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From today's featured article

A galaxy is a massive system bound together by gravity that contains stars and surrounding matter, stellar remnants, interstellar matter, and dark matter, all orbiting a common center of gravity. Typical galaxies range from as few as 10 million stars up to supergiants with 100 trillion stars, but most of the mass is dark matter. The Solar System is in the Milky Way galaxy, whose nearest large neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, is about 750,000 parsecs (2.4 million light years) away from Earth; the two galaxies dominate the Local Group. There are probably more than 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe. Most are 1,000 to 100,000 parsecs (about 3,000 to 300,000 ly) in diameter and are often separated from their neighbors by millions of parsecs. There is evidence that supermassive black holes exist at the center of many, if not all, galaxies. The Milky Way, a spiral galaxy with a diameter of at least 26,800 parsecs (87,400 ly), has such an object at the Galactic Center. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

House of the Pelplin Abbots

... that the voivode of a Polish region bought a townhouse (pictured) for his brother, an abbot who converted it to an inn?
... that in 2025, Liz Pelly published the book Mood Machine, a critical examination of Spotify including the platform's promotion of fake artists?
... that "Aeao" was involved in a multi-platform trend joined by numerous K-pop celebrities nine years after its release?
... that Viktor Pylypenko ended a relationship with his Emirati boyfriend and returned to Ukraine to fight in the Russo-Ukrainian war?
... that Ottoman Iraq's nationality law was a legal basis for Saddam Hussein to classify up to two million Iraqis as "inauthentic" and expel as many as 400,000 of them?
... that actor Dominic Sessa made his film debut with a breakthrough role as a student in the Christmas film The Holdovers?
... that Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad 8419 was one of the first Chinese steam locomotives to be exported to the United States?
... that Scottish politician Tam Dalyell opposed devolution, warning it would become a "motorway without exit to a separate state"?
... that, in Agnes Borinsky's queer interpretation of the Bible's Song of Songs, audience members placed offerings on a "shrine to the dead"?

In the news

Ali Khamenei

Israel and the United States launch strikes on Iran, killing its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei (pictured), along with other senior officlals.
A Bolivian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashes into a road in El Alto, killing more than 20 people.
A military conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan escalates as the countries exchange cross-border strikes.
Floods in the Zona da Mata region of Minas Gerais, Brazil, leave at least 70 people dead and thousands of others displaced.

On this day

March 2: Fast of Esther (Judaism, 2026); Adwa Victory Day in Ethiopia, Independence Day in Texas

Poster for The Sound of Music

1836 – Texas Revolution: At a convention of delegates in Washington-on-the-Brazos, the Mexican state of Texas adopted a declaration of independence, establishing the Republic of Texas.
1965 – The Sound of Music (poster pictured) was released in American theatres; it became the highest-grossing film up to that time.
1970 – The Rhodesian monarchy was abolished by the government of Rhodesia, which declared the internationally unrecognised country to be a republic.
1995 – Researchers at Fermilab in Illinois announced the discovery of the top quark, the most massive of all observed elementary particles.
2014 – The Oscar selfie, considered to be one of the most influential photographs of all time, was taken at the 86th Academy Awards ceremony.

Margaret Sibella Brown (b. 1866)
James A. Gilmore (b. 1876)
Grete Hermann (b. 1901)
Bryce Dallas Howard (b. 1981)

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From today's featured list

Arbuthnot, Cradock and Hood

Ten Royal Navy flag officers died between Britain's entry into the First World War, 4 August 1914, and the armistice of 11 November 1918. A further six flag officers died between the armistice and 31 August 1921, which was defined by an act of Parliament as the formal end of the war for general purposes. The Royal Navy, the maritime arm of the British Armed Forces, is led by flag officers; during the First World War, these were considered to be officers who held the ranks of rear admiral, vice-admiral, admiral, or admiral of the fleet. They typically commanded groups of sea-going vessels or held staff positions. Three flag officers (pictured) were killed in action: Sir Christopher Cradock at the Battle of Coronel in 1914, and Sir Robert Arbuthnot and Sir Horace Hood at the 1916 Battle of Jutland. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Haliotis jacnensis, commonly known as the Jacna abalone, is a species of sea snail in the abalone family, Haliotidae. It is found in the western Pacific Ocean at depths between sea level and 50 metres (160 ft), around the coasts of American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Indonesia, Japan, Micronesia, New Caledonia, Niue, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. H. jacnensis features an oblong–ovate shell that varies in size between 7 to 25 millimetres (0.28 to 0.98 in). The shell is reddish-orange with a silvery interior and features irregular scaly ridges. This picture shows five views of a H. jacnensis shell, 18 millimetres (0.71 in) in length, found on Masbate Island in the Philippines.

Photograph credit: H. Zell

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