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Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

 
Fongshan Old City in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
In Zuoying District, Kaohsiung, just south of the district’s most popular tourist site, the Lotus Lake Taoist Complex, the remains of an ancient wall surround an idyllic park. Only three of the four gates and portions of the eastern and northern walls remain, thick crenelated structures made of concrete, granite, and coral stone. Defensive structures have existed in the area going back to 1722. The area had been a county seat since the Qing conquest of Taiwan from Zheng...

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The Sailor's Stone in Hindhead, England
Nestled in Hindhead Commons and Devil’s Punchbowl is a Grade-1 listed gravestone. Few know of the “Unknown Sailor,” an anonymous mariner, who met his demise in September 1786 at Hindhead in Surrey. His assailants met justice when they were publicly executed on Gibbet Hill the following year. According to the tale, a sailor was documented as having visited the Red Lion Inn in the village of Thursley. It was September 1786. He had been on his way back from London...

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The Castle on Hawkin's Hill in Wellington,...
Referred to as the “castle in the clouds,” 430 Hawkins Hill Road sits on a hill, isolated in the bush, overlooking Wellington. The site was originally a decommissioned Airways Corporation radar bunker until Brian Willman purchased the property in 1998 with the intention of building a conference center. For years, executives and business folk visited the castle until Willman wanted a lifestyle change. Willman opened Woofington’s in 2016, branded as a luxury dog hotel. A series of incidents connected to Woofington’s...

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Eggshell Arch in Tonalea, Arizona
Just an hour southeast of Page, Arizona, a hidden gem stands over a canyon in the Navajo Nation. Eggshell Arch is a natural sandstone arch formed over thousands of years by erosion. The arch is not well known (yet) so it is likely you won’t see other visitors in the area. The arch glows during sunset from October to January, a phenomenon known as the “Thanksgiving Glow.” This glow effect is created by the sun rays reflecting off of...

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Amruteshwar Siddheshwar Temple Complex in Pune, India
A short distance north of Shanivar Wada, along the Mutha river, sits an elaborate but crumbling temple complex, complete with an underground shrine. In 1633, the land the Amruteshwar Siddheshwar Temple Complex sits on was awarded to the Chitrao family, who had worked for the royal family of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj for generations. The oldest of the temples was built in 1673. The original Ram Temple did not survive, but now stands in a reconstructed form complete with original...

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Cavalli di Bronzo in Naples, Italy
On the gateposts of the Royal Palace of Naples stands a pair of grooms tending to their horses. These often overlooked bronze sculptures are no work of the Renaissance, let alone Ancient Rome, but of Imperial Russia. The original pieces were created in 1851 and stand on the Anichkov Bridge in Saint Petersburg to this day. The “Horse Tamers” are one of the best-known works by sculptor Peter Clodt von Jürgensberg, a favorite of Emperor Nicholas I. It is said...

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Bella the Beithir in Glasgow, Scotland
In 1777, Stockingfield Junction was opened to allow traffic from the Forth and Clyde Canal to reach the center of Glasgow. It closed in 1962, and its restoration was completed in 2022. The restoration and building of a bridge connect the communities of Maryhill, Gilsochhill, and Ruchill for the first time since the Forth and Clyde Canal was built.  To celebrate this novel unity, a mythological Celtic beast, Bella the Beithir, is one of 22 works of art being installed in...

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American Mural Project in Winsted, Connecticut
This colossal mural claims to be the largest indoor collaborative artwork in the world, measuring 120 feet long and five stories high. Artist Ellen Griesedieck created the massive piece of three-dimensional art as a tribute to the history of work in America. More than 15,000 kids and adults have worked on projects to help create pieces that are part of the mural or will soon be installed.  Featuring a teacher, farmer, steel workers, firefighter, police officer, heart surgeons, and more,...

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Zaragoza River Aquarium in Zaragoza, Spain
Unlike most large-scale public aquariums, the Zaragoza Aquarium’s collection is restricted to freshwater species, mostly from rivers. Though there are no sharks or any of the usual impressive giants, the tank’s inhabitants still wow spectators with impressively large freshwater fish, including arapaimas reaching over six feet long.  The Zaragoza is Europe’s largest freshwater aquarium, featuring species from five continents, and representing some of the world’s most prominent river ecosystems, including the Nile, the Mekong, the Amazon, the Darling Murray, and...

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Found: Records of Pompeii's Survivors
This story was originally published on The Conversation. It appears here under a Creative Commons license. On August 24, in the year 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted, shooting over 3 cubic miles of debris up to 20 miles (32.1 kilometers) in the air. As the ash and rock fell to Earth, it buried the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. According to most modern accounts, the story pretty much ends there: Both cities were wiped out, their people frozen in...

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Lindenhof Keller in Zurich, Switzerland
The walls underneath Lindenhof hold evidence of Zurich’s past. These walls include remnants from the Gallo-Roman, and Carolingian periods, each contributing to the rich tapestry of the city’s history.  During the Roman occupation, the area known as Turicum was fortified with a castellum (a small Roman fort), parts of which still exist today. These fortifications were part of a broader network of Roman military sites intended to secure the region. The walls from this period are visible in the...

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Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge, New...
Founded in 1945, this non-profit sanctuary honors the memory of Sanderson Sloane, as well as all the fallen men and women who served in World War II. It is situated on the 236-acre property, on a hilltop with breathtaking views of Monadnock Mountain. This non-denominational worship space, adjacent buildings, trails, and gardens charge no entry fee and are open from dawn to dusk, year-round.   Although it has no nave or stained glass windows, this ‘cathedral’ still performs many of the functions...

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Lake Clifton Thrombolites in Clifton, Australia
Lake Clifton, nestled within the Yalgorup National Park in Western Australia, is a captivating site renowned for its unique thrombolites. Thrombolites are microbial formations shaped by the intricate interplay of cyanobacteria, contributing to the trapping and cementation of sedimentary particles. Unlike stromatolites, thrombolites are living structures, and Lake Clifton is home to one of the few places globally where these formations can be observed. The thrombolites in Lake Clifton are distinctive, manifesting as rounded domes emerging from the lake’s...

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Antarctica's Largest Native Land Animal Is Actually...
Each week, Atlas Obscura is providing a new short excerpt from our upcoming book, Wild Life: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Living Wonders (September 17, 2024). In most places, midges don’t command much respect, inspiring annoyance and vague shooing motions and disappearing by the billions into the mouths of larger creatures. At the bottom of the world, though, everything is topsy-turvy. The Antarctic midge is the largest land animal endemic to the continent. In other words, Africa and...

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'La Sardina Encallada' ('The Stranded Sardine') in...
Visitors to Murcia might be surprised to see a big fish showing its head and tail in the shallow waters of the Segura River near the Puente Viejo (Old Bridge). This sculpture is actually a tribute to a deeply rooted tradition in Murcia.  The Entierro de la Sardina (Burial of the Sardine) is a ceremony that celebrates the end of Lent. Burials usually consist of a parade that parodies a funeral procession, and culminates with the burning of the...

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