Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 February 5

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Today's featured article
Titania is the largest of the moons of Uranus and the eighth largest moon in the Solar System. Discovered by William Herschel in 1787, Titania is named after the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Its orbit lies inside Uranus' magnetosphere. Titania consists of approximately equal amounts of ice and rock, and is likely differentiated into a rocky core and an icy mantle. A layer of liquid water may be present at the core–mantle boundary. The surface of Titania, which is relatively dark and slightly red in color, appears to have been shaped by both impacts and endogenic processes. It is covered by numerous impact craters reaching 326 km in diameter, but is less heavily cratered than the surface of Uranus' outermost moon, Oberon. Titania probably underwent an early endogenic resurfacing event that obliterated its older, heavily cratered surface. Like all major moons of Uranus, Titania probably formed from an accretion disk that surrounded the planet just after its formation. As of 2011, the Uranian system has been studied up close only once: by the spacecraft Voyager 2 in January 1986. It took several images of Titania, which allowed mapping of about 40% of the moon’s surface. (more...) Recently featured: Richard Barre – Pathways into Darkness – Chew Stoke Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Têtes Noires (pictured) was the first all-female rock band from Minneapolis? ... that the Caribbean seagrass elysia, a sea slug, prefers star grass to other seagrasses? ... that Dwyane Wade has played more minutes, scored more points, made more field goals, made more free throws and recorded more assists than any other player in Miami Heat history? ... that the 1727 Bach cantata for a solo soprano Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke, BWV 84, one of few works Bach named "Cantata" himself, shows the spirit of the beginning Enlightenment? ... that the Governor is the only state government official in Tennessee who is directly elected by the voters of the entire state? ... that Aboubakr Jamaï went on a hunger strike after his newspapers were banned in Morocco? ... that Jeremy Irons guest-starred in The Simpsons episode "Moe Goes from Rags to Riches" as the voice of a bar rag? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
The passenger ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea, leaving 100 people still missing. Polish poet Wisława Szymborska (pictured), recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature, dies at the age of 88. More than 70 people are killed in crowd violence following a football match in Port Said, Egypt. Queen Elizabeth II annuls Fred Goodwin's knighthood due to his role in the Royal Bank of Scotland's near-collapse. In tennis, Victoria Azarenka and Novak Djokovic win the women's and men's singles titles, respectively, at the Australian Open. The European Men's Handball Championship concludes with Denmark defeating Serbia in the final. Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...
On this day...
February 5: Constitution Day in Mexico (1917) 1783 – The first of five strong earthquakes hit the region of Calabria in present-day southern Italy, killing more than 32,000 people over a period of nearly two months. 1869 – Prospectors in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, discovered the largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the "Welcome Stranger". 1917 – The current constitution of Mexico was adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches. 1941 – Second World War: British and Free French forces began the Battle of Keren to capture the strategic town of Keren in Italian Eritrea. 2000 – Second Chechen War: As the Battle of Grozny came to a close, Russian forces summarily executed at least 60 civilians in the city's Novye Aldi suburb. 2009 – The United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal ran aground (pictured) on a coral reef off the island of Oahu. More anniversaries: February 4 – February 5 – February 6 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now February 5, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

The aurora australis, as seen from the International Space Station. Aurorae are natural light displays in the sky caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude thermosphere. The particles originate in the magnetosphere and solar wind and, on Earth, are directed by Earth's magnetic field into the atmosphere.

Photo: NASA/ISS Expedition 23 crew

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