Johan Doppelmayr's celestial chart of Pavo, c. 1742

Pavo is a constellation in the southern sky with the Latin name for peacock. It is one of twelve constellations conceived by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. First appearing on a 35 cm (14 in) diameter celestial globe published in 1598 in Amsterdam by Plancius and Jodocus Hondius, it was depicted in Johann Bayer's star atlas Uranometria of 1603. The constellation's brightest member, Alpha Pavonis, is also known as Peacock and appears as a 1.91- magnitude blue-white star, but is actually a spectroscopic binary. Delta Pavonis is a Sun-like star some 19.9 light years distant. Six of the star systems in Pavo have been found to host planets, including HD 181433 with a super-earth, and HD 172555 with evidence of a major interplanetary collision in the past few thousand years. The constellation contains NGC 6752, the third-brightest globular cluster in the sky, and the spiral galaxy NGC 6744, which closely resembles our Milky Way but is twice as large. ( Full article...)

Bluebuck skin

• ... that the bluebuck (pictured) was the first large African mammal historically recorded to have become extinct?
• ... that as acting commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Aryness Joy Wickens was the highest-paid woman in the U.S. civil service in 1954?
• ... that BJP MP Hukum Singh claimed that Kairana had become a "new Kashmir"?
• ... that Celestia Taylor sang at as many as four funerals a day during the 1918 flu pandemic?
• ... that the annual Festival de las Máscaras, which includes events in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2013, is the one night each year that wrestlers are allowed to compete wearing a mask they had previously lost, though this year's loser was shaved bald?
• ... that Jericó Abramo Masso headed a special commission in the Chamber of Deputies to investigate the Pasta de Conchos mine disaster?
• ... that Guangzhou's Hoi Tong Monastery once housed sacred pigs so fat they could barely walk?

Solar Impulse 2

• Solar Impulse 2 (pictured) becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth, completing a 16-month voyage.
• At least 19 people are killed and 26 others are injured in a stabbing incident at a disabled care home in Sagamihara, Japan.
• In cycling, Chris Froome wins his third Tour de France title.
• ISIL suicide bombers attack a peaceful protest in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing at least 80 people and injuring 260 others.
• In athletics, American sprinter Kendra Harrison breaks the 28-year-old 100 metres hurdles world record at the London Grand Prix.
• A gunman opens fire near a shopping mall in Munich, Germany, killing 9 people and injuring 27 others.

July 26: Independence Day in Liberia ( 1847)

Canadian National Vimy Memorial

• 1581 – Representatives of the States General of the Netherlands signed the Act of Abjuration, declaring the independence of the Dutch Low Countries from King Philip II of Spain.
• 1882 – Boer mercenaries declared their independence from the Transvaal Republic and established the Republic of Stellaland.
• 1936 – The Canadian National Vimy Memorial (pictured), dedicated to the Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War, was unveiled near Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, France.
• 1953 – Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led a group of approximately 160 rebels in an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution.
• 2008 – One day after similar bombings in Bangalore, 21 bombs exploded in Ahmedabad, India, killing 56 people and injuring over 200 others.