User:NatureA16/4 (2007)
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July to August 2007
The featured things
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[edit] Bryce Canyon National Park
July 2 - July 8
Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. Despite its name, this is not actually a canyon, but rather a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to its unique geological structures, called hoodoos, formed from wind, water, and ice erosion of the river and lakebed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views. The canyon area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was named after Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1875. The area around Bryce Canyon became a United States national monument in 1924 and was designated as a national park in 1928.
Recently featured: Homo floresiensis - India - Bacteria
[edit] Kreutz Sungrazers
July 9 - July 15
The Kreutz Sungrazers are a family of comets, characterized by orbits which take them extremely close to the Sun at perihelion. They are all believed to originate from the fragmentation of one very large comet several centuries ago, and are named for the astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who first demonstrated that they were related. Several members of the Kreutz family have become Great Comets, occasionally visible near the Sun in the daytime sky. The most recent of these was Comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965, which may have been one of the brightest comets in the last millennium. Many hundreds of smaller members of the family have been discovered since the launch of the SOHO satellite in 1995. Some are just a few metres across; none has survived its perihelion passage. Amateur astronomers have been very successful at discovering Kreutz comets in the data available in real time via the Internet.
Recently featured: Bryce Canyon National Park - Homo floresiensis - India
[edit] Geography of India
July 16 - July 22
The geography of India is extremely diverse, with landscape ranging from snow-capped mountain ranges to deserts, plains, hills and plateaus. Climate ranges from equatorial in the far south, to tundra in the Himalayan altitudes. India comprises most of the Indian subcontinent and has a long coastline of over 7,000 km (4,300 miles), most of which lies on a peninsula that protrudes into the Indian Ocean. India is bounded in the west by the Arabian Sea and in the east by the Bay of Bengal. The fertile Indo-Gangetic plain occupies most of northern, central and eastern India, while the Deccan Plateau occupies most of southern India. To the west of the country is the Thar Desert, which consists of a mix of rocky and sandy desert, while India's east and northeastern border consists of the high Himalayan range.
Recently featured: Kreutz Sungrazers - Bryce Canyon National Park - Homo floresiensis
[edit] Extrasolar planet
July 23 - July 29
An extrasolar planet is a planet beyond the Solar System. As of 11 November 2006, 209 extrasolar planets have been discovered. Known exoplanets are members of planetary systems that orbit a star. For centuries, extrasolar planets were a subject of speculation. Astronomers generally supposed that some existed, but it was a mystery how common they were and how similar they were to the planets of the Solar System. The first confirmed detections were finally made in the 1990s. Since 2002, more than twenty have been discovered every year. It is now estimated that at least 10% of sunlike stars have planets, and the true proportion may be much higher. The discovery of extrasolar planets raises the question of whether some might support extraterrestrial life.
Recently featured: Geography of India - Kreutz Sungrazers - Bryce Canyon National Park
[edit] Atheism
July 30 - August 5
![The Ancient Greek word "atheoi", from Ephesians 2:12, translated as "[those who are] without God"](../../../../images/shared/thumb/b/ba/Ephesians_2,12_-_Greek_atheos.jpg/100px-Ephesians_2,12_-_Greek_atheos.jpg){kind=small}
Atheism is the position that either affirms the nonexistence of gods or rejects theism. In its broadest definition, atheism is the absence of belief in deities, sometimes called nontheism. Although atheists are commonly assumed to be irreligious, some religions, such as Buddhism, have been characterized as atheistic. Many self-described atheists share common skeptical concerns regarding supernatural claims, citing a lack of empirical evidence for the existence of deities. Other arguments for atheism are philosophical, social or historical. Although many self-described atheists tend toward secular philosophies such as humanism, rationalism, and naturalism, there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere. The term atheism originated as a pejorative epithet applied to any person or belief in conflict with established religion. With the spread of freethought, scientific skepticism, and criticism of religion, the term began to gather a more specific meaning and was sometimes used as a self-description by atheists.
Recently featured: Extrasolar planet - Geography of India - Kreutz Sungrazers
[edit] Diplodocus
August 6 - August 12
Diplodocus is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossilised skeleton was first discovered in 1878. The generic name, Greek for "double bar", refers to its double-beamed chevron bones located in the underside of the tail. They were initially believed to be unique to Diplodocus; however, they have since then been discovered in other diplodocids. It lived in what is now western North America at the end of the Jurassic Period. Diplodocus was one of the more common dinosaurs found in the Upper Morrison Formation, about 150 to 147 million years ago, in what is now termed the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian stages. This was an environment and time dominated by gigantic sauropod dinosaurs such as Camarasaurus, Barosaurus, Apatosaurus and Brachiosaurus. Diplodocus is among the most easily identifiable dinosaurs, with its classic dinosaur shape, long neck and tail and four sturdy legs. For many years, it was the longest dinosaur known. Its great size may have been a deterrent to the predators Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus: their remains have been found in the same strata, which suggests they coexisted with Diplodocus.
Recently featured: Atheism - Extrasolar planet - Geography of India
[edit] Solar System
August 13 - August 19
The Solar System comprises the Sun and the retinue of celestial objects gravitationally bound to it: the eight planets, their 162 known moons, three currently identified dwarf planets and their four known moons, and thousands of small bodies. This last category includes asteroids, meteoroids, comets, and interplanetary dust. In broad terms, the charted regions of the Solar System consist of the Sun, four rocky bodies close to it called the inner planets, an inner belt of rocky asteroids, four giant outer planets and a second belt of small icy bodies known as the Kuiper belt. In order of their distances from the Sun, the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Six of the eight planets are in turn orbited by natural satellites (usually termed "moons" after Earth's Moon) and every planet past the asteroid belt is encircled by planetary rings of dust and other particles. All the planets, other than the Earth, are named after gods and goddesses from Greco-Roman mythology. The three dwarf planets are Pluto, the largest known Kuiper belt object, Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, and Eris which lies beyond the Kuiper belt in a region called the scattered disc.
Recently featured: Diplodocus - Atheism - Extrasolar planet
[edit] Kitsune
August 20 - August 26
Kitsune are foxes in Japanese folklore. Stories depict them as intelligent beings who possess great magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Foremost among these is the ability to assume human form. While some folktales speak of kitsune employing this ability to trick others — as foxes in folklore often do — others portray them as faithful guardians, friends, lovers, and wives. Foxes and human beings lived in close proximity in ancient Japan; this gave rise to legends about the creatures. Kitsune have become closely associated with Inari, a Shinto kami or spirit, and serve as his messengers. This role has reinforced the fox's supernatural significance. The more tails a kitsune has — they may have as many as nine — the older, wiser, and more powerful it is. Because of their potential power and influence, some people make offerings to them as to a deity.
Recently featured: Solar System - Diplodocus - Atheism
[edit] Redshift
August 27 - September 2
Redshift occurs when the visible light from an object is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum. This increase in wavelength corresponds to a decrease in the frequency of the electromagnetic radiation. A redshift can occur when a light source moves away from an observer, corresponding to the Doppler shift that changes the frequency of sound waves. Although observing such redshifts has several terrestrial applications (e.g. Doppler radar and radar guns), spectroscopic astrophysics uses Doppler redshifts to determine the movement of distant astronomical objects. This Doppler redshift phenomenon was first predicted and observed in the nineteenth century as scientists began to consider the dynamical implications of the wave-nature of light. Another redshift mechanism accounts for the famous observation that the spectral redshifts of distant galaxies, quasars, and intergalactic gas clouds are observed to increase proportionally with their distance to the observer. This relation is accounted for by models that predict the universe is expanding, seen in, for example, the Big Bang model. Yet a third type of redshift, the gravitational redshift also known as the Einstein effect, results from the time dilation that occurs in general relativity near massive objects.
Recently featured: Kitsune - Solar System - Diplodocus
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- >>Wikipedia's featured articles will be featured for the rest of the year and possibly beyond (Might be done)
The durian is the fruit of trees of the genus Durio belonging to the Malvaceae, a large family which includes hibiscus, okra, cotton, mallows and linden trees. Widely known and revered in Southeast Asia as the "King of Fruits", the fruit is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale-yellow to red, depending on the species. The hard outer husk is covered with sharp, prickly thorns while the edible flesh within emits a distinctive odour, which is regarded as either fragrant or overpowering and offensive. The odour of the ripe fruit is strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. The flesh can be consumed at various stages of ripeness and is used to flavour a wide variety of savoury and sweet edibles in Southeast Asian cuisines. The seeds can also be eaten when cooked. Many consumers express preferences for specific cultivars, which fetch higher prices in the market. (more...)
Recently featured: George I of Great Britain – 2006 Atlantic hurricane season – Jurassic Park
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