explicadinho: 02/24/15

24 fevereiro 2015

Unusual Plumes Above Mars

By: vivian on terça-feira, fevereiro 24, 2015

What is creating unusual plumes on Mars? No one is sure. Noted and confirmed by a global contingent of amateur astronomers on photos of the red planet in March 2012, possibly similar plumes have now been found on archived images as far back as 1997. Since the plumes reach 200 kilometers up, they seem too high to be related to wind-blown surface dust. Since one plume lasted for eleven days, it seemed too long lasting to be related to aurora. Amateur astronomers will surely continue to monitor the terminator and edge regions of Mars for new high plumes, and the armada of satellites orbiting Mars may be called upon to verify and study any newly reported plume that become visible. The featured 35-minute time-lapse animation was taken on 2012 March 20 by the plume's discoverer -- an attorney from Pennsylvania, USA.

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By: vivian on terça-feira, fevereiro 24, 2015

Source for more facts follow NowYouKno

February 24th 1797: Last Invasion of Britain failsOn this day in...

By: vivian on terça-feira, fevereiro 24, 2015

Depiction of the Battle of Fishguard

Picture of Jemima Nicholas rounding up Frenchmen

Memorial to Nicholas

February 24th 1797: Last Invasion of Britain fails

On this day in 1797 the Battle of Fishguard - otherwise known as the Last Invasion of Britain - was won by the defending British. The invasion, the last to occur on British soil, was led by Revolutionary France and was devised by General Lazare Hoche. The French wished to support the burgeoning republican movement in Ireland and encourage a working class uprising in Britain, and planned to send a main fleet to Ireland, with others as diversions on the British coast. However, ultimately only one of the forces reached Britain, landing on the Welsh coast on February 22nd 1797. They had intended to reach Bristol, but poor weather forced them to land at Fishguard Bay, Wales. Under Irish-American Colonel William Tate over one thousand soldiers arrived in Wales and were immediately confronted by local defenses. After hundreds of recently hired troops deserted - the seasoned soldiers were on campaign with Napoleon Bonaparte - the remaining French forces were faced with around five-hundred British soldiers. The small band successfully repelled French invasion, and Tate was forced to surrender on February 24th. Some of those defending Britain were not even trained in the military, and included many local women posing as soldiers. One famous such woman was forty-seven year old Jemima Nicholas, the wife of a Fishguard cobbler, who personally apprehended twelve French troops. 1797 thus remains the last attempted invasion of the island, when Britain was defended by a ragtag team of Welsh townspeople.

February 24th 1803: Marbury v. MadisonOn this day in 1803 in the...

By: vivian on terça-feira, fevereiro 24, 2015

Inscription of Chief Justice John Marshall's opinion in the Supreme Court building

William Marbury (1762-1835)

James Madison (1751-1836)

February 24th 1803: Marbury v. Madison

On this day in 1803 in the case Marbury v. Madison was decided by the United States Supreme Court, which established the principle of judicial review. The case arose when Secretary of State - and future President - James Madison failed to deliver documents to Justice of the Peace for Washington D.C. William Marbury which officially granted his title. The Court decided that the section of the 1789 Judiciary Act allowing Marbury to bring his claim to the Court was itself unconstitutional; on February 24th the Court ruled unanimously to this effect. The decision gave the Supreme Court the power to interpret the constitution and strike down laws as ‘unconstitutional’. Since then, the Court have made many high-profile rulings striking down state and federal laws unconstitutional. For example: school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954); school prayer in Engel v. Vitale (1962); teaching creationism in science lessons in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) and the Defense of Marriage Act in United States v. Windsor (2013).