March 20 Today is Thursday, March 20, 2014. This is the 79th day of the year, with 286 days remaining in 2014. Fact of the Day: aurora borealis Auroras are spectacular displays of light in the night sky that occur at high altitudes in the earths upper atmosphere. These natural light shows are called aurora borealis or northern lights in the Northern Hemisphere and aurora australis or southern lights in the Southern Hemisphere. Auroras are made up of blue, green, and red lights and occur when atoms and molecules of gases in the upper atmosphere are struck by high-energy electrons; they show different colors because different atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere give off different-colored lights. Auroras occur in an oval-shaped band called the auroral oval around both the geomagnetic North Pole and the South Pole. The best places to observe auroras in the Northern Hemisphere are high northern latitudes during the winter, such as Alaska, Canada, and Scandinavia. In the Southern Hemisphere, Antarctica is the best place to observe auroras. Astronauts in a space shuttle can also view the spectacular auroras Events 1841 - Edgar Allen Poes The Murders in the Rue Morgue, considered the first detective story, was published. 1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowes influential novel about slavery, Uncle Toms Cabin, was published. 1865 - A plan by John Wilkes Booth to abduct President Abraham Lincoln was foiled when Lincoln changed plans and failed to appear at the Soldiers Home near Washington, D.C. Booth would later assassinate the President while Lincoln was attending a performance at Fords Theatre in the nations capital. 1969 - Beatle John Lennon married Yoko Ono at the Rock of Gibraltar on this day. Lennon called the location, “quiet, friendly and British.” He was the second Beatle to marry in eight days. Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman were wed a week earlier. 1985 - Libby Riddles won the $50,000 top prize in the 1,135-mile Anchorage-to-Nome dog race. The Iditarod was called Alaska’s ultimate endurance test and this was the first time a woman had won. Libby completed the course in 18 days, twenty minutes and seventeen seconds. Another woman, Susan Butcher, won the next three Iditarod trail-sled dog races. The first race was run in 1973. The annual race commemorates the emergency during a 1925 diphtheria epidemic when medical supplies had to be rushed to Nome by dog sled. 1999 - Bertrand Piccard of Switzerland and Brian Jones of Britain became the first aviators to fly a hot-air balloon around the world nonstop.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 10:35:50 +0000
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