Wikipedia:Picture of the day/November 2004

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The Orion Nebula is a glowing nebula with a greenish hue and is situated below Orion's Belt. It is possibly the brightest diffuse nebula visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of about 1,600 light years from the planet Earth, is 33 light years across, and can be seen clearly through even low-power binoculars, particularly from dark sky locations. Observations with powerful telescopes (especially the Hubble Space Telescope) have found stars enclosed in dust rings, probably the first phase of a planetary system formation.

Photo credit: NASA
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Photo credit: Rippel Electron Microscope Facility
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Photo credit: Adrian Pingstone
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Photo credit: Jaap Folmer
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Photo credit: Edward H. Adelson
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Photo credit: Hajor
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Photo credit: Imperial War Museum
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Water colored red by Iron. Iron comprises 95 percent of all the metal tonnage produced worldwide. Its combination of low cost and high strength make it indispensable, especially in applications like automobiles, the hulls of large ships, and structural components for buildings. The first signs of use of iron come from the Sumerians and the Egyptians, where around 4000 BC, small items were being fashioned from iron recovered from meteorites.

Photo credit: NASA
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Photo credit: NOAA
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Pollen, like on this Gerbera, is a fine powder consisting of pollen grains, which carry the male gametes of seed plants. The transfer of pollen grains to the female reproductive structure can be mediated by the wind, in which case the plant is described as wind-loving, these plants typically produce great quantities of very lightweight pollen grains. Insect-loving plants produce pollen that is relatively heavy and sticky, for dispersal by insect pollinators attracted to their flowers.

Photo credit: pdphoto.org
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The London Millennium Footbridge opened on June 10, 2000. Unexpected lateral vibration required the bridge to be closed on June 12 for modifications. The movements were produced by the sheer numbers of pedestrians (90,000 people on the first day, with up to 2,000 on the bridge at any one time). The initial small vibrations encouraging the users to walk in synchronisation with the sway, increasing the effect. This swaying motion earned it the nickname the Wobbly Bridge.

Photo credit: Paul Lomax
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"The Blue Marble" is a famous photograph of Earth. NASA officially credits the image to the entire Apollo 17 crew — Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Jack Schmitt — all of whom took photographic images during the mission. Apollo 17 passed over Africa during daylight hours and Antarctica is also illuminated. The photograph was taken approximately five hours after the spacecraft's launch, while en route to the Moon. Apollo 17, notably, was the last manned lunar mission; no humans since have been at a range where taking a "whole-Earth" photograph such as "The Blue Marble" would be possible.

Photo credit: The Apollo 17 crew
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The art of bonsai originated from China over two thousand years ago, where it has been called penzai, it spread to Korea during the Tang or Song Dynasty (the 7th–13th century). As the Chinese art is intended for outdoor display the plants tend to be some what larger than seen in Japanese bonsai. A bonsai is not a genetically dwarfed plant; it is kept small by shaping and root pruning.

Photo credit: USDA-ARS
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The Eagle Nebula (also known as Messier Object 16, M16 or NGC 6611) is a young open cluster of stars in the Serpens Cauda constellation, one of the 88 modern constellations.

Other notable deep-sky objects in Serpent:

• M5, a globular cluster approximately 8° southwest of α Serpentis in Caput, is among the most beautiful in the sky.
• Part of the Milky Way passes through Serpens Cauda, as illustrated by the shaded regions of the star map.

Photo credit: NASA
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A barrel organ is a mechanical musical instrument made of a series of pipes, and bellows, like any other traditional organ, and of a cylinder studded with staples or bridges or pins corresponding in their placement to a particular tune. The continuous rotation of the barrel causes the staples to come into contact with levers and rods which open valves to let air from the bellows into the organ pipes. The bellows is usually actuated by the same power source which, through reduction gearing or worm gearing, causes the drum to slowly turn around..

Photo credit: Chepry
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The Tughra (طغراء) of Mahmud II. A tughra is a Turkish paisley-like calligraphic seal or signature used at the beginning of sultans' decrees. These colorful emblems incorporated the ruler's name and title in intricate vegetal inscriptions designed by neshanis, or court calligraphers. Parallel to the European signet, tughras often appeared on coins and stamps of the Ottoman Empire.

Photo credit: Baba66
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Taking its name from a small, maneuverable fighting frigate, the first Chevrolet Corvettes were virtually handbuilt in Flint, Michigan. The outer body was made out of a revolutionary new composite material called fiberglass, offering the strength of steel without the weight. The tradition continues even today, as no Corvette has ever had anything other than a fiberglass outer skin..

Photo credit: Softeis
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The plough is a development of the pick, and was initially pulled by oxen or humans, and later horses. Modern ploughs are, in industrialized countries, powered by tractors. Ploughing has several beneficial effects. The major reason for ploughing is to incorporate the residue from the previous crop into the soil. Ploughing also reduces the prevalence of weeds in the fields, and makes the soil more porous, easing later planting..

Photo credit: Marcela
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The natural range of the Marginated Tortoise is southern Greece, from the Peloponnesus to Mount Olympus. They are also found in isolated zones of the Balkans and Italy, with a somewhat broader range in northeastern Sardinia. The primary food for these tortoises are plants from their native Mediterranean region. Early in the morning, they leave their nightly shelter and bask in the sun to raise their body temperature. Then they go in search of food. In captivity, the primary foodstuffs are dandelions, clover and various varieties of lettuce..

Photo credit: Richard Mayer
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The Mark 48 torpedo, carried by all U.S. Navy submarines, is designed to combat fast, deep-diving nuclear-powered submarines and high performance surface ships. In this test, an Australian submarine fired a Mark-48 war-shot torpedo at the 28 year old former Destroyer Escort Torrens. The torpedo detonated underneath the hull as designed and broke the destroyer in two.

Photo credit: United States Navy
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Unlike many insects, butterflies do not experience a nymph period, but instead go through four stages: Egg, Larva, Pupa and Imago. The adult butterflies have four wings, but unlike moths, the fore and hindwings are not hooked together, permitting a more graceful flight. Some butterflies have evolved 'eye' like markings on their wings, scaring off some birds, or allowing the butterfly a chance of escaping in the confusion when the bird simply pokes a hole in one of the wings.

Photo credit: Fir0002
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Sake is a Japanese alcoholic beverage, brewed from rice. In Japan, the word simply means alcoholic beverage. As with other alcohol in Japan, sake is poured with the palm of the hand facing down and the back of the hand facing up, particularly when it is poured for another person. Pouring with the palm of the hand facing up is considered rude and is likely to elicit surprise and disapproval.

Photo credit: Rdsmith4
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In most cases fleas are just a nuisance to their hosts, but some people and some animals suffer allergic reactions to flea saliva resulting in rashes, bites generally result in the formation of a slightly-raised swollen itching spot. However, fleas can transmit disease. One devastating example of this was the bubonic plague, transmitted between rodents and humans. Murine typhus (endemic typhus) fever, and in some cases tapeworms can also be transmitted by fleas.

Photo credit: Robert Hooke
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Cockroaches are often found around garbage and in the kitchen. Female cockroaches, or henroaches, are sometimes seen carrying egg cases on the end of their abdomen. The eggs hatch from the combined pressure of the hatchlings swallowing air and are initially bright white nymphs that continue inflating themselves with air and harden and darken within about 4 hours. Their transient white stage while hatching and later while molting has led to many individuals claiming to have seen albino cockroaches.

The world's largest cockroach is the Australian giant burrowing cockroach, which can grow to 90 mm in length and weigh more than 30 grams.

Photo credit: Joăo Estęvăo A. de Freitas
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The planes that serve as Air Force One can be operated as a military command center in the event of an incident such as a nuclear attack. Operational modifications include aerial refueling capability, electronic countermeasures (ECMs) which jam enemy radar, and flares to avoid heat-seeking missiles. The heavily shielded electronics onboard include around twice the amount of wiring found in a regular 747.

Photo credit: United States Air Force
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A skilled baseball pitcher often throws a variety of different pitches in order to prevent the batter from hitting the ball well. The most basic pitch is a fastball, where the pitcher throws the ball as hard as he can. Some pitchers are able to throw a fastball at a velocity of over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). Other common types of pitches are the curveball, slider, changeup, forkball, and knuckleball. These generally are intended to have unusual movement or deceive the batter as to the rotation or velocity of the ball, making it more difficult to hit.

Photo credit: Rick Dikeman
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The Common Hazel is a shrub native to Europe and Asia. Its flowers are produced very early in spring before the leaves, and are monoecious. The seed is a nut, known as a hazelnut or cobnut. The nut falls out of the husk when ripe, about 7-8 months after pollination. The kernel of the seed is edible and used raw or roasted, or ground into a paste.

Photo credit: Fir0002
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The Buddhabrot is a special rendering of the Mandelbrot set, which resembles to some extent certain depictions of the Buddha. Mathematically, the set consists of the set of points c in the complex number plane for which the iteratively defined sequence

with z₀ = 0 does not tend to infinity.

Photo credit: Evercat
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The Palace of Westminster occupies a site of approximately 3.24 hectares (8 acres) on the west bank of the Thames, it has approximately 1,000 rooms, 100 staircases, and two miles of passageways. The 320ft high slim Clock Tower is undoubtedly the most famous feature, and houses the bell known as Big Ben, from which the Clock Tower is colloquially, but inaccurately named.

Photo credit: Andrew Dunn
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Roses are one of the most popular garden shrubs, and are also among the most common flowers sold by florists. The hips are sometimes eaten, mainly for their vitamin C content. They are usually pressed and filtered to make rose hip syrup, as the fine hairs surrounding the seeds are unpleasant to eat (resembling itching powder).

Photo credit: Fir0002
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