- Amsterdam (Wikipedia)
Amsterdam (/ˈæmstərdæm/ AM-stər-dam, UK also /ˌæmstərˈdæm/ AM-stər-DAM, Dutch: [ˌɑmstərˈdɑm]; literally, “The Dam on the River Amstel”) is the capital and most populated city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 921,402 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the urban area and 2,480,394 in the metropolitan area. Located in the Dutch province of North Holland, Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the “Venice of the North”, for its large number of canals, now designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Northwestern Europe (Wikipedia)
Northwestern Europe, or Northwest Europe, is a loosely defined subregion of Europe, overlapping Northern and Western Europe. The term is used in geographic, history, and military contexts.
- Europe (Wikipedia)
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east. Europe shares the landmass of Eurasia with Asia, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Asia and Africa. Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea, and the waterways of the Turkish straits.
- The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdərlɑnt]), informally Holland, is a country located in Northwestern Europe with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; it borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium in the North Sea. The country’s official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. Dutch Low Saxon and Limburgish are recognised regional languages, while Dutch Sign Language, Sinte Romani and Yiddish are recognised non-territorial languages. Dutch, English and Papiamento are official in the Caribbean territories.
- How to find and observe NGC457 (TOTS#3) (eyesonthesky.com)
NGC 457 is an open cluster within our own Milky Way galaxy. It is over 7,900 light years from Earth, so the photons from it reaching your eye in a telescope left that cluster about the time copper was first being used in the Middle East. The estimated age is about 21 million years, making it one of the younger star clusters in our galaxy. Here is how to locate it.
