picture of the day

https://ift.tt/2GcIvrQ

Muhammad II of Granada

Muhammad II of Granada.
Muhammad II was the Nasrid ruler of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula from 1273 until his death in 1302. Succeeding his father Muhammad I, he maintained Granada's independence in the face of its larger neighbours, the Christian kingdom of Castile and the Muslim Marinid state of Morocco. He added the Tower of the Ladies and the Tower of the Points to his father's palace and fortress complex, the Alhambra (pictured). To defend Granada against the Christians, he recruited soldiers from North Africa and organized them into the Volunteers of the Faith. He instituted the Nasrid royal protocol and the court chancery and increased the importance of the vizier in government. Muhammad II built a series of strongholds in strategic positions that remained for centuries as the backbone of Granadan border defences. He was known by the epithet al-Faqih, the canon lawyer, reflecting his education and his support for scholars and poets.

picture of the day

https://ift.tt/30DuRY8

Onychopterella

Onychopterella.
Onychopterella was a predatory aquatic arthropod of the order of eurypterids, often called sea scorpions. Fossils of the species O. kokomoensis (pictured) and O. pumilus have been found in the United States, and fossils of O. augusti in South Africa. Onychopterella (from Greek for 'claw wing') lived from the Late Ordovician to the Late Silurian, from 444 to 422 million years ago. The head was almost rectangular, with bean-shaped compound eyes. The limbs were generally long and narrow with a spine on the tip, and the body was ornamented with small, pointed scales. Lengths ranged from 16 cm (6.3 in) for O. kokomoensis to 4 cm (1.6 in) for O. pumilus. Onychopterella was able to swim, and probably able to walk on the seabed with its spines and dig with its head. The best-preserved specimens of O. augusti show similarities to modern scorpions in their alimentary canal, limb musculature and respiratory system.

picture of the day

https://ift.tt/365LVHj

Buzz Aldrin

Buzz Aldrin.
Buzz Aldrin (born January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut and fighter pilot. As lunar module pilot on the Apollo 11 mission, he and Neil Armstrong were the first humans to land on the Moon. A graduate of West Point and MIT, where he earned a doctorate in astronautics, Aldrin served as an Air Force fighter pilot during the Korean War, flying 66 combat missions and shooting down two MiGs. He was selected as an astronaut with NASA's third group in 1963. His first spaceflight was in 1966 on Gemini 12, during which he spent over five hours outside the spacecraft. He set foot on the Moon on July 21, 1969 (UTC), nine minutes after Armstrong. He left NASA in 1971 and became commandant of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. His autobiographies Return to Earth and Magnificent Desolation recount his struggles with depression and alcoholism. He developed the Aldrin cycler, a Mars spacecraft trajectory, and continues to advocate for space exploration, particularly a human mission to Mars.

picture of the day

https://ift.tt/2Rootj6