- Damascus (Wikipedia)
Damascus (/dəˈmæskəs/ də-MASS-kəs, UK also /dəˈmɑːskəs/ də-MAH-skəs; Arabic: دِمَشق, romanized: Dimaşk, IPA: [diˈmaʃq]) is the capital of Syria, the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth holiest city in Islam. Known colloquially in Syria as aš-Šām (الشَّام) and dubbed, poetically, the “City of Jasmine” (مَدِيْنَةُ الْيَاسْمِينِ Madīnat al-Yāsmīn), Damascus is a major cultural center of the Levant and the Arab world.
- Ring Nebula (Wikipedia)
The Ring Nebula (also catalogued as Messier 57, M57 and NGC 6720) is a planetary nebula in the northern constellation of Lyra. Such a nebula is formed when a star, during the last stages of its evolution before becoming a white dwarf, expels a vast luminous envelope of ionized gas into the surrounding interstellar space.