Wikipedia:Picture of the day/September 2024

Webb's First Deep Field is the first operational image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, captured by the telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and revealed to the public by NASA in July 2022. The deep-field photograph, which covers a tiny area of sky visible from the Southern Hemisphere, is centered on SMACS 0723, a galaxy cluster in the constellation of Volans. Thousands of galaxies are visible in the image, some as old as 13 billion years and when it was released it became the highest-resolution image of the early universe ever taken.

Photograph credit: NASA

Princess Ida is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was Gilbert and Sullivan's eighth operatic collaboration, preceding The Mikado. Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre in 1884 and ran for 246 performances. Based on the narrative poem The Princess by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the opera concerns a princess who founds a women's university and teaches that women are superior to men and should rule in their stead. Prince Hilarion, to whom she had been betrothed, sneaks into the university, and a war erupts between the two sexes. Princess Ida satirizes feminism, women's education and Darwinian evolution, controversial topics in conservative Victorian England. Princess Ida was only a modest success, and after its initial run, it was not revived in London until 1919. Nevertheless, the piece is performed regularly today by both professional and amateur companies. This watercolour-and-pencil-on-card image by C. Wilhelm shows his costume design for the characters of Arac, Guron and Scynthius in the 1884 production of Princess Ida.

Costume design credit: C. Wilhelm; restored by Adam Cuerden

Sphex ichneumoneus, commonly known as the great golden digger wasp, is a wasp in the family Sphecidae. It is native to the Western Hemisphere, from Canada to South America, and provisions its young with various types of paralyzed Orthoptera. The species is identifiable by the golden pubescence on its head and thorax, its reddish orange legs, and partly reddish orange body. This S. ichneumoneus wasp was photographed in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York City, United States.

Photograph credit: Rhododendrites

John Milton Brannan (1819–1892) was a career United States Army artillery officer who served in the Mexican–American War and as a Union Army brigadier general of volunteers in the American Civil War. He was in command of the Department of Key West in Florida and assigned to Fort Zachary Taylor. Most notably, Brannan served as a division commander of the Union XIV Corps at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863. This photograph of Brannan was produced by the studio of the American photographer Mathew Brady circa the 1860s.

Photograph credit: studio of Mathew Brady; restored by Adam Cuerden

The oroblanco (Citrus maxima × C. Paradisi) is a sweet seedless citrus hybrid fruit. It was developed as a cross between a diploid acidless pomelo and a seedy white tetraploid grapefruit, resulting in a triploid seedless fruit that is less acidic and less bitter than the grapefruit. The oroblanco was patented by the University of California in 1981 after its development at the university's citrus experiment station by Robert Soost and James W. Cameron. Oroblancos are either round- or oval-shaped with a thicker rind than grapefruit. The fruit is available from September through December and can be peeled and eaten like an orange. A similar fruit named the "sweetie" has been commonly cultivated in Israel since 1984. This photograph shows oroblancos grown in Israel, one whole and one sectioned. The picture was focus-stacked from 12 separate images.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

The spinifex pigeon (Geophaps plumifera) is a bird in the pigeon family, Columbidae. It is endemic to Australia, occurring throughout much of the arid and semi-arid northern and central parts of the continent. It lives in stony habitats on rocky hills and mountainous terrain, gorges, dry rocky creek beds and nearby gibber plains. The spinifex pigeon weighs 80 to 110 grams (2.8 to 3.9 ounces), with a mean body length of 200 to 235 millimetres (7.9 to 9.3 inches) and a wingspan of 300 to 350 millimetres (12 to 14 inches). Its plumage is distinctively rufous-brown with thin black bars on the wings and back. The forehead, the sides of the crown and the ear coverts are grey, while the bill is black, and it has distinctive facial markings including a bright red facial mask and a white band extending from the chin to behind the eye. This spinifex pigeon was photographed in Watarrka National Park in Australia's Northern Territory.

Photograph credit: John Harrison

Sigmaringen Castle, located in Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, served as the princely castle and seat of government for the princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. First mentioned in 1077, it was rebuilt around 1200 and suffered various fires through the centuries, most recently around 1893 when the eastern wing was destroyed. It then underwent a full rebuild in eclectic style (a combination of Romanesque, Gothic, and mostly Renaissance). During the closing months of World War II, Sigmaringen Castle was briefly the seat of the Vichy French government after France was liberated by the Allies. The castle is still owned by the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family, and is open to visitors. This photograph was taken from the north west, across the Danube river.

Photograph credit: Jörg Braukmann

Ruby Nell Bridges Hall (born September 8, 1954) is an American civil rights activist. She was the first African American child to attend the formerly whites-only William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November 14, 1960. Bridges attended a segregated kindergarten in 1959. In early 1960, she was one of six black children in New Orleans to pass the test that determined whether they could go to the all-white William Frantz Elementary School. Two of the six decided to stay at their old school, Bridges went to Frantz by herself, and three children (Gail Etienne, Leona Tate and Tessie Prevost) were transferred to the all-white McDonogh No. 19 Elementary School. All four 6-year-old girls were escorted to and from school by federal marshals due to crowds of angry protestors opposing school integration.

Photograph credit: United States Department of Justice; restored by Adam Cuerden

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) was an American model and actress. One of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s, she played stereotypically "dumb blonde" characters that were emblematic of the era's attitudes towards sexuality. After beginning her career as a pin-up model, she had two short-lived film contracts before being signed by 20th Century-Fox in 1951. The next year, scandalous nude photographs of her were featured in a popular calendar. She became one of the most bankable Hollywood stars with starring roles in comedies such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), and The Seven Year Itch (1955). Disappointed in being typecast and underpaid, Monroe formed her own production company in 1955 and successfully fought for a better contract with Fox. She received critical acclaim for her performances in Bus Stop (1956) and Some Like It Hot (1959), winning a Golden Globe for Best Actress for the latter. Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961). Troubled by mental health and addiction problems, Monroe died of a barbiturate overdose in 1962. She continues to be considered a popular culture icon. This Associated Press photograph of Monroe was taken on September 9, 1954, during the filming of The Seven Year Itch on the streets of New York. She is wearing her white dress, worn in the "skirt scene" in which air from a subway grate blows up her skirt.

Photograph credit: Associated Press

Tirumala septentrionis, commonly known as the dark blue tiger, is a species of butterfly in the danaid subfamily of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in South and Southeast Asia, including the Himalayas to southern India and Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Cambodia. Its upper wing is generally black with some bluish-white semihyaline markings, and its wing span is 80 to 115 millimetres (3.1 to 4.5 inches). This male butterfly of the subspecies T. s. dravidarum was photographed in Kumarakom in the Indian state of Kerala.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

Widtsoe is a ghost town in Garfield County, Utah, United States. It is located in John's Valley, northeast of Bryce Canyon and along the Sevier River at the mouth of Sweetwater Creek. A small number of settlers arrived in the area in 1876 and it became a town around 1908 after farmer Jedediah Adair was followed by a more significant population. Initially known as Adairville, after Adair, the town later became Houston and Winder, before attaining its final name after John A. Widtsoe, the president of and an agricultural scientist at the University of Utah. The population declined significantly from 1920 following droughts, and the town emptied in 1936. Most buildings were demolished shortly afterwards. This photograph by Dorothea Lange shows Widtsoe's Emery Valley Mercantile Co. grocery store in 1936.

Photograph credit: Dorothea Lange; restored by Yann Forget

The smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani) is a bird in the cuckoo family. It is a resident breeding species from southern Florida, the Caribbean, parts of Central America, south to western Ecuador, Brazil, northern Argentina and southern Chile. The smooth-billed ani is a mid-sized species, larger on average than the groove-billed ani but smaller than the greater ani. It measures approximately 35 centimetres (14 inches) in overall length. Males weigh around 115 grams (4.1 ounces), while females are lighter at around 95 grams (3.4 ounces). Adults are mainly glossy black, with a long tail, deep ridged black bill and a brown iris. This smooth-billed ani was photographed in George Town, on the island of Grand Cayman in the Caribbean.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park is the largest hot spring in the United States, and the third largest in the world. It is located in the Midway Geyser Basin. Grand Prismatic Spring was noted by geologists working in the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, and named by them for its striking coloration. Its colors match most of those seen in the rainbow dispersion of white light by an optical prism: red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. The bright, vivid colors in the spring are the result of microbial mats around the edges of the mineral-rich water. The mats produce colors ranging from green to red; the amount of color in the microbial mats depends on the ratio of chlorophyll to carotenoids and on the temperature gradient in the runoff. In the summer, the mats tend to be orange and red, whereas in the winter the mats are usually dark green. The deep blue color of the water in the center of the pool results from the intrinsic blue color of water. The effect is strongest in the center of the spring, because of its sterility and depth. This aerial photo shows Grand Prismatic Spring from the south in August 2022.

Photograph credit: Carsten Steger

Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the Spanish play El trovador (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Set in the 15th century in Biscay and Aragon, Spain, it tells the story of a nobleman named Count di Luna, who falls in love with Leonora, a lady-in-waiting. However, Leonora in turn falls in love with Manrico, the titular troubadour of the opera. The premiere of Il trovatore took place at the Teatro Apollo in Rome in January 1853. This undated poster by Luigi Morgari depicts a scene from act 4 of the opera, in which Leonora encounters Manrico, who is imprisoned in di Luna's dungeon.

Poster credit: Luigi Morgari; restored by Adam Cuerden

William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States, serving from 1909 to 1913, and the tenth chief justice of the United States, serving from 1921 to 1930, the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected president in 1908, the chosen successor of Theodore Roosevelt, but was defeated for reelection in 1912 by Woodrow Wilson after Roosevelt split the Republican vote by running as a third-party candidate. In 1921, President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft to be chief justice, a position he held until a month before his death. This photograph was taken in 1908 by the Pach Brothers studio.

Photograph credit: Pach Brothers; restored by Adam Cuerden

Pomacanthus maculosus, commonly known as the yellowbar angelfish, is a species in the marine angelfish family, Pomacanthidae, found in the western Indian Ocean and, more recently, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It has a deep and compressed body with a small mouth that is equipped with small bristle-like teeth. The background colour of adults is brownish blue with each scale having a blue margin creating the impression that it is predominantly blue. There is an uneven, yellow bar close to the centre of the flanks with dark blue, vertically elongated spots towards the head. The species is occasionally collected for the aquarium trade and has also been recorded on sale as food in fish markets. This P. maculosus fish was photographed in Ras Muhammad National Park in the Red Sea off the coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

Ganymede is a moon of Jupiter and the largest and most massive satellite in the Solar System. It is the largest Solar System object without a substantial atmosphere and also the only moon in the Solar System with a substantial magnetic field. Like Titan, Saturn's largest moon, it is larger than the planet Mercury but, due to its lower density, has somewhat less surface gravity than Mercury, Io, or the Moon. Ganymede is composed of silicate rock and water in approximately equal proportions. It is a fully differentiated body, with an iron-rich liquid core and an internal ocean. Ganymede orbits Jupiter in roughly seven days and is in a 1:2:4 orbital resonance with Europa and Io. This image, a composite of three photographs taken by the NASA space probe Juno during a flyby in 2021, depicts the northern hemisphere of Ganymede roughly centered around the prime meridian.

Photograph credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill

The cinnamon quail-thrush (Cinclosoma cinnamomeum) is a species of bird in the family Cinclosomatidae. Endemic to Australia, it is typically found in arid and semi-arid regions of the central part of the continent, spanning southwest Queensland, northwest New South Wales, northeastern South Australia, and the southeast of the Northern Territory. It is most commonly found among dry stony areas, especially around dry creek lines, although it is also sometimes encountered in grass and shrublands. The cinnamon quail-thrush has a body length of 20 centimetres (7.9 in) and a mass of up to 50 grams (1.8 oz) when fully grown. Male birds are characterised by a white eyebrow, black face and a broad white streak down the sides of a black throat. The upperparts of their body are plain cinnamon-rufous with buff-white patches on the upper breast and a broad black band below. The outer tail feathers are black with white tips. The female has similar features but duller with a buff-white throat and eyebrow. This cinnamon quail-thrush was photographed by the Stuart Highway near Hugh, Northern Territory, about 88 kilometres (55 mi) southwest of Alice Springs.

Photograph credit: John Harrison

W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) was an English dramatist, librettist and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Arthur Sullivan. The most popular Gilbert and Sullivan collaborations include H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre. These Savoy operas continue to be performed regularly today throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. Gilbert's creative output included more than 75 plays and libretti, numerous stories, poems, lyrics and various other comic and serious pieces. His plays and realistic style of stage direction inspired other dramatists, including Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, and his comic operas inspired the development of American musical theatre, especially influencing Broadway writers. The journalist Frank M. Boyd wrote of Gilbert: "Till one actually came to know the man, one shared the opinion ... that he was a gruff, disagreeable person; but nothing could be less true of the really great humorist. He had ... precious little use for fools ... but he was at heart as kindly and lovable a man as you could wish to meet." This cabinet card of Gilbert was produced by the photographic studio Elliott & Fry around 1882–1883.

Photograph credit: Elliott & Fry; restored by Adam Cuerden

Holothuria fuscogilva, also known as the white teatfish, is a species of sea cucumber in the family Holothuriidae. It is found in the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific in shallow waters near islands and around coral reefs. Juveniles live in shallower waters (such as inter-tidal zones) and then migrate to deeper waters as they mature. Adults of this species weigh between 2.4 and 4 kilograms (5.3 and 8.8 pounds) and are elliptical in shape with a firm texture. They feature lateral papillae (teats), which are often buried in the sand. The species is consumed as food and is vulnerable to over-exploitation from commercial fishing. This H. fuscogilva sea cucumber was photographed in Ras Muhammad National Park off the Red Sea coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between 5 and 10 m (16 and 33 ft) tall. The pomegranate was originally found only throughout the Mediterranean region. It was introduced into Spanish America in the late 16th century and into California by Spanish settlers in 1769. This photograph shows a number of sarcotesta seedcoats from a pomegranate. This image is a focus-stacked image consisting of 31 images.

Photograph credit Ivar Leidus

Boeing Crew Flight Test was the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner capsule. Launched on 5 June 2024, the mission flew a crew of two NASA astronauts, Barry E. Wilmore and Sunita Williams, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to the International Space Station. The mission was intended to last eight days, ending on 14 June with a landing in the American Southwest. However, the capsule's thrusters malfunctioned as Starliner approached the ISS. After more than two months of investigation, NASA decided it was too risky to return Wilmore and Williams to Earth aboard Starliner. Instead, the Boeing spacecraft returned uncrewed on 7 September 2024, and the astronauts will ride down on the SpaceX Crew-9 spacecraft in February 2025. This photograph shows the Crew Flight Test launch, with capsule Calypso atop an Atlas V rocket.

Photograph credit: NASA / Joel Kowsky

Anemone hepatica is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Traditional herbal medicine claimed that it was useful in the treatment of liver disorders, hence its name (from Greek hepatikos, 'of the liver'). This photograph shows the flowers of two A. hepatica varieties, blue (common) and pink (rare), growing in a forest in Keila, Estonia. The picture was focus-stacked from 29 separate images.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

The chestnut-crowned antpitta (Grallaria ruficapilla) is a species of bird in the antpitta family, Grallariidae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. It is around 18 to 23 centimetres (7.1 to 9.1 in) long, with a mass of 70 to 98 grams (2.5 to 3.5 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies G. r. ruficapilla have a rufous crown, nape, and face with an olive-colored back, rump, tail, and wings. Its throat, breast, and belly are white with ochraceous edges on some breast feathers, and olivaceous and blackish streaks on their sides and sometimes their breast. This chestnut-crowned antpitta perching on a branch was photographed in the Río Blanco Ecological Reserve in Manizales, Colombia.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

La Promenade is an early Impressionist painting by the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, created in 1870. The oil-on-canvas work depicts a young couple on an excursion outside a city, walking on a woodland path. Influenced by the Rococo Revival style during the Second French Empire, the work reflects the older style and themes of eighteenth-century artists like Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. It also shows the influence of Claude Monet on Renoir's new approach to painting. La Promenade now hangs in the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California.

Painting credit: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The Philae temple complex is an island-based temple complex in the reservoir of the Aswan Low Dam, downstream of the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser in Egypt. Until the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the temple complex was located on Philae Island, near the expansive First Cataract of the Nile in Upper Egypt. These rapids and the surrounding area have been variously flooded since the initial construction of the Aswan Low Dam in 1902. The temple complex was dismantled and moved to nearby Agilkia Island as part of the UNESCO Nubia Campaign project, protecting this and other complexes before the 1970 completion of the Aswan High Dam. This 2022 photograph shows the temple of Isis from the Philae temple complex in its present location on Agilkia Island.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. It is the sole living representative of the family Ornithorhynchidae and, together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotreme – mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. Like other monotremes, the platypus senses prey in cloudy water through electrolocation. The male platypus has a spur on the hind foot that delivers an extremely painful venom, making it one of the few species of venomous mammals. This platypus was photographed swimming in a creek near Scottsdale in Tasmania.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

Olivia de Havilland (1916–2020) was a British, American and French actress. A member of the de Havilland family, her younger sister was the Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine, with whom she had a noted rivalry well documented by the media. During her career, de Havilland appeared in 49 feature films. She first came to prominence with Errol Flynn as a screen couple in adventure films such as Captain Blood (1935). Departing from ingénue roles in the 1940s, she went on to win two Academy Awards for Best Actress, for her roles in To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949). She received honours in the United States, the United Kingdom and France, including appointments to the Légion d'honneur and the Order of the British Empire. At the time of her death, she was widely considered the last surviving major star from the Golden Age of Hollywood. This 1985 photograph of de Havilland was taken by the Polish-born American photographer Bernard Gotfryd.

Photograph credit: Bernard Gotfryd

Wilson Square is an urban square and roundabout, located in the Żoliborz area of Warsaw, Poland. Constructed around 1923, close to Sokolnicki Fort, part of the Warsaw Citadel, the square was designed by Józef Jankowski, Antoni Jawornicki, and Tadeusz Tołwiński. Initially named after Polish novelist Stefan Żeromski, the square was renamed in 1926 in honour of the recently-deceased US president Woodrow Wilson. The buildings around the square were partially destroyed in 1944, during World War II, and it was remodelled in 1955. The modern square features a lawn and greenery with a road running through it, as well as tram tracks and the Plac Wilsona metro station. This photograph shows an aerial view of Wilson Square from the south-east.

Photograph credit: Emptywords

The Dewey Arch was a triumphal arch in Madison Square, New York City. It was erected for a parade on September 30, 1899, in honor of Admiral George Dewey, to celebrate his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines the previous year. Constructed around two months before the parade, the arch was made of the plaster-based material staff, typically used in temporary buildings. After the parade, the arch began to deteriorate and it was demolished in 1900 after an attempt to raise money to rebuild it in stone was unsuccessful. The arch's larger sculptures were sent to Charleston, South Carolina, for an exhibit, after which they were either destroyed or lost.

Photograph credit: Detroit Publishing Company