Tuesday, 11 December, 2018

Hopping Around Germany’s Forgotten Islands

Hopping Around Germany’s Forgotten Islands

Posted on Tuesday, 13 February, 2018 by Zheluo Cai

Hopping Around Germany’s Forgotten Islands.

The Halligen (German) or the halliger (Danish) are small islands without protective dykes. There are ten German halligen in the North Frisian Islands on Schleswig-Holstein’s Wadden Sea-North Sea coast in the district of Nordfriesland and one hallig at the west coast of Denmark (Danish Wadden Sea Islands). This part of the North Sea coast is very much at the sea’s mercy. The Halligen have areas ranging from 7 to 956 ha and are often former parts of the mainland, separated from that place by storm tide erosion. Dwellings and commercial buildings are built upon metre-high, man-made mounds, called Warten in German or Værft in Danish, to guard against storm tides. Some Halligen also have overflow dikes. The Halligen are to be found in the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer National Park. The commercially developed Halligen Nordstrandischmoor, Gröde, Oland, Langeneß, and Hooge are surrounded by the protected area, but not an integral part of it. The smaller Halligen Habel, Südfall, Süderoog, and Norderoog, as well as the Hamburger Hallig, are parts of the national park. Walks on the tidal flats and informational meetings are offered by tourist boards and the park administration.

Read Article Here:

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/feb/11/halligen-islands-germany-north-sea-island-hopping

NGC 7822 in Cepheus.
Credit & Copyright: Neil Fleming. Pillars of gas, dust, and young, hot stars seem to fill the gaping maw of NGC 7822. At the edge of a giant molecular cloud toward the northern constellation Cepheus, the glowing star-forming region lies about 3,000 light-years away. The image includes data from both broadband and narrowband filters, mapping emission from atomic oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur into blue, green, and red hues powered by the energetic radiation from the hot stars, whose powerful winds and radiation also sculpt and erode the denser pillar shapes. Stars could still be forming inside the pillars by gravitational collapse, but as the pillars are eroded away, any forming stars will ultimately be cut off from their reservoir of star stuff. This field spans around 60 light-years.

December 10: The Moon passes 0.7° north of Pluto (image above), 4h UT 11 PM EST).

December 12: The Moon is at apogee (405,177 km from Earth), 12h25m UT (7:25 AM EST).

December 14: Geminid meteor shower peaks.

December 14: The Moon passes 3° south of Neptune 7h20m UT (2:20 AM EST).

December 14: The Moon passes 4° south of Mars, 23h UT (6 PM EST).

December 15: First Quarter Moon occurs at, 11h49m UT (6:49 AM EST).

December 15: Mercury is at greatest western elongation (21°), 12h UT (7 AM EST).

Credit: Astronomy.

The Flag of Niger was inaugurated in 1959, a year prior to its formal independence from France, consisted of the colours of orange, white and green, in equal horizontal bands, with an orange roundel in the centre. The upper orange band represents the northern regions of the Sahara Desert, the white band represents purity, and the green band represents both hope and the fertile regions of southern Niger. The orange circle is said to represent the sun or independence.

Sunflowers (Tournesols) is the name of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The first series, executed in Paris in 1887, depicts the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set, executed a year later in Arles, shows a bouquet of sunflowers in a vase. In the artist's mind, both sets were linked by the name of his friend Paul Gauguin, who acquired two of the Paris versions. On March 30, 1987, Japanese insurance magnate, Yasuo Goto, paid the equivalent of US $39,921,750 for van Gogh's Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers at auction at Christie's London. The painting currently resides at Seiji Togo Yasuda Memorial Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo.

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