Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 January 8

Sagitta is a dim but distinctive constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'arrow', and it should not be confused with the larger constellation Sagittarius, the archer. It was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. Although it dates from antiquity, Sagitta has no star brighter than 3rd magnitude and has the third-smallest area of any constellation. Gamma Sagittae is the constellation's brightest star, with an apparent magnitude of 3.47. Delta, Epsilon, Zeta and Theta Sagittae are each multiple stars whose components can be seen in small telescopes. Two star systems in Sagitta have Jupiter-like planets, while a third—15 Sagittae—has a brown dwarf companion. V Sagittae is a cataclysmic variable—a binary star system that is expected to go nova and briefly become one of the brightest stars in our sky around the year 2083. (Full article...)

Recumbent stone (centre) at Aikey Brae

• ... that at 21.5 tonnes, the recumbent (pictured) at Aikey Brae stone circle is one of the largest in Aberdeenshire?
• ... that Molly Gray, the new lieutenant governor of Vermont, is a former competitive skier and the daughter of an Olympic skier?
• ... that bathrooms in some German bars have vomiting basins?
• ... that Eleanor Roosevelt wrote four autobiographical memoirs: This Is My Story (1937), This I Remember (1949), On My Own (1958), and The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt (1961)?
• ... that Rosl Zapf, a mezzo-soprano of the Oper Frankfurt who took part in world premieres, appeared at the Salzburg Festival in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte conducted by Georg Solti?
• ... that LiDAR can be used to make a digital terrain model?
• ... that the Butler mansion was built with parquette oak floors, elaborate frescos, wainscot paneling—and a fireproof wing to store the archives of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey?
• ... that during a spacewalk, Jean-Pierre Haigneré, a French spationaut and crew member of the Mir space station, deployed Sputnik 99 onto its orbit by simply releasing the satellite by hand?

Protesters in front of the US Capitol

• Rioters supporting Donald Trump storm the United States Capitol (pictured), disrupting certification of the presidential election and forcing Congress to evacuate.
• In the United States, the Democratic Party wins control of the Senate, with victories in regular and special Senate elections in Georgia.
• Saudi Arabia reopens its border with Qatar, ending a three-year diplomatic crisis.

January 8

Covent Garden Theatre

• 1697 – Scottish student Thomas Aikenhead became the last person in Great Britain to be executed for blasphemy.
• 1735 – George Frideric Handel's opera Ariodante premiered at the Covent Garden Theatre (pictured) in London.
• 1981 – In Trans-en-Provence, France, a local farmer reported a UFO sighting claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time".
• 2011 – Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a public meeting held by U.S. representative Gabby Giffords in Tucson, Arizona, killing six people and injuring twelve others.