

1798 – After having been invested as Prince of Wallachia, Constantine Hangerli arrived in Bucharest to assume the throne.
1847 – American gun inventor Samuel Colt made his first large sale of his revolvers to the Texas Rangers.
1912 – The Boy Scout Association was incorporated throughout the then British Empire by royal charter.
1951 – Korean War: Chinese and North Korean troops captured Seoul.
2004 – Spirit (artist's impression pictured), the first of two rovers of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission, landed successfully on Mars at 04:35 Ground UTC.

More anniversaries: January 3 – January 4 – January 5

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It is now January 4, 2015 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

The check used for the Alaska Purchase, issued on August 1, 1868 and signed by US Secretary of State William H. Seward. For a total of $7.2 million, the United States government purchased Russian America from the Russian Empire (represented here by Russian Minister to the United States Eduard de Stoeckl). The lands involved became the modern state of Alaska in 1959.

Check: William H. Seward; scan: Our Documents initiative

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