- About 16,900 years ago, the Vashon glacier begins to melt and recede from lands that will come to be known as the Puget Sound region and the Columbia Basin region. By 15,000 years ago, the glacier has retreated to the border of present-day Canada. During its advance, meltwater flowing under the ice sheet had carved out Lake Washington, Lake Tapps, Lake Sammamish, Puget Sound, and Hood Canal. The other major shaper of the land – the pushing of the Juan de Fuca Plate underneath the North American plate, and the docking of terranes (fragments of continents) had already occurred long ago.
- Epsilon Crucis (stars.astro.illinois.edu)
EPS CRU (Epsilon Crucis). Here is one of the most viewed of all stars, while at the same time being one of the most obscure. How can that be? At fourth magnitude (3.59, just fainter than third), Epsilon Crucis has a prominent place as the “fifth star” of one of the most famed of all constellations, Crux, the Southern Cross, lying almost on a line between brighter Delta Crucis (the Cross’s most northerly star) and first magnitude Acrux (Alpha Crucis).