- How to find and observe M31 (TOTS#1) (eyesonthesky.com)
Messier 31 is the closest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. It is over 2 million light years away, so the photons reaching your eye in a telescope tonight left that galaxy some 2+ million years ago, just before the time of homo erectus. The Andromeda galaxy is on a collision course with our own, and the two will merge in about 4 billion years.
- 2021 Suez Canal obstruction (Wikipedia)
In March 2021, the Suez Canal was blocked for six days by the Ever Given, a container ship that had run aground in the canal. The 400-metre-long (1,300 ft), 224,000-ton, 20,000 TEU vessel was buffeted by strong winds on the morning of 23 March, and ended up wedged across the waterway with its bow and stern stuck on opposite canal banks, blocking all traffic until it could be freed. Egyptian authorities said that “technical or human errors” may have also been involved. The obstruction occurred south of the two-channel section of the canal, so there was no way around it for other ships. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) engaged Boskalis through its subsidiary Smit International to manage marine salvage operations. The blockage of one of the world’s busiest trade routes significantly slowed trade between Europe, Asia and the Middle East.