Astronomy news update from NASA :
This was an unusual night to look in the direction of the Bull. The constellation Taurus is always well known for hosting two bright star clusters -- the Pleaides, visible on the right, and the comparatively diffuse Hyades, visible on the left. This night last month, however, was atypically the peak of the Geminid meteor shower, and so several meteors were caught shooting through the constellation with parallel trails. More unusually still, Comet Wirtanen was drifting through the constellation, here appearing near the image bottom surrounded by a greenish coma. The comet was near its brightest as it sped past the Earth. The orange star on the upper left is Aldebaran, considered to be the eye of the Bull. Aldebaran is the brightest star in Taurus and the 15th brightest star in the sky. The featured image is a combination of nearly 800 exposures taken from the Spanish village Albanyà.

from NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2CVpFEL
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Our new 'Word Of The Day' article update : to say nothing of , conj :
(idiomatic) An apophasis used to mention another important, usually related, point: not taking into account, not to mention, without considering.

By ERIN GRIFFITH from NYT Technology https://nyti.ms/2SA9UIK
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How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation via Digg http://bit.ly/2VvokvI

Astronomy news update from NASA :
Why are these people shooting a powerful laser into the center of our Galaxy? Fortunately, this is not meant to be the first step in a Galactic war. Rather, astronomers at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) site in Chile are trying to measure the distortions of Earth's ever changing atmosphere. Constant imaging of high-altitude atoms excited by the laser -- which appear like an artificial star -- allow astronomers to instantly measure atmospheric blurring. This information is fed back to a VLT telescope mirror which is then slightly deformed to minimize this blurring. In this case, a VLT was observing our Galaxy's center, and so Earth's atmospheric blurring in that direction was needed. As for inter-galaxy warfare, when viewed from our Galaxy's center, no casualties are expected. In fact, the light from this powerful laser would combine with light from our Sun to together appear only as bright as a faint and distant star.

from NASA https://go.nasa.gov/2R8zp7e
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Our new 'Word Of The Day' article update : Slavi , proper n :
The Russian Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated from January 6 through 13 in outstate Alaska, USA, wherever there is a sizable Russian Orthodox population.

By KEVIN ROOSE from NYT Technology https://nyti.ms/2QlRWrC
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