Month: June 2022

June 1 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 June 1

Tau Herculids Meteors over Kitt Peak Telescopes

Image Credit & Copyright: Jianwei Lyu (Steward Obs., U. Arizona)

Explanation: It wasn’t the storm of the century — but it was a night to remember. Last night was the peak of the Tau Herculids meteor shower, a usually modest dribble of occasional meteors originating from the disintegrating Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. This year, calculations showed that the Earth might be passing through a particularly dense stream of comet debris — at best creating a storm of bright meteors streaking out from the constellation of Hercules. What actually happened fell short of a meteor storm, but could be called a decent meteor shower. Featured here is a composite image taken at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, USA accumulated over 2.5 hours very late on May 30. Over that time, 19 Tau Herculids meteors were captured, along with 4 unrelated meteors. (Can you find them?) In the near foreground is the Bok 2.3-meter Telescope with the 4.0-meter Mayall Telescope just behind it. Next year, the annual Tau Herculids are expected to return to its normal low rate, with the next active night forecast for 2049.

June 1 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

4000 BC Approximate domestication of the horse in the Eurasian steppes near Dereivka, central Ukraine (hypothesis only)

1215 Peking [Beijing], then a city of over one million, under control of Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured and looted for a month by the Mongols under Genghis Khan

1676 Battle of Öland: allied Danish-Dutch forces defeat the Swedish navy in the Baltic Sea, during the Scanian War (1675–79)

1964 Kenya becomes a republic with Jomo Kenyatta as its 1st President

1998 European Central Bank is founded in Brussels to define and execute the European Union’s monetary policy

Today’s Historical Events

4000 BC Approximate domestication of the horse in the Eurasian steppes near Dereivka, central Ukraine (hypothesis only)

193 Roman Emperor Didius Julianus is assassinated.

794 Charles the Great (aka Charlemagne) opens general synod in Frankfurt

1204 King Philip Augustus of France conquers Rouen

1215 Peking [Beijing], then a city of over one million, under control of Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured and looted for a month by the Mongols under Genghis Khan

1283 Albrecht I van Habsburg becomes ruler of Austrian/Bull market

1283 Treaty of Rheinfelden: Duke Rudolph II of Austria waives his right to the Duchies of Austria and Styria

1459 Pope Pius II opens congress of Mantua

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1936 “Lux Radio Theater” moved from NYC to Hollywood

1939 First major boxing match on US television is the heavyweight bout from NY’s Yankee Stadium between former world champion Max Baer and Lou Nova; Nova wins by TKO in 11th round

1949 KSL TV channel 5 in Salt Lake City, UT (CBS) begins broadcasting

1950 WKZO (now WWMT) TV channel 3 in Kalamazoo, MI (CBS) 1st broadcast

1953 KMJ (now KSEE) TV channel 24 in Fresno, CA (NBC) begins broadcasting

1953 WDAY TV channel 6 in Fargo, ND (ABC/NBC) begins broadcasting

1960 WDTV TV channel 5 in Clarksburg-Weston, WV (CBS) begins broadcasting

1969 Tobacco advertising is banned on Canadian radio & TV

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1893 Opera “Falstaff” is produced (Berlin)

1960 “Finian’s Rainbow” closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 12 performances

1963 “El Watusi” by Ray Barreto hits #17

1964 Rolling Stones arrive in New York’s Kennedy International Airport for 1st US tour, greeted by about 500 fans

1966 George Harrison is impressed by sitarist Ravi Shankar‘s concert in London

1967 EMI releases The Beatles’ album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” nation-wide in the UK; it goes to number one for 22 weeks in the UK

1968 Simon & Garfunkel’s single “Mrs Robinson” from “The Graduate” hits #1 (first rock song to win Grammy for Record of the Year)

1970 “Everything Is Beautiful” by Ray Stevens hits #1

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1872 6th Belmont: James Roe aboard Joe Daniels wins in 2:58.25

1881 Ridden by outstanding English jockey Fred Archer, Iroquois wins the Epsom Derby to become first American-owned and bred horse to take out a European classic race

1899 English cricket icon W. G. Grace starts 22nd and final Test against Australia at Nottingham; Test debut of Wilfred Rhodes and Victor Trumper

1910 Sportclub Enschede soccer club forms in Enschede, Netherlands; merge with Enschedese Boys to form FC Twente in 1965

1912 Dutch soccer club Stormvogels forms in Ijmuiden; merges with VSV to form Telstar in 1963

1917 Boston Braves first baseman Hank Gowdy is first active MLB player to enlist for service in World War I; only player to fight in both World War I & II

1918 Chicago White Sox losing 5-4 against NY Yankees, load the bases in 9th with no outs; Chick Gandil lines to Frank Baker who turns a rare game winning triple play

1920 Dutch soccer club RKSV forms in Volendam; merges with FC Volendam in 1977

Pagan and Magickal Terms and Definitions

Today’s Word is

Familiar

From moonlitpriestess.com

Some terms listed on this page may seem like common-sense words; however, they’re defined here as most often used in Wicca, Witchcraft, and general Paganism. Some terms have a different meaning in general society, other religions, and other sub-cultures.

Please keep this in mind when learning the terms as they’re listed here.

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Familiar

A witch’s pet that has the ability to communicate–usually telepathically–with its owner. More specifically, the familiar is an assistant or partner in magickal and spiritual workings. Traditionally, familiars were spirits who took animal form; however, many Witches today will refer to any of their flesh-and-blood animal loved ones as their familiars regardless of the traditional meaning of the term.

From Spells8.com

Familiar

An entity that has a spiritual bond with a Witch on a higher plane, sometimes said to shape-shift into a physical being such as a companion animal.

Familiars and a Pet

Familiars and a Pet…NOT the same thing. Nor should you want your beloved pet to be your Familiar. For a modern witch to lay claim to a Familiar spirit, the animal must have made a pact with the witch.

A Laugh for Today