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 photograph of Monroe was taken on September 9, 1954, while she was filming The Seven Year Itch on the streets of New York in 1954. Monroe is wearing the famous white dress worn in the "skirt scene," in which air from a subway grate blows up her skirt.

Photograph: Associated Press, printed in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times

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 South East Asia, including the Himalayas through 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 80–115 mm. This T. septentrionis male was photographed in Kumarakom, Kerala, India.

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, president 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 the town's Emery Valley Mercantile Co. grocery store in 1936.

Photograph credit: Dorothea Lange; restored by Yann

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 cm (14 in) in overall length. Males weigh around 115 g (4.1 oz) while females are lighter with a weight of around 95 g (3.4 oz). 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.

Photograph Charles J. Sharp

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

The cinnamon quail-thrush (Cinclosoma cinnamomeum) is a species of bird in the Cinclosomatidae family. It is endemic to Australia, and is typically found in arid and semi-arid regions of the central part of the continent, spanning over 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 cm and a mass of up to 50 grams 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 near the Stuart Highway, south of Alice Springs, Northern Territory.

Photograph credit: JJ Harrison

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 it was useful in the treatment of liver disorders, hence its name (from Greek hepatikos, "of the liver"). This photograph shows the blue variety (common) and the pink variety (rare) growing at the same location in a forest in Estonia.

Photograph: 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 cm (7.1 to 9.1 in) long, with a mass of 70 to 98 g (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. Their 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 was photographed in the Reserva Ecologica Rio Blanco in Manizales, Colombia.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

The Dewey Arch was a triumphal arch in Madison Square, New York City, United States, which was erected for a parade on September 30, 1899, in honor of Admiral George Dewey, celebrating his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines the previous year. Constructed in 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: unknown photographer; Detroit Publishing Company