Sedna is a trans-Neptunian object with the minor-planet number 90377. It
was discovered on November 14, 2003, by the astronomers Michael Brown,
Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz. As of 2023, Sedna is 84
astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, which is almost three times the
distance between Neptune and the Sun. Sedna's orbit is an ellipse and
its aphelion is approximately 937 AU (140 billion km). For most of
its orbital period, Sedna is farther from the Sun than any known dwarf
planet candidate of its size. Sedna is one of the reddest objects in the
Solar System. It is mostly composed of water, methane, and nitrogen ices
with tholins. It may have formed within the same open cluster where the
Sun was born as some astronomers suggest that Sedna is a celestial body
captured by the Sun from another star system. Brown considers Sedna to
be the most important trans-Neptunian object ever discovered, because
its unusual orbit may yield information about the origin and early
evolution of the Solar System.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/90377_Sedna>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1941:
World War II: German troops, aided by local auxiliaries,
murdered nine thousand residents of the Słonim Ghetto in a single day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82onim_Ghetto>
1960:
Ruby Bridges and the McDonogh Three became the first black
children to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana as part
of the New Orleans school desegregation crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_school_desegregation_crisis>
1991:
Croatian War of Independence: Croatian naval commandos attacked
the Yugoslav patrol boat Mukos, starting the Battle of the Dalmatian
Channels.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Dalmatian_Channels>
2015:
A train derailed in Eckwersheim, France, while performing
trials on the high-speed rail line LGV Est.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckwersheim_derailment>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
gist:
1. (countable) The main idea or substance, or the most essential part,
of a longer or more complicated matter; the crux, the heart, the pith.
2. (countable, law, dated) The essential ground for action in a lawsuit,
without which there is no cause of action; the gravamen.
3. (uncountable, Nigeria) Gossip, rumour; (countable) an instance of
this.
4. (transitive) To extract and present the main ideas or substance, or
the most essential parts of (a document, piece of writing, etc.); to
abridge, to summarize.
5. (intransitive, Nigeria) To talk idly; chat; also, to gossip. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gist>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Violence is interesting. This is a great obstacle to world peace
and also to more thoughtful television programming.
--P. J. O'Rourke
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._J._O%27Rourke>
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