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Today's featured article

The Virgo interferometer is a large-scale scientific instrument near Pisa, Italy, for detecting gravitational waves. The detector measures minuscule length variations in its two 3-kilometre (1.9-mile) arms induced by the passage of gravitational waves. The project, named after the Virgo galaxy cluster, was first approved in 1992 and construction was completed in 2003. After undergoing important upgrades between 2011 and 2016 (during which LIGO made the first detection of gravitational waves), Virgo made its first detection on 14 August 2017. This was followed by the detection of GW170817, the only gravitational wave also observed with classical methods (optical, gamma-ray, X-ray and radio telescopes) as of 2024. Virgo is managed by the Virgo Collaboration, gathering 940 members in 20 countries, in cooperation with similar detectors such as LIGO and KAGRA. (Full article...)

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Selected anniversaries

February 21

Malcolm X

1746 – Jacobite rising of 1745: The siege of Inverness ended with British forces surrendering to the Jacobite army.
1862 – American Civil War: The Confederate Army began an attempt to gain control of the Southwest with a major victory in the Battle of Valverde.
1952 – A number of student protesters demanding the establishment of Bengali as an official language were killed by police in Dhaka, East Pakistan.
1965 – American Black nationalist Malcolm X (pictured) was assassinated while giving a speech in New York City's Audubon Ballroom.
1973 – After accidentally straying into Israeli-occupied airspace, Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 was shot down by two fighter aircraft, killing 108 of the 113 people on board.

Gaius Caesar (d. AD 4)
Léo Delibes (b. 1836)
Incas (parakeet) (d. 1918)
Elliot Page (b. 1987)

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In the news

Relief of Thutmosis II at Karnak

Archaeologists announce that the empty tomb Wadi C-4 near Luxor, Egypt, was that of the pharaoh Thutmose II (relief pictured).
At the British Academy Film Awards, Conclave wins four awards, including Best Film.
Mahamoud Ali Youssouf is elected chairman of the African Union Commission.
President of Romania Klaus Iohannis resigns from office, and is succeeded by Ilie Bolojan in an acting capacity.
A bus falls off a bridge over the Las Vacas River in Guatemala City, killing at least 55 people.

Did you know...

Kink in a stretcher railing

... that some railings in London have kinks (example pictured), indicating their original use as stretchers?
... that Yu Xiangdou, unlike most other publishers in Ming-dynasty China, enjoyed including illustrations of himself in his works?
... that Frank Lloyd Wright paid more for a well at his Taliesin West estate than he had paid for the land itself?
... that Yuval Raphael, who is set to represent Israel at Eurovision 2025, survived the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel by hiding under dead bodies for eight hours?
... that the horses pulling the Disneyland Main Street Vehicles' streetcars include Belgians, Brabants, Clydesdales, Percherons, and Shires?
... that the delegation of the British Virgin Islands at the 2024 Summer Olympics was supported by a scholarship named after their chef de mission?
... that Canadian heritage minister Pascale St-Onge was the bassist in an all-lesbian alternative rock quartet?
... that North and South Korean politicians have expressed fondness for Seoul's third-oldest restaurant?
... that scholars have discussed whether a 19th-century artwork by Sengai should be titled "○△□" or "□△○"?

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