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Trevor Francis

Trevor John Francis (19 April 1954 – 24 July 2023) was an English footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million player following his transfer from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest. He scored the winning goal for Forest in the 1979 European Cup final against Malmö. He won the European Cup again with the club the following year. At international level, he played for England 52 times between 1976 and 1986, scoring 12 goals, and played at the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

Between 1988 and 2003, Francis was manager of Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham City and Crystal Palace.

Early life and education
Trevor John Francis was born on 19 April 1954 in Plymouth, Devon. His father, Roy, was a shift foreman with the local gas board and played football semi-professionally, his mother, Phyllis, did part-time sewing and tailoring, and he had two younger siblings. Francis was educated at Pennycross primary school and Plymouth's Public Secondary School for Boys. As a schoolboy, he was a prolific goalscorer; at 14, he attended a Football Association course at the National Sports Centre at Bisham Abbey, and he joined Birmingham City as a 15-year-old school-leaver.

Birmingham City
Francis quickly rose in status, making his debut for Birmingham City's first team in 1970, aged just 16. His talent was noted when, before his 17th birthday, he scored four goals in a match against Bolton Wanderers. He ended his first season with 15 goals from just 22 games. Birmingham City manager at the time, Freddie Goodwin, compared Francis to both Jimmy Greaves and Denis Law.

On 30 October 1976, he scored one of Birmingham's most famous goals, when he turned away from the touchline and cut inside two Queens Park Rangers defenders, constantly being forced backwards, before suddenly unleashing a 25 yard shot.

Detroit Express
Francis negotiated a loan from Birmingham in 1978 to play for the Detroit Express in the North American Soccer League (NASL), where he scored 22 goals in 19 league matches and was named to the NASL first XI alongside Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia before returning home to the Midlands.

Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest, the reigning First Division champions and League Cup holders managed by Brian Clough, put in a bid for Francis which totalled just over £1 million. No player had ever been sold between English clubs for a seven-figure fee before (the erstwhile record was less than half), and the deal was sealed, with Francis famously being introduced to the media by a manager impatient to play squash; Clough was in his red gym kit and carrying a racquet as he addressed the press conference.

While recognised as the first British million-pound player, the actual transfer fee for the player was £1,150,000, including 15% commission to the Football League. Clough wrote in his autobiography that the fee was £999,999, as he wanted to ensure the million-pound milestone did not go to the player's head; although Francis says that was a tongue-in-cheek remark by Clough.

Nottingham Forest retained the League Cup shortly afterwards without the cup-tied Francis, and made progress in the European Cup to the extent that they reached the semi-finals, although Francis was not eligible to play in the competition until the final. They won their semi-final, and in May 1979 Forest took on Swedish club Malmö in the final in Munich, and a major instalment of the huge investment money was repaid just before half time.

The ball was spread to Forest's winger John Robertson wide on the left and he took on two defenders at once to reach the byline and curl an awkward, outswinging cross towards the far post. Francis had already begun to sprint into position, but even so he had to increase his pace in order to reach the cross as it dropped, and ended up throwing himself low at the ball. He connected with his head and the ball diverted powerfully into the roof of the net. Forest won the match 1–0 and footage of the goal was used in the opening titles to Match of the Day for some years afterwards. A giant picture of Francis stooping to head the ball remains on display in the main entrance and reception area of Forest's City Ground stadium.

Even though the season ended there, Francis duly headed back to Detroit for another summer playing in the NASL, where once again he was named to the first XI alongside Johan Cruyff (Los Angeles Aztecs) and Giorgio Chinaglia (New York Cosmos), despite playing only half the season. In his brief NASL career, Francis scored 36 goals in 33 regular season matches and had 18 assists.

At Nottingham Forest Clough frequently played Francis on the right wing, rather than in his preferred position as a central attacker. Francis was in the side which lost the 1980 League Cup Final to Wolverhampton Wanderers, but missed the European Cup Final against Hamburg due to an injury to his Achilles tendon. Somehow the success of his Forest career never quite reflected his huge fee: he scored only 14 league goals in the 1979–80 season and 6 in the next 18 games that he played for Forest. Although still a regular for England, his Achilles injury prevented him being in the squad for the 1980 European Championships.

Manchester City
The injury kept Francis out of the game for over six months. He was sold to Manchester City in September 1981, this time for £1.2 million. The deal caused behind-the-scenes friction at Manchester City. During negotiations City chairman Peter Swales informed manager John Bond that the club could not afford the transfer fee. Bond then issued an ultimatum: if Francis did not sign, Bond would resign. Francis made a promising start at the club, scoring two goals against Stoke City on his debut, but over the course of the season he was frequently injured. In total he scored 12 goals in 26 games and made the England squad for the 1982 World Cup.

Back at his club, financial problems were again an issue. Francis' contract gave him a salary of £100,000 plus bonuses, which the club could no longer afford to pay to a player who regularly sustained injuries.

Sampdoria
Later that summer, Francis was approached by Italian club Sampdoria, who paid Manchester City £700,000 for his services. He helped win the 1984–85 Coppa Italia, in the same team as Scotland midfielder Graeme Souness, by scoring 9 goals in 11 games (top scorer of the Cup). It was the first time that Sampdoria had won the competition.

Atalanta
Francis joined Atalanta in 1986. He played 21 league games and scored once in his only season, but added two goals in nine games in the Coppa Italia; Atalanta lost the final to Napoli. He was the second Englishman at the Bergamo-based club after Gerry Hitchens, and by the time of his death their only other English-born player was Ademola Lookman.

Rangers
Francis returned to Britain in September 1987 to join Rangers under Graeme Souness. Numerous English players were brought to the Scottish club by Souness as English clubs had been banned from European competition since the Heysel disaster. Francis cost just £75,000, signed on a "pay-as-you-play" basis, and won the 1987–88 Scottish League Cup, scoring a penalty in the shootout.

Queens Park Rangers
Francis signed for Queens Park Rangers on a free transfer in March 1988 and helped the team finish fifth in the First Division. He scored 10 goals from 26 appearances in the first half of the 1988–89 season and took over as player-manager in December 1988 when Jim Smith moved to Newcastle United, but a knee injury in January 1989 put an end to his playing season. He marked his return to the field in September 1989 with a hat-trick against Aston Villa, but was replaced as manager by Don Howe in November 1989 and his playing contract was paid up a few days later.

During his time at Queens Park Rangers, Francis completed a brief loan in 1988 with an Australian National Soccer League team, Wollongong City, as part of businessman Harry Michaels' attempt to market football in Australia. Michaels had previously funded the loans of Alan Brazil and Paul Mariner, whom Francis was to replace, and had discussions with Norman Whiteside, Nigel Clough and Michel Platini about playing for the New South Wales-based team.

Sheffield Wednesday
Francis left QPR in February 1990 to play for Sheffield Wednesday; despite gaining a good reputation amongst supporters, he could not help the club avoid relegation to the second tier under manager Ron Atkinson for the 1990–91 season. However, that season he helped Wednesday win the League Cup, although he was a non-playing substitute in the final, and also gained promotion back to the top flight.

International career
Francis played for England 52 times between 1977 and 1986 and scored 12 goals. In 1977, he was given his first England cap by Don Revie, in a 2–0 loss against the Netherlands. After missing out on Euro 1980 due to an Achilles injury, Francis was named in the England squad for the 1982 World Cup in Spain. In the first round of the tournament, he scored in the group games against Czechoslovakia and Kuwait. England were eliminated after goalless draws against both the host nation and West Germany. In spring 1986, he made his 52nd and final appearance for England in a victory over Scotland, and was subsequently not selected for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Sheffield Wednesday
After the departure of Ron Atkinson, Francis took over as manager of Sheffield Wednesday with popular support from club and supporters. He guided Wednesday to third-place finish in 1992. The following year, Wednesday reached the FA Cup and League Cup finals, losing both to Arsenal, the former after a replay. In 1994, Francis finally retired as a player, shortly before his 40th birthday. He was dismissed as manager a year later after Wednesday finished 13th in the Premiership.

In February 1992, Francis brought former French international Eric Cantona back from a poor discipline enforced hiatus in his career by inviting him for a trial at Sheffield Wednesday. However, as the snowy conditions meant that he could only evaluate Cantona on AstroTurf, Francis requested an extension to the trial to see whether Cantona could play on grass. An outraged Cantona walked out on The Owls and was signed (without a trial) by Leeds United, inspiring first them and then Manchester United to success. In a 2012 interview Francis said that he had agreed to take Cantona on as a favour to Francis' former agent, Dennis Roach, and Michel Platini, who he knew from his time playing in Italy, when they approached him about taking on Cantona, and that it was intended as an opportunity for Cantona to put himself in the "shop window": Wednesday had only recently been promoted back to the top flight, with most of the squad still being on Second Division-level wages, and the club could not afford to sign him.

Birmingham City
Francis was hired as Birmingham City as manager in 1996, with the club in the First Division. He guided Birmingham to 10th- and 7th-place finishes in his first two seasons, missing out on the playoffs on goal difference in the latter. Finishes of 4th, 4th and 5th in the next three seasons resulted in playoff entry, losing each time.

Francis led Blues to the 2001 League Cup Final, in which they lost on penalties to Liverpool. He was dismissed in October that year. BBC Sport wrote "Francis the player was legendary. Francis the manager is the nearly man".

Crystal Palace
Francis was manager of Crystal Palace from November 2001 to April 2003. He was appointed by Crystal Palace chairman, Simon Jordan to replace Steve Bruce who had resigned as Crystal Palace manager with the intention of taking the manager's role at Birmingham City. Litigation had followed with Bruce being placed on "gardening leave". Of the appointment Jordan said, "The last two or three weeks have not been easy. I'm bored of Steve Bruce and Birmingham and what I'm interested in is Trevor Francis and Crystal Palace." At the time Francis said that he had turned down four jobs before accepting the role at Crystal Palace. Under his managership, Palace defeated a Gerard Houllier-managed Liverpool in an FA Cup fourth round replay at Anfield in February 2003 and beat Palace's main rivals, Brighton & Hove Albion, 5–0 in October 2002. However, after the team's second failure to achieve promotion to the Premier League, Simon Jordan dismissed him, stating: "People know I am very unhappy with the selection of our players under Francis. We have a very strong squad and we should have done a lot better this season – a lot of lessons need to be learned from injury prevention and transfer policy."

Personal life
Francis married Helen Allcard in 1974. The couple had two children, Matthew and James. On 5 April 2017, it was reported that Helen Francis had died.

On 13 April 2012, Francis was reported to be recovering in hospital from a suspected heart attack.

Francis died of a heart attack at his home near Marbella, Spain, on 24 July 2023. He was 69.

International

 * Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Francis goal.

Player
Birmingham City
 * Football League Second Division runner-up: 1971–72

Detroit Express
 * American Conference Central Division: 1978

Nottingham Forest
 * European Cup: 1978–79, 1979–80
 * European Super Cup: 1979
 * Football League Cup: runner-up 1979–80

Sampdoria
 * Coppa Italia: 1984–85

Rangers
 * Scottish League Cup: 1987–88

Sheffield Wednesday
 * Football League Cup: 1990–91

Individual
 * PFA First Division Team of the Year: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1981–82
 * Onze d'Argent: 1979
 * Coppa Italia top scorer: 1984–85 (9 goals)

Manager
Sheffield Wednesday
 * FA Cup runner-up: 1992–93
 * Football League Cup runner-up: 1992–93

Birmingham City
 * Football League Cup runner-up: 2000–01

Individual
 * Premier League Manager of the Month: December 1993

title: Trevor Francis


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Talk:Apollonius

Untitled
There are at least two Apolloniuses. Would it be all right if we have therefore two separate articles such as: I guess there are even more persons with the same name such as: — Preceding unsigned comment added by XJaM (talk • contribs) 13:49, 20 January 2003 (UTC)
 * Apollonius of Perga (265 BC - 170 BC)
 * Apollonius of Tyana (2 - 98) -- this link redirects to Apollonius.
 * Apollonius Rhodius

This dab page needs a phrase identifying each Apollonius so people know where to go. Wetman 22:32, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Seleucid Apollonius
There are several references to an Apollonius who was a general of the Seleucid army killed by the army of Judas Maccabaeus (for an example see Battle of Wadi Haramia. Is he worth a page in his own right? Currently all links referring to him come back to this page. --Matt Westwood 09:22, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Apollonius


text:
Drag equation

In fluid dynamics, the drag equation is a formula used to calculate the force of drag experienced by an object due to movement through a fully enclosing fluid. The equation is: $$F_{\rm d}\, =\, \tfrac12\, \rho\, u^2\, c_{\rm d}\, A$$ where
 * $$F_{\rm d}$$ is the drag force, which is by definition the force component in the direction of the flow velocity,
 * $$\rho$$ is the mass density of the fluid,
 * $$u$$ is the flow velocity relative to the object,
 * $$A$$ is the reference area, and
 * $$c_{\rm d}$$ is the drag coefficient – a dimensionless coefficient related to the object's geometry and taking into account both skin friction and form drag. If the fluid is a liquid, $$c_{\rm d}$$ depends on the Reynolds number; if the fluid is a gas, $$c_{\rm d}$$ depends on both the Reynolds number and the Mach number.

The equation is attributed to Lord Rayleigh, who originally used L2 in place of A (with L being some linear dimension).

The reference area A is typically defined as the area of the orthographic projection of the object on a plane perpendicular to the direction of motion. For non-hollow objects with simple shape, such as a sphere, this is exactly the same as the maximal cross sectional area. For other objects (for instance, a rolling tube or the body of a cyclist), A may be significantly larger than the area of any cross section along any plane perpendicular to the direction of motion. Airfoils use the square of the chord length as the reference area; since airfoil chords are usually defined with a length of 1, the reference area is also 1. Aircraft use the wing area (or rotor-blade area) as the reference area, which makes for an easy comparison to lift. Airships and bodies of revolution use the volumetric coefficient of drag, in which the reference area is the square of the cube root of the airship's volume. Sometimes different reference areas are given for the same object in which case a drag coefficient corresponding to each of these different areas must be given.

For sharp-cornered bluff bodies, like square cylinders and plates held transverse to the flow direction, this equation is applicable with the drag coefficient as a constant value when the Reynolds number is greater than 1000. For smooth bodies, like a cylinder, the drag coefficient may vary significantly until Reynolds numbers up to 107 (ten million).

Discussion
The equation is easier understood for the idealized situation where all of the fluid impinges on the reference area and comes to a complete stop, building up stagnation pressure over the whole area. No real object exactly corresponds to this behavior. $$c_{\rm d}$$ is the ratio of drag for any real object to that of the ideal object. In practice a rough un-streamlined body (a bluff body) will have a $$c_{\rm d}$$ around 1, more or less. Smoother objects can have much lower values of $$c_{\rm d}$$. The equation is precise – it simply provides the definition of $$c_{\rm d}$$ (drag coefficient), which varies with the Reynolds number and is found by experiment.

Of particular importance is the $$u^2$$ dependence on flow velocity, meaning that fluid drag increases with the square of flow velocity. When flow velocity is doubled, for example, not only does the fluid strike with twice the flow velocity, but twice the mass of fluid strikes per second. Therefore, the change of momentum per time, i.e. the force experienced, is multiplied by four. This is in contrast with solid-on-solid dynamic friction, which generally has very little velocity dependence.

Relation with dynamic pressure
The drag force can also be specified as $$F_{\rm d} \propto P_{\rm D} A$$ where PD is the pressure exerted by the fluid on area A. Here the pressure PD is referred to as dynamic pressure due to the kinetic energy of the fluid experiencing relative flow velocity u. This is defined in similar form as the kinetic energy equation: $$P_{\rm D} = \frac12 \rho u^2$$

Derivation
The drag equation may be derived to within a multiplicative constant by the method of dimensional analysis. If a moving fluid meets an object, it exerts a force on the object. Suppose that the fluid is a liquid, and the variables involved – under some conditions – are the: Using the algorithm of the Buckingham π theorem, these five variables can be reduced to two dimensionless groups:
 * speed u,
 * fluid density ρ,
 * kinematic viscosity ν of the fluid,
 * size of the body, expressed in terms of its wetted area A, and
 * drag force Fd.
 * drag coefficient cd and
 * Reynolds number Re.

That this is so becomes apparent when the drag force Fd is expressed as part of a function of the other variables in the problem:

$$ f_a(F_{\rm d}, u, A, \rho, \nu) = 0. $$

This rather odd form of expression is used because it does not assume a one-to-one relationship. Here, fa is some (as-yet-unknown) function that takes five arguments. Now the right-hand side is zero in any system of units; so it should be possible to express the relationship described by fa in terms of only dimensionless groups.

There are many ways of combining the five arguments of fa to form dimensionless groups, but the Buckingham π theorem states that there will be two such groups. The most appropriate are the Reynolds number, given by

$$ \mathrm{Re} = \frac{u\sqrt{A}}{\nu} $$

and the drag coefficient, given by

$$ c_{\rm d} = \frac{F_{\rm d}}{\frac12 \rho A u^2}. $$

Thus the function of five variables may be replaced by another function of only two variables:

$$ f_b\left(\frac{F_{\rm d}}{\frac12 \rho A u^2}, \frac{u \sqrt{A}}{\nu} \right) = 0. $$

where fb is some function of two arguments. The original law is then reduced to a law involving only these two numbers.

Because the only unknown in the above equation is the drag force Fd, it is possible to express it as

$$\begin{align} \frac{F_{\rm d}}{\frac12 \rho A u^2} &= f_c\left(\frac{u \sqrt{A}}{\nu} \right) \\ F_{\rm d} &= \tfrac12 \rho A u^2 f_c(\mathrm{Re}) \\ c_{\rm d} &= f_c(\mathrm{Re}) \end{align}$$

Thus the force is simply $1⁄2$ ρ A u2 times some (as-yet-unknown) function fc of the Reynolds number Re – a considerably simpler system than the original five-argument function given above.

Dimensional analysis thus makes a very complex problem (trying to determine the behavior of a function of five variables) a much simpler one: the determination of the drag as a function of only one variable, the Reynolds number.

If the fluid is a gas, certain properties of the gas influence the drag and those properties must also be taken into account. Those properties are conventionally considered to be the absolute temperature of the gas, and the ratio of its specific heats. These two properties determine the speed of sound in the gas at its given temperature. The Buckingham pi theorem then leads to a third dimensionless group, the ratio of the relative velocity to the speed of sound, which is known as the Mach number. Consequently when a body is moving relative to a gas, the drag coefficient varies with the Mach number and the Reynolds number.

The analysis also gives other information for free, so to speak. The analysis shows that, other things being equal, the drag force will be proportional to the density of the fluid. This kind of information often proves to be extremely valuable, especially in the early stages of a research project.

Air viscosity in a rotating sphere
Air viscosity in a rotating sphere has a coefficient, similar to the drag coefficient in the drag equation.

Experimental methods
To empirically determine the Reynolds number dependence, instead of experimenting on a large body with fast-flowing fluids (such as real-size airplanes in wind tunnels), one may just as well experiment using a small model in a flow of higher velocity because these two systems deliver similitude by having the same Reynolds number. If the same Reynolds number and Mach number cannot be achieved just by using a flow of higher velocity it may be advantageous to use a fluid of greater density or lower viscosity.

title: Drag equation


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Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Constellations

General discussion
I've created an article for Monoceros according to the template here. Any suggestions on how to improve the template? I must have missed quite a lot of things. --Lorenzarius 14:04 Jan 20, 2003 (UTC)

Useful links --Lorenzarius
 * http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/
 * http://dph1701.tripod.com/astronomy/constellations.html
 * http://www.astronomical.org/constellations/obs.html
 * http://www.seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/Fig/const.html

Please add to the 'not so completed' section the things that are yet to be done. (For example in parentheses.) Would help me a lot, because at the moment I can't always understand why a constellation is in this section. -- -Torsten Bronger 10:39 Apr 15, 2003 (UTC)
 * Should be clearer now. -- looxix 19:53 Apr 15, 2003 (UTC)

It seems that many of the constellation pages should be disambiguated, see Aquila, Draco. These are marked with (d) in the project page.

I just saw that Google does really like our constellations pages! I added Andromeda to Top 10 Google hits, but there are a lot more to add. If everyone checks one or two, soon we have all ;-) Fantasy 11:37 24 Jul 2003 (UTC)

A procedural motion: Do you think it would be helpful if I create sections for this talk page? It would make editing a little bit easier (with this new [edit] button). I think new people could benefit from it, too. -- Torsten Bronger 15:36, 31 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Yes - sections are good. --mav 18:42, 31 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Shouldn't Argo be deleted from the list? -- Torsten Bronger 18:43, 9 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * I "expanded" Argo to Puppis and Vela. -- Torsten Bronger 11:01, 10 Aug 2003 (UTC)

About bordering constellations: We should start at the north, but that's ambiguous. For example, what's the first one for Carina? Centaurus, Vela, or Puppis? Or is this left to the editor? -- Torsten Bronger 11:01, 10 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * CalRis suggests using the northernmost neighbouring constellation, e. g.

 * Carina: Puppis (see http://www.glyphweb.com/esky/default.htm; select Constellations)
 * Centaurus: Hydra
 * Vela: Pyxis
 * Puppis: Monoceros

 * First, my formulation was misleading. I meant: Is Centaurus, Vela, or Puppis the first neighbour of Carina, because two of them are at the same northern borderline of Carina.  Okay, you say: Puppis.

 * It's right that the official constellation border is a little bit slanted, so Puppis is a fraction of a degree more northern than Vela. Is this the rule? -- Torsten Bronger 11:41, 8 Sep 2003 (UTC)

 * CalRis: I suggest the following: relevant is the northernmost point of the constellation. If there are still two or more possible northernmost neighbouring constellations, then choose the one with the lower RA. That should remove all possible ambiguities. In the case of Carina: indeed, it is slanted (I checked it using XEphem and a set of printed charts; so, no ambiguity there). Bye.

Are you guys plan to add constellations from different cultures? It is even more interesting! -- wshun 23:17, 19 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Entry "Number of stars with apparent magnitude < 3"
 * CalRis: What does this mean? Is this the number of stars with an apparent magnitude of 2.99 and brighter? Or is it supposed to include all stars with an apparent magnitude of third magnitude, i. e. 3.99 and brighter?

Why is the term rectascension being used? Shouldn't be Right Ascension in English? Paul 18:58, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Tables
The table template for cut-and-paste
 * Caid Raspa 11:30 15 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Hi there! Here's a summary of some questions and suggestions concerning the tables. I believe that it would be good if we you could find agreement on all of these issues and then include them in the page of this project (WikiProject_Constellations). So please vote/comment on this! CalRis 08:51, 4 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * 1) "RA" and "Dec.": what should be entered here?
 * 2) *Right now: data from http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/
 * 3) *Alternative 1 (User:CalRis25): Geometrical centre of constellation as seen on a celestial map
 * 4) **(User:Bronger) I prefer this because it's the most concise and natural. However, the geometrical centre is bad for certain constellations (e.g. Hydra).  Better is some sort of 'centre of gravity'.  My sky atlas (Atlas of the night sky by Dunlop/Tirion) places it at 10h/-20 for Hydra which is a very good example for it.
 * 5) *Alternative 2 (User:CalRis25): Coordinates of the principal star (= alpha star, not necessarily the brightest one) of constellation.
 * 6) **(User:Bronger) At least two constellations don't have an alpha star, sometimes alpha is insignificant, but the most serious problem is that it can stand aloof.
 * 7) *Alternative 3 (User:CalRis25): Indicate its extension e. g. "RA: 20h13 to 21h06", "Dec: +2.2° to +20.8°" (see Delphinus in constellation section of "E-Sky" [])
 * 8) **(User:Bronger) If at all, the declination range is interesting, but this is covered by "Visible to latitude" already. Additionally, the RA range loses its significance near the poles.

How about adding a style="padding-top: 1.5ex; padding-bottom: 1ex" to the <td> element that contains the constellation name in the table? It creates some pleasant whitespace. The effect is much greater in Mozilla than in IE, but the values 1.5ex and 1ex work well for both. However you may suggest better values. Here is an example:

produced by

-- Torsten Bronger 16:18, 1 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Good idea. I will add it to all the tables. --Lorenzarius 18:43, 2 Aug 2003 (UTC)

How about adding pronunciations of the constellation and its genitive in the table? See Corvus (constellation). -- Jeandré, 2003-08-19t22:51z

How about adding " style="vertical-align:top;"" to table rows (preferably via a global stylesheet)? Compare the "Visible to latitude" entry of Scorpius and Corvus (constellation). If the pronunciation idea above is accepted I'll do the adding, from The Cambridge guide to the constellations, 1995 by Michael E. Bakich. -- Jeandré, 2003-08-20t22:14z

General, guidelines
I've created a program for drawing celestial maps of high quality. Originally it was made for h2g2 but it's free software, so it may be useful for this project. It's called PP3. I added such a map to Leo. --Torsten Bronger 00:40 Feb 13, 2003 (UTC)

 * Excellent map! It is so clear and detailed. If you have the time, please upload the maps for the other constellations. --Lorenzarius 07:55 Feb 13, 2003 (UTC)

 * Thank you. Do you think the colours/font size/whatever are okay?  At the moment I still can change everything.  I (think I) optimised it for Wikipedia, but e.g. on a dark background, I could include the real colours of the stars.  See an alternative map for an example. Which constellations should have highest priority? --Torsten Bronger 01:32 Feb 14, 2003 (UTC)

Tell me if other entry are finished or in preparation and need a map. And tell me if I have to modify something in the maps. --Torsten Bronger 13:29 Feb 15, 2003 (UTC)

 * Well done, the maps fit very well into the articles. But IMO it is better to use the official names of the constellations instead of their English names. Since the IAU names are what people usually used.

 * With the white background the black stars are shown very clearly. However, showing the real colours of the stars will make the maps more informative, but I wonder if doing so will make the stars less clear.

Originally posted on my Talk page by Alan Peakall

 * Great work on the constellations! However, as Ursa Major appears in my browser, the sky map is overwriting the left hand side of the attribute table when there is insufficient width.  I think the table should overwrite sky map under this condition.  Is this known? easy to fix? -- Alan Peakall 15:27 Feb 17, 2003 (UTC)

 * I think this happens when the viewer is using a lower screen resolution like 800x600 (I'm using 1024x768 so it doesn't happen to be). The only method I can think of is to move the map to the bottom of the page so the map and the table is not displayed side by side. Are there any other better methods? (This is not a big problem actually, but I feel that it looks better to display the map on the top of the page and just next to the table.) --Lorenzarius 10:27 Feb 18, 2003 (UTC)
 * The problem seems to be limited to IE (Mozilla puts the image below the table unless there's room for it to the left). Morally, I don't like bowing to the Borg, but the net result is unfortunate. I shrank the image a bit, which seems to resolve the problem (probably not for under 800x600, but that's a pretty small population nowadays). (FWIW, Wikipedia in general sucks at 800x600, even tho' it's close enuf they seem to have tried.) Niteowlneils 17:28, 10 May 2004 (UTC)

-

Please make sure that the star maps are 300 pixels in width and placed in the table. Otherwise the table, text and image will all fight with each other on the screens of people with lower resolution screen settings. See Image use policy for more. --mav

 * You set the table width to 330px. What does this imply for the different browser types? Are smaller images streched? Wider ones are obviously scaled down, which is a very nice thing. To be honest, I feel tempted to continue as before (400px max), and if a user needs a bigger version they may click on the map. -- Torsten Bronger 15:53 Mar 2, 2003 (UTC)

 * Providing larger version is definitely a common practice around here. But simply setting a table width does not force an image to display at that size (for some reason this doesn't work on Wikipedia - however, even if it did it still wouldn't be a good idea because the result is often an ugly image). Also, the difference in width isn't that great so going through the extra effort of setting up different versions and providing media links probably wouldn't be worth it. What I did in this case was place the images in the tables, download them, set them to RGB, indexed them, resized them to a 300 px width and then uploaded them. --mav

 * I really have no problem with being a mere raw material provider, but I'd like to know when my images are overwritten because I have to adjust the description (namely the scale). Moreover, there still is the possibility of re-calculating them (i.e. the labels keep their size) which may be the superior alternative. On the other hand, why are 400px a problem with this stacked form? -- Torsten Bronger

 * I think it would better to have a small version (to be displayed in the article) and a large version (to let readers see a detailed map if they want) of the star maps for each of the constellations. --Lorenzarius 09:32 Mar 4, 2003 (UTC)

 * First, I'm sorry about the description problem - I didn't know about the scale problem. Aligned 400px wide images/tables overwhelm the text for people using 800 x 600 screen resolutions (with the side bar there is just a little over 600px for article content and images or tables that cover more than half that available area overwhelm the article). Larger fonts would be great though. --mav

 * Okay then I propose the following: I continue as before, with 400px as maximum (as I already pointed out, only a few further constellations will be that big anyway) and for all images bigger than say 300px a smaller variant is created with a different filename as a thumbnail in the entry (with a link to the bigger one of course).

 * This would mean that I restore the overwritten bitmaps. I'd be nice if someone can do the downscaling/inclusion work because I have to pay for every online minute and -- while uploading is efficient -- this clicking around is time consuming and thus superfluously expensive. I could do it, but if someone has a better connection ... thank you! -- Torsten Bronger 12:54 Mar 4, 2003 (UTC)

 * Sure - but if you could do the first one youself I could just emulate that. --mav

Okay, here is my proposal:

All graphics that are bigger than 300px (so far, all except Ara, but as I said, the small constallations are yet to come) are downscaled to 70% (NOT to a fixed width). Since no graphics is wider than 427px (a value that I had chosen after a posting of Lorenzarius from Feb 16) this means that no thumbnail will be wider than 300px.

Please scale down carefully, i.e. convert to RGB before you do it etc., you know what I mean. Call the graphics _small.png. Upload it, and link on its description page to the original image (say that it is a thumbnail) and put your name on it.

But before I will do that for Leo as a template I have some questions:
 * 1) Is is common practice on Wikipedia to call a thumbnail *_small.png?
 * 2) How should one mark an image as a thumbnail, i.e., how is the reader told that a bigger version exists?
 * 3) As an alternative we could scale every image down to 70%.  The advantage  would be that somebody could replace the larger versions of all constellations without disturbing the article.  Nevertheless I don't like that idea.

-- Torsten Bronger 07:44 Mar 27, 2003 (UTC)

 * This sounds good. I've read somewhere that scaling to an even percentage as you suggest reduces artifacts (indexing and setting to RGB also helps a lot). also..
 * Some people add "small", others "thumbnail", yet others simply "thumb". All work. Your suggestion of _small is good for a standard here.
 * See Pluto (planet), sheep and Great-horned owl for some examples.
 * Probably not needed.

 * --mav

 * Two other questions: I love interlaced bitmaps, but PNGs become up to 20% bigger with interlacing. What do you think?  BTW, JPEGs can be significantly smaller than PNGs without changing the image too much (especially because most of it is white) but I hope you agree with me that we shouldn't provide them as JPEGs on principle (I talk only about the thumbnails here anyway).

 * In theory downscalling to 300px and interlacing should cancel each other out as far as file sizes are concerned but for these images it in fact nearly doubles the file size. It would therefore probably be better to make these images at 300 px to begin with. But then again the file sizes aren't that huge so this isn't that big of a deal. PNG is the best format for these types of images (jpgs would have fuzzy text). --mav

 * Secondly, I used the trick of the Sheep article for the link to the larger version. Is this "Media:" (instead of "Image:") thing exploiting an undocumented feature of Wikipedia or is it secure?  I seems to link to an internal place of Wikipedia, making it impossible to see e.g. the description.  May it be better to link to it with "Image:"?  (But then, of course, the reader had to find the link to the actual graphics by themselves.)

 * "Media" is a secure feature. It is also under-documented. Providing a link to the image page just provides an unneeded extra step to get to the larger image. The same info will be on the thumbnail's description page. --mav

 * Thirdly I have updated Leo according to the new (virtual) template. Please review it.  Was Leo the only map that you, Mav, rescaled to 300px? -- Torsten Bronger

 * Leo looks great! But having the media link to the larger version may be more work than what it is worth - we are only talking about a difference in size of 100 px. I converted several other constellations as well. --mav

 * I think it's worth it. After all we have now a final structure and we can upload both smaller thumbnails and larger detail views if we wish, without touching the template again. -- Torsten Bronger

Hi, I whish to know what was the motivation to include the image/thumbnail into the table? Because, the more I convert some constellation to the new template, the more I find the result awfull. I find, for example, Cygnus well better looking than Leo. -- looxix 19:12 Apr 13, 2003 (UTC)

 * Yes, I do agree that Cygnus looks better than Leo, but only for users with higher screen resolution. Please refer to the discussions above. -Lorenzarius 12:15 Apr 17, 2003 (UTC)

I'd like to discuss an alternative to the current way to embed the maps. I see two problems with the current approach:
 * 1) We have to include this text "larger image"; it doesn't help to click on the graphics itself.
 * 2) We abuse Wikipedia's linking scheme, because this way of linking was created for non-visual media data.  The link destination is the mere bare graphics, i.e. we leave Wikipedia's controlled area.  On my system this implies a grey background for example, and the only way to continue browsing is to hit the "back" button of the browser.

There is no silver bullet, and it may well be that the current way is the least bad one. However consider the following alternative:
 * We make the description page of the thumbnail version empty, and embed the large version there instead. (Not a link to it, but the graphics itself).
 * We delete the "larger image" text.

As a result the user just clicks on the graphics to get a larger view, which seems to be more natural for Internet thumbnails in my opinion. Additionally, the reader is on clean Wikipedia pages always.

Well, a user may not find it. But I have to admit that the scaled down versions are surprisingly good, so in most cases the larger version is not necessary for the ordinary reader. (Well, at the moment most small versions are not very good due to bad image software; but have a look at the Centaurus example for how it could be.)

If I started the whole project again, I'd make the small versions the standard, and create ...._large.png files instead for big constellations. However, my Internet connection is slow and expensive, and I can't delete files on Wikipedia. -- Torsten Bronger 09:47, 31 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * "As a result the user just clicks on the graphics to get a larger view" - this is counter to Wikipedia's standard image handling behavior and policy. It will therefore be reverted by copyeditors. The "larger image" convention is very well established here - users quickly notice that clicking on images brings them to a page that has meta data about the image. They should not expect to see, or be expected to see, a larger image because the great majority of Wikipedia images do not have larger versions at all - let alone ones placed on the image description page. If you need images deleted then please list them on Votes for deletion and an Admin will delete them. --mav 09:57, 31 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Oh – okay. However this is a flaw in Wikipedia software in my opinion. Every picture should have an implicit complete (albeit minimal) Wikpedia article around it where you can link to.  Anyway …

 * By the way, I created the small version of Centaurus by scaling the normal image to 70% (this value was agreed upon here) in RGB colour model, and using GIMP's 'sharpen' filter with a value of 50%. The result was re-converted to a 256 colour index bitmap (without any dithering, only re-mapping) and exported to PNG.  This is the best way I've found so far. -- Torsten Bronger 13:15, 31 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I created a Gimp script that converts a constellation map in EPS format to two bitmaps (normal and thumbnail). The effect is that now all maps can be created in batch mode; you just have to call "make" on the command line. Thus global style changes (e.g. different colours, fewer stars) can be realised within ten minutes, most of which is waiting. :-) The Makefile and the Gimp script are available together with the Wiki scripts.

The only remaining bottleneck is the upload to Wikipedia, but since descriptions must be updated anyway … -- Torsten Bronger 15:45, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Pay attention to the fact that I uploaded small variants for all maps wider than 300px. So please use the thumbnails with the _small suffix if they are available. Torsten Bronger 09:08, 24 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Specific constallations, updates
I've prepared the following charts: Big Bear, Orion, Lion, Berenice's Hair, Monoceros, Cetus,

Taurus, and Ara. --Torsten Bronger 13:29 Feb 15, 2003 (UTC)

The map of Ursa Major shows only the big dipper, can you change so that the whole constellation is displayed? Also if the maps are too wide then they can't be placed next to the table (just like the map of Cetus), I think a width around 440 will be good. --Lorenzarius 11:32 Feb 16, 2003 (UTC)

 * I've updated Ursa Major, now with bigger area and latin names. Cetus will follow, probably yet today.  Unfortunately we now haven't the same scale for all images anymore.  But this wouldn't be possible anyway. -- Torsten Bronger 15:50 Feb 16, 2003 (UTC)

New maps: Cygnus, Aries, Gemini, and Cancer. I've scaled down Cetus, and replaced all constellation names with their Latin translations in all bitmaps. -- Torsten Bronger 11:49 Feb 18, 2003 (UTC)

I uploaded a map for Cassiopeia, but didn't include it. (Whoever creates the thumbnails will have to do that.) -- Torsten Bronger 13:00 Apr 12, 2003 (UTC)
 * OK thanks, but what is the difference between "Image:Cassiopeia_constellation_map.png" & "Image:Cassiopeia_constellation_drawing.png"? -- looxix 13:05 Apr 12, 2003 (UTC)

 * No difference so far. I just named the file wrongly.  The _drawing suffix is used for artistic drawings that show the constellation.  But an ordinary user like me cannot undo wrong uploads. -- Torsten Bronger

Well, actually the Leo template calls smaller versions _small, not _thumb (see above). And I really want the downscaling to be done like this: Promote to 24bit colour depth (RGB) --> downscale to 0.7 --> index to 256 colours without dithering --> save as PNG. At least the first step is missing in your thumbnails. Some labels are unreadable now.
 * Humm, I see, for example the label 'Antares' in Scorpius in screwed.
 * I tried to first promote to 24-bit, it doesn't change anything! what I propose is, for the moment, to leave these thumbnails as they are, after all they are just thumbnails; those interested in more detailed information will probably try the full image anyway.

BTW I restored the old Sagittarius map. (This process of deleting and restoring of old image versions is very stange in Wikipedia I think.) -- Torsten Bronger

The CMa map is wider than 300px and thus a candidate for a thumbnail, too.

New maps: Corvus, Perseus, Auriga, Canes Venatici, Ursa Minor, Vulpecula, and Aquila. BTW, what happened to the Capricornus map? -- Torsten Bronger 18:39 May 8, 2003 (UTC)
 * Done, including the restoration of Capricornus map. Thanks. -- Looxix 19:19 May 8, 2003 (UTC)

I did the following: -- Torsten Bronger 09:49, 5 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * Uploaded much nicer thumbnails,
 * named all thumbnails ..._map_small.png,
 * added new thumbnails for a couple of constallations that hadn't have one,
 * changed map names containing `maior' to `major',
 * redirected all thumbnail descriptions to the main description, and
 * flagged all ..._thumb.png and other superfluous maps (i.e. the `maior's and one filename misspelling) for deletion.

The maps for the northern hemisphere have been completed. Because all remaining constellations are pretty small, many of them have no thumbnail, i.e. the large map is less than 300px wide. Please pay attention to that if you create the respective table entry. -- Torsten Bronger 06:02, 5 Sep 2003 (UTC)

All maps are done. Note that I uploaded thumbnails where necessary, too. I won't participate actively in the project any further, but feel free to email me if there is a problem with the maps. You can also have CVS access to the maps in order to improve them. Using the map generating program is not very easy, but modifying the maps (translating them, changing style etc) is fairly simple. Bye and good luck! -- Torsten Bronger 11:04, 11 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Constellation drawings
Pipe dream: It would be a lot of fun to find digitized images of a cool old star map with images of the constellation's figures (you know the kind I'm thinking of)... - Montréalais

 * Hey that's what I am thinking of! Since most of the figures of the constellations are so hard to imagine (I always think that Saggittarius look like a teapot more than a centaur), adding such images would greatly enhance the articles. --Lorenzarius 10:16 Feb 20, 2003 (UTC)

 * I could do that, I have the complete celestial atlas of Hevelius here (17th century). However the graphics would have mirrored labels:  The original maps are mirrored themselves, for the telescope view.  If I wanted to undo that, the labels would become inverted.  Catch-22 ...  --Torsten Bronger 10:47 Feb 20, 2003 (UTC)

 * That's not a big problem, since I think the main purpose of these artistic maps is to show the readers what the mythological figures look like. We can add descriptions to the images to explain the reason for the mirrored maps. --Lorenzarius 11:28 Feb 20, 2003 (UTC)

 * So, make them *readable* or according to the view of the unaided eye? --Torsten Bronger 12:44 Feb 20, 2003 (UTC)

 * "Readable" maps will do. --Lorenzarius 13:47 Feb 20, 2003 (UTC)

 * I think I'll focus on normal maps for now. Hevelius' charts are bigger than my scanner, and a scaling-down copy is very difficult.  But I uploaded Leo and Cygnus.  Please tell me whether colour/brightness/contrast/gamma is okay.

 * I'm just wondering why you're claiming copyright on Hevelius' drawings. (Maybe you just automatically add the copyright notice for every upload?)

 * I don't know how it is in other countries, but in Germany any copyright expires 70 years after one's death. I assume that this is not typical of Germany.  The copyright I add is not for the map, but for the bitmap (the JPEG file). -- Torsten Bronger 04:30 Feb 21, 2003 (UTC)

 * Of course I'm not familiar with the copyright laws of Germany or even the EU, but (basing on how I perceive American copyright) the only things that are copyrightable are creative works/derivatives. Those drawings were the copyrighted works of Hevelius and since he's long dead, I assume that the drawings are in the public domain, right? Anyway, just scanning those drawings does not make the image files your copyright since you did not add anything substantially creative. (If the drawing was part of a photomontage or collage, then you can have copyright.) That is the reason why you just cannot scan any picture from any recent magazine or book since that would be a copyright infringement (unless your use was fair use).

 * So I'm quite sure I can copy your uploaded drawings and use it for myself since they're essentially public domain. Of course, don't take my word for it since I'm not an attorney. :) —seav

 * If I make a photography of a painting of Michelangelo, I can hold copyright on the photography. I had to choose the right part of the drawing, had to adjust contrast, saturation, and brightness, I chose a nice background colour.  So I think you can compare it with a photography.

 * The only problem that indeed exists is that I haven't used Hevelius' original maps for the scanning but facsimile prints. I don't know whether these prints are copyrighted because it's in Polish.  However I consider it a very small issue.  Since you find those maps in probably hundreds of books all over the world, I'm sure that nobody can bring Wikipedia into trouble because of my bitmaps. -- Torsten Bronger 16:23 Feb 22, 2003 (UTC)

 * I'm sorry, but if you submit something to Wikipedia, it's no longer under your copyright, but under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may wish to remove the copyright notices. - Montréalais

 * I think only text material has to be released under the GFDL. Other media (sound and image files) can still have their original licenses intact but it is preferred that they be in public domain or licensed under the GFDL. (See Copyrights.) —seav

 * I only have to give it under the GFDL, and according to Wikipedia's image policy, I should say what the current copyright status is on the description page.

 * I believe when you submit copyrighted material of yours to Wikipedia, you retain the copyright to your materials. But you can never retract from the GFDL lisence. --Lorenzarius 10:35 Feb 21, 2003 (UTC)

 * I think that I as the copyright holder can re-licence my material at any time. If this makes it incompatible with the GFDL I have to assure that it is deleted from Wikipedia, because I declared that it is GFDL material when I uploaded it.  I've seen such re-licencing in free software development.  Of course I don't even think about changing the licence.  Be that as it may, I believe that everything is alright as it is now. -- Torsten Bronger 12:03 Feb 21, 2003 (UTC)

 * Here I was wrong: I cannot do that (withdrawing things).  I don't want to anyway. -- Torsten Bronger 07:38, 28 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Well, I'm not sure of the ins and outs. As long as you don't turn around someday and say Hey! you can't use that anymore ;)
 * Also, the drawings look excellent; thank you. - Montréalais

I have scanned Hevelius drawings of the following constellations in fairly good quality:

-rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      149533 Apr  4 21:43 and.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      153148 Apr  4 21:43 argo.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      152570 Apr  4 21:43 boo.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      138340 Apr  4 21:43 cet.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      144866 Apr  4 21:43 cyg.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      142220 Apr  4 21:43 gem.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      165234 Apr  4 21:43 her.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      163780 Apr  4 21:43 leo.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      140277 Apr  4 21:43 ori.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      137514 Apr  4 21:43 pav_ara_tra.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      163717 Apr  4 21:43 per.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      136439 Apr  4 21:43 sco.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      136292 Apr  4 21:43 sgr.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      159331 Apr  4 21:43 tau.jpg -rw-r--r--   1 bronger  users      123442 Apr  4 21:43 uma.jpg

You can download them from http://pp3.sourceforge.net/wiki/ .

I've experimented a little bit and -- although I am very experienced in image processing -- I was unable to get satisfying results, mostly because I'm not sure what is actually wanted:

 * 1) Is it a good idea to include the whole rectangle, or is it enough to truncate it to the actual figure?
 * 2) What is the best image width? 400px are recommended, but this is only sensible if we don't use the whole rectangle in my opinion.
 * 3) Should we use true greyscale JPEGs or should we colour the background to make it look nicer (increase in file size by factor 2 at least). PNGs are not very sensible I think.  (However I haven't tried it so far.)
 * 4) Should we try to show the reader the connection of the asterisms and the constellation drawings? This questions has two sub-questions:
 * 5) *Should we mirror the drawings to have the real view (in contrast to Hevelius' eyepiece view)?
 * 6) *Should we copy the main constellation lines in some way into the drawing to show the reader the equivalence?

Feel free to use the scans and upload modified versions to Wikipedia. -- Torsten Bronger

 * (Nearly 2 years later!) They are nice scans as they are. All I found was a low res Taurus scan in Commons, so I'm now slowly uploading the Hevelius prints to Commons:Category:Constellations. I've done Ori, Tau and Uma for now, each also tagged with Commons:Category:Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, in case anyone wishes to continue. -Wikibob | Talk 02:48, 2005 Mar 27 (UTC)

Maps with south at top
I have noticed that all the sky maps have north at the top. We also need maps with south at the top to counter systemic bias. It makes sense to have maps in both orientations because the northern hemisphere orientation is not the only one that's possible. I live in the southern hemisphere and I cannot stand on my head when viewing the night sky for medical reasons. Even in the northern hemisphere an alternative map with south at the top would be useful when viewing certain circumpolar constellations at culmination like Cassiopeia. -- <SPAN STYLE="font-family:monospace; color:#006666; background-color:#ffffcc; border:1px solid #ff0000;"> B.d.mills </SPAN> (T, C) 02:27, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Hello, I just "joined"
Some questions: How do I markup the magnitude if the brightest star is a variable as Hercules?

 * In the case of Vela, I just added a <tt>[[Variable star|(var.)]]</tt> behind the mean magnitude. But for Mira stars this is not appropriate, in this case I would use the maximum + "(var.)".  This has been my strategy so far and is not normative! – Torsten Bronger 17:43, 26 Feb 2004 (UTC)

We can use the simple table syntax for the tables, right? The pages will be slightly easier to edit, and less un-wiki. I can convert the template.

 * Yes, apparently everything survives the conversion process. However I strongly object to using the new image syntax for the maps. – Torsten Bronger

The articles Hercules and Pegasus have too big images which need cropping or scaling, which I don't have proper software to do.

— Sverdrup (talk) 16:01, 26 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * I've updated Hercules and Pegasus. You may use them as templates for others.  Thumbnails are already available for all maps wider than 300px. – Torsten Bronger

Category:List of stars
Someone (User:132.205.95.65) has been recategorizing some star articles, e.g. 14 Herculis, from Category:Stars to Category:List of stars. I left a message at User talk:132.205.95.65 explaining why I think this is a bad idea. Do you folks have any ideas about this? Thanks, David Iberri | Talk 00:00, Dec 9, 2004 (UTC)

just a note
Ive changed all the constellations to the nice wiki table style. --Rony P Q H Taril 22:22, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Big picture
I've just tidied up some constellation articles within category Constellations (so that they sit within their own subcateg within categ Constellations). I'd like to assist further. It appears to me that there is currently categs Constellations - which contains any constellation ever - and subcateg Modern constellations - which contains the currently authorised 88 constellations. Does it not make sense to try to move to a situation with: Categ Constellations containing the currently authorised 88 constellations and a subcateg Former / Ancient Constellations (or similar name) containing former or superseded constellations? If I were an average Wiki surfer looking for details of a constellation, would I think of looking for a subcateg Modern constellations within categ Constellations for up-to-date information? I would have thought that the categ Constellations and subcateg Former constellations described the situation correctly. Comments, please Ian Cairns 01:51, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I've now reached the point where each constellation has its own category, each such category has the article as its principal article, and has membership of all higher categories that the principal article had.

Checking on categ Constellations against categ Modern constellations, I notice that the only difference is Argo Navis (as suspected), where this was recognised as a former constellation, but nowadays its four component constellations are recognised in their own right. It occurs to me that Argo Navis should be removed from categ Constellations and placed, say, in categ Former constellations which categ could belong to categ Constellations. At that point, we would have the same 88 constellations in both categs Constellations and Modern constellations. In due course, we could drop, say, categ Modern constellations, since it now duplicates the main categ Constellations. I'll proceed on this unless any comments / objections. Thanks, Ian Cairns 16:18, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I've now emptied the categ Modern constellations, since its membership duplicates categ Constellations. I've therefore posted categ Modern constellations as a category for deletion. Thanks, Ian Cairns 20:25, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Calculation of "Best visible"
I recently updated all 88 constellations so that the month of best visibility for each constellation matched the date of culmination at 9 pm given in the 1973 edition of Norton's Sky Atlas. I have only just discovered this Wikiproject and I would like to make additional contributions to the standardisation project. -- <SPAN STYLE="font-family:monospace; color:#006666; background-color:#ffffcc; border:1px solid #ff0000;"> B.d.mills </SPAN> (T, C) 02:12, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

Improvement drive
Asteroid deflection strategies has been nominated on WP:IDRIVE. Support it with your vote if you want it to be improved.--Fenice 22:45, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Articles for the Wikipedia 1.0 project
Hi, I'm a member of the Version_1.0_Editorial_Team, which is looking to identify quality articles in Wikipedia for future publication on CD or paper. We recently began assessing using these criteria, and we are looking for A-class, B-class, and Good articles, with no POV or copyright problems. Can you recommend any suitable articles? Please post your suggestions here. Cheers, Walkerma 03:35, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Nakshatras
The Nakshatras are the constellations according to Indian astronomy. The article is in pathetic shape. I think it would be great if the article could be improved through this wikiproject. Any help would be very highly appreciated. deeptrivia (talk) 06:09, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Award
Does anyone here support this Barnstar_and_award_proposals? --evrik 14:31, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

I need a decision from all of you if you want the award linked above to be a barnstar for your Wikiproject. If yes, it will be placed in Wikiproject Awards. If not, it will be placed in Personal User Awards. Please leave your comments here. Thank you.--Ed 21:31, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Just so you'll know
I just want you all to know that there is a current discussion on a Constellation Barnstar right here. Since it has not reached consensus yet, I would appreciate it if you could give us a second opinion.--Ed 13:37, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Project directory
Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 23:30, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Stablepedia
Beginning cross-post.
 * See Wikipedia talk:Version 1.0 Editorial Team. If you wish to comment, please comment there. ★ MESSED  ROCKER ★  03:30, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

''End cross-post. Please do not comment more in this section.''

Complex Draco move
I have made a complex request to move Draco (on the ancient Athenian) to Draco (lawgiver) and Draco (disambiguation) to Draco. In my opinion, more people are probably going to be looking for the constellation (or possibly a fictional character such as Draco Malfoy) than the Athenian. I think this move has been overdue. Please cast a vote if you are interested. Dr. Submillimeter 10:00, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

 * Draco move has been approved and completed. All disambiguation of Draco (lawgiver) have been fixed.  There are probably still disambiguations of Draco (constellation) that require fixing. —Doug Bell talk 11:16, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia Day Awards
Hello, all. It was initially my hope to try to have this done as part of Esperanza's proposal for an appreciation week to end on Wikipedia Day, January 15. However, several people have once again proposed the entirety of Esperanza for deletion, so that might not work. It was the intention of the Appreciation Week proposal to set aside a given time when the various individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia would be recognized and honored. I believe that, with some effort, this could still be done. My proposal is to, with luck, try to organize the various WikiProjects and other entities of wikipedia to take part in a larger celebrartion of its contributors to take place in January, probably beginning January 15, 2007. I have created yet another new subpage for myself (a weakness of mine, I'm afraid) at User talk:Badbilltucker/Appreciation Week where I would greatly appreciate any indications from the members of this project as to whether and how they might be willing and/or able to assist in recognizing the contributions of our editors. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 16:49, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Is this WikiProject still active?
Is this WikiProject still active? If not, then I plan on merging it into WikiProject Astronomical objects sometime in the nearish future.

Additionally, I have recently refreshed Template:Infobox Constellation, mainly making formatting changes. Mike Peel 22:51, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

 * I'm active regarding constellations, but I've been writing and proposing in WikiProject Astronomical objects. In WikiProject Astronomical objects we're also discussing wikiprojects and portals, and I'm interested in how the newbies (and us other) are going to find the relevant discussion. Merging is probably OK. Rursus 11:26, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

 * I'm for merging. It seems that this project has served its purpose. Lunokhod 13:21, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Alternate graphic visualization.
E.g. Aries (constellation). Source: User talk:AugPi/Archive 1.

I don't think these are notable enough to be included, and naming the stars not in the book is too close to OR. A shame, because a lot of work went into it. If they are to be removed, I think we should give User:AugPi time to collect to move it to another site. -- Jeandré, 2007-03-11t11:43z

 * I'm for removing them, but waiting till User:AugPi got the time for collecting them elsewhere. Besides being OR, they're not usable for amateur astronomers actually, and they don't adher to old star descriptions such as those in Almagest. Rursus 20:16, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Request for information on WP1.0 web tool
Hello and greetings from the maintainers of the WP 1.0 Bot! As you may or may not know, we are currently involved in an overhaul of the bot, in order to make it more modern and maintainable. As part of this process, we will be rewriting the web tool that is part of the project. You might have noticed this tool if you click through the links on the project assessment summary tables.

We'd like to collect information on how the current tool is used by....you! How do you yourself and the other maintainers of your project use the web tool? Which of its features do you need? How frequently do you use these features? And what features is the tool missing that would be useful to you? We have collected all of these questions at this Google form where you can leave your response. Walkerma (talk) 04:24, 27 October 2019 (UTC)


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Finsbury Park Mosque

The Finsbury Park Mosque, also known as the North London Central Mosque, is a five-storey mosque located next to Finsbury Park station close to Arsenal Football Club's Emirates Stadium, in the London Borough of Islington. It serves the local community in Islington and the surrounding boroughs of North London, and it is registered as a charity in England.

The mosque gained national attention when Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical preacher, became its imam in 1997. In 2003, the mosque was closed by its trustees following an anti-terrorist police raid, and re-opened in 2005 under new leadership.

1988–1997: Opening
In the 1960s a small room in a guest house at 7 Woodfall Road, London N4 was used as a prayer room and community centre for the handful of Bangladeshi Muslims then working and living in the district, and had become inadequate for the growing Muslim community by the time the building was compulsorily purchased by the local authority as part of a Housing Action Plan. The community formed a Muslim Welfare Centre, and in 1975 purchased its own property at St. Thomas's Road, later also acquiring neighbouring plots. A mosque first came into use on the site in 1988, when it was one of the largest mosques in the UK. In 1994 a new 5-storey mosque building was officially opened in a ceremony attended by Prince Charles and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia who had contributed funds for the building.

1997–2003: Under Abu Hamza al-Masri
The mosque rose to notoriety after Abu Hamza al-Masri became its imam in 1997. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he consolidated his control of the mosque, with his followers preventing anyone they did not trust from entering it. According to the mosque's current administration, although originally appointed by the trustees, Abu Hamza gradually took over the mosque from them. When the mosque's trustees asked him to leave, they allege that he resorted to intimidation. In October 1998, the trustees went to the High Court to stop Abu Hamza from preaching at the mosque. They were granted an injunction, but it was not enforced. Many trustees reported being barred from their own mosque by Abu Hamza's supporters and even being assaulted. In April 2002, the Charity Commission for England and Wales suspended Abu Hamza from preaching, but he continued anyway. Djamel Beghal used the mosque as his "base," as he planned a foiled 2001 suicide bombing of the American Embassy in Paris.

During Abu Hamza's control, the mosque's attendance dropped. Most of the attendees were his followers. The mosque also became a meeting point for many radical Muslims. According to leaked US documents, Finsbury Park mosque previously served "as a haven" for Islamic extremists who subsequently fought against allied forces in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda operatives including "shoebomber" Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui attended the mosque. In 2002, The Guardian reported that weapons training had taken place inside the building. On 11 September 2002, a conference was held at the mosque titled "A Towering Day in History" to praise the September 11 hijackers on the anniversary of the attack with the participation of Anjem Choudary, Abu Hamza, Omar Bakri Mohammed, Mohammad al-Massari and others. In the late 1990s, Abu Hamza and the mosque became the leading international spiritual reference supporting the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA) in the Algerian Civil War, at a time when the GIA was spurned even by most Salafi-jihadist groups for their massacres of civilians.

The United States charged Abu Hamza as a "terrorist facilitator with a global reach" in 2004; he was arrested, sentenced in the UK to a seven-year prison sentence in 2006, and subsequently extradited to the United States where he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to disclosures via WikiLeaks, several Guantanamo Bay detention camp detainees passed through the mosque prior to their subsequent activities.

The mosque's role in facilitating terror operations during these years is often mentioned in the context of the Londonistan, which was widely used by the international espionage community to describe London, due to the liberty afforded to Muslim extremists by British authorities.

2003–2005: Shutdown and re-opening
In 2003, 150 anti-terrorist police officers conducted a nighttime raid on the building as part of the investigation into the alleged Wood Green ricin plot. Police seized a stun gun and a CS gas canister, among other items, and arrested seven men under the Terrorism Act 2000. The police action had the effect of removing Abu Hamza and his supporters from the mosque.

After the raid, the police handed the mosque to its trustees, who promptly closed it for repairs. The trustees also stated that they were closing it "while it was cleaned of the physical and spiritual filth...". Abu Hamza continued to preach each Friday in the street outside the closed mosque until his arrest in May 2004.

In August 2004 the mosque was reopened, but after reports "hardliners" again asserted control in December 2004, the Charity Commission intervened again and appointed a new board of trustees with the support of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), who were asked by the police, the former trustees, and others to try to turn it around. After changing the locks and taking physical control of the building, the mosque was reopened under heavy police presence.

Dr. Azzam Tamimi, a leading member of MAB, described the mosque takeover as "one of the very rare success stories where the Muslim community and others came together and decided to rescue the mosque", although a minority complained of lack of consultation, with Ashgar Bukhari of the campaign group Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK saying that the committee should have been elected. The new management condemned former imam Abu Hamza.

2006–2013: Reformation
Since reopening, it is widely acknowledged that the mosque has not been associated with radical views. British authorities have described the transformation of the mosque to be a major accomplishment. The Telegraph reported that Finsbury Park Mosque's transformation from "radical hotbed" to "model of community relations" has "since been widely regarded as a success story". The mosque made an effort to build ties with the local community, including local MP Jeremy Corbyn, and started engaging non-Muslims and local authorities.

In 2007 the Policy Exchange think tank, in a report titled The hijacking of British Islam, said they had purchased a number of allegedly extremist Islamic books at the mosque. The mosque disputed the allegation, and sued for libel, a case that was struck on the technicality that the mosque as an unincorporated charitable trust is not a corporate entity or legal person and thus not able to claim defamation. Subsequent action by the mosque and its trustees was settled out of court, with the mosque paying some of Policy Exchange's legal fees and with Policy Exchange, while neither retracting nor apologising for their claim of sale, stating that they "never sought to suggest that the literature cited in the Report was sold or distributed at the mosque with the knowledge or consent of the Mosque's trustees or staff."; both sides claimed the settlement as a victory.

2014–2016: Incidents
In 2014, HSBC Bank closed Finsbury Park Mosque's bank account, and the mosque, unable to open an account with any other high street banks, was forced to turn to a small Islamic bank. The closure was prompted by information in World-Check, a confidential database owned by Thomson Reuters, about reported links to terrorism before 2005 as well as the purported Muslim Brotherhood links of a current mosque trustee. In response, the mosque filed a legal case against Thomson Reuters, which was settled in 2017, with Reuters agreeing to issue an apology and pay damages.

In August 2014, police arrived at the mosque after a dispute between an Al Arabiya reporter and the mosque's manager. Both men called the police. The mosque manager claimed that the reporter was engaged in "malicious journalism," while the reporter claimed that he was detained by the manager until the police arrived 30 minutes later.

In January 2015, after the Charlie Hebdo shooting, the mosque's "former links with radical preachers resurfaced after the Paris attacks as it was alleged that the Charlie Hebdo gunmen were followers of Djamel Beghal, a radical preacher based there in the late 1990s." The mosque received death threats and hate mail. In November 2015, following a mail threat, a man attempted to set fire to the mosque, an attack that reportedly failed because of heavy rain. In July 2016, a man threw rotten pork meat at the mosque.

2017 terrorist attack
Shortly after midnight on 19 June 2017, several worshippers leaving the nearby Finsbury Park Mosque were struck by a hired van in a terrorist attack. One person died of multiple injuries and ten were injured. The attack was widely condemned and seen by local Muslim leaders as part of rising Islamophobia in the United Kingdom. Following the attack, Mohammed Kozbar, the chairman of the Finsbury Park mosque, said that the mosque had received multiple death threats. In February 2018 the perpetrator, Darren Osborne, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 43 years with simultaneous terms for murder and attempted murder.

Community outreach
The mosque received the "Best outreach programme" award at the British Beacon Mosque Awards in 2018. The mosque is a member of the Islington Faith Forum, which received the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2018, and an affiliate of the Muslim Council of Britain. It was the recipient of a Visible Quality Mark by the national body Community Matters in 2014, the first time being awarded to a Muslim place of worship in the UK. The venue has often been used by the local MP, Jeremy Corbyn, Local Police and local Councillors for constituency surgeries, meetings and speeches.

The mosque organises various community events throughout the year, including an annual open day for the local community and schools, and since 2014, this has been held in association with Muslim Council of Britain as part of the national Visit My Mosque Day scheme. This event consists of a tour of the mosque, an exhibition on Islam and the mosque and a wide range of activities that are also organised by members of the wider community. Since 2017, following the Finsbury Park terror attack where a worshipper was killed, and many were injured, the mosque has held an annual Street Iftar event during the month of Ramadan, in which the local and wider community are invited to share a meal that coincides with the breaking of the fast. This event has been attended by various faith and community leaders, local councillors and MPs including Dominic Grieve and Anna Soubry.

The mosque was part of Macmillan Coffee Morning initiative to raise money for cancer victims and organised the first ever "Autism hour" in a mosque with the National Autistic Society.

The mosque has held various Hate Crime Awareness events throughout the years, and in 2015, it launched the Meals for All initiative, in which the mosque provides a hot meal for the homeless people from the local community and those in need, once every week.

title: Finsbury Park Mosque


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Finsbury Park

Finsbury Park is a public park in Harringay, north London, England. The park lies on the southern-most edge of the London Borough of Haringey. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks laid out in the Victorian era. The park borders the neighbourhoods of Finsbury Park, Stroud Green, and Manor House.

Finsbury Park should not be confused with Finsbury, which is a district of Central London roughly 3 mi to the south, forming the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Islington.

Before the park
The park was landscaped on the northeastern extremity of what was originally a woodland area in the Manor or Prebend of Brownswood. It was part of a large expanse of woodland called Hornsey Wood that was cut further and further back for use as grazing land during the Middle Ages. In the mid-18th century a tea room had opened on the knoll of land on which Finsbury Park is situated. Londoners would travel north to escape the smoke of the capital and enjoy the last remains of the old Hornsey Wood. Around 1800 the tea rooms were developed into a larger building which became known as the Hornsey Wood House/Tavern. A lake was also created on the top of the knoll with water pumped up from the nearby New River. There was boating, a shooting and archery range, and probably cock fighting and other blood sports. The Hornsey Wood Tavern was demolished in the process of making the area into a park, but the lake was enlarged. Once the park had opened, a pub across the road from its eastern entrance along Seven Sisters Road called itself the Hornsey Wood Tavern after the original. This pub was later renamed the Alexandra Dining Room and closed for business in April 2007. It was subsequently demolished.

Creation of the park
During the early part of the second quarter of the 19th century, following developments in Paris, Londoners began to demand the creation of open spaces as an antidote to the ever-increasing urbanisation of London. In 1841 the people of Finsbury on the northern perimeter of the City of London petitioned for a park to alleviate conditions of the poor. The present-day site of Finsbury Park was one of four suggestions for the location of a park.

Originally to be named Albert Park, the first plans were drawn up in 1850. Renamed Finsbury Park, plans for the park's creation were ratified by an Act of Parliament in 1857. Despite some local opposition, the park was opened in 1869.

During the wars
During the First World War the park was known as a location for pacifist meetings.

During the Second World War, the park was used as military training grounds and also hosted anti-aircraft guns.

Regeneration
Through the late 20th Century the park began to fall into a state of disrepair with most of the original features gone by the 1980s. This decline was worsened in 1986 when the then owner, Greater London Council, was wound up and ownership was passed on to Haringey Council, but without sufficient funding or a statutory obligation for the park's upkeep.

A £5 million Heritage Lottery Fund Award, made in 2003, enabled significant renovations including cleaning the lake, building a new cafe and children's playground and resurfacing and repairing the tennis courts. The park now contains tennis courts, a running track, a softball field and many open spaces for various leisure activities.

Facilities
The park has a mixture of open ground, formal gardens, avenues of mature trees and an arboretum. There is also a lake, a children's play area, a cafe and an art exhibition space. Sports facilities in the park include football pitches, a cycling club, a bowling green, a skatepark, an athletics stadium, and tennis and basketball courts. Unusually for London, the park hosts two facilities for "American" sports: an American football field, home to the London Blitz, and diamonds for softball and baseball, home to the London Mets.

The Parkland Walk provides a pedestrian and cycle route that links the park with Crouch Hill Park, Crouch End, and Highgate Underground station.

Live music
The park has hosted many live music performances and music festivals including: the Irish-themed Fleadh (Irish for ‘festival’; 1990–2003), Great Xpectations Festival (1993),  Big Gay Out  (2004–2005),  Rise  Festival (2006–2010) and  Wireless Festival (2014–2019, 2022–).

By the 2010s, the number of live festivals decreased, as local council finances were stretched thin. Furthermore, there were the issues of damaged park property and yellowing, unsightly grass, as well as no-entry blockades due to the special events. Local residents would be inconvenienced and prevented from accessing select areas and thoroughfares of the park, often for several days at a time, during the run of a festival. Local MP David Lammy went as far as to say: "There are parts of the park that look like the Serengeti—a bald dust bowl where there was once grass."

A local group, The Friends of Finsbury Park, (unsuccessfully) took Haringey Council to the High Court in a bid to stop future large, live music events. "The group had contended the council had no right to grant the festival permission under the Greater London Parks and Open Spaces Act 1967, claiming Haringey’s actions were unlawful because the event shuts off 27 per cent of the park when the maximum permitted by legislation is 10 per cent." They lost the case, but the decision made it abundantly clear that the council held Finsbury Park in trust, and that any funds raised in the park from events must be used for the park itself. This somewhat reduced the number of events in the park, moving forward, but also allowed for more rational investments to be made in improving the park (e.g., maintaining the property, new playgrounds, refreshing the Richard Hope play space, etc).

Filming
Finsbury Park has been used as a filming location for music videos such as Groove Armada's "Song 4 Mutya", feature films such as Rachid Bouchareb's London River and TV programmes such as Silent Witness.

title: Finsbury Park


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User:ProfessorAlan

I have eclectice tastes and anticipate contributing entries in a number of fields.

title: User:ProfessorAlan


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Maria Christina of Austria

Maria Christina Henriette Desideria Felicitas Raineria of Austria (María Cristina de Habsburgo-Lorena; 21 July 1858 – 6 February 1929) was Queen of Spain as the second wife of Alfonso XII. She was queen regent during the vacancy of the throne between her husband's death in November 1885 and the birth of their son Alfonso XIII in May 1886, and subsequently also until the latter's coming of age in May 1902.

Early life
Known to her family as Christa, she was born at Židlochovice Castle (Groß Seelowitz), near Brünn (now Brno), in Moravia, a daughter of Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria.

Her paternal grandparents were Archduke Charles of Austria and Princess Henriette Alexandrine of Nassau-Weilburg.

Various sources attributed good traits to Maria Christina before her marriage. One states she was "tall, fair, sensible, and well educated". She was Princess-Abbess of the Theresian Royal and Imperial Ladies Chapter of Prague Castle (1875-1879).

Queen consort

After the death of Queen María de las Mercedes in June 1878, King Alfonso XII was determined to remarry to produce an heir. The Queen had died just a few months after her marriage with no descendants and negotiations started with the court of Vienna. In August, Alfonso XII traveled to Arcachon, Gironde, with the specific purpose of meeting Archduchess Maria Christina and her mother Archduchess Elisabeth. In this first meeting, the King proposed to her and she accepted.

In early September 1878, the Spanish Government approved the engagement and Emperor Franz Joseph asked his niece to officially relinquish her title of Abbess of the Theresian Convent of Prague as it was necessary for the future queen to abandon all her Austrian appointments. The proposal was gazetted in the Wiener Zeitung on 7 September: "His Majesty the King of Spain, during his visit to Archacon, has requested the hand of the Most Serene Lady Archduchess Maria Christina... with previous consent of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, as Chief of the Imperial Family, the Most Serene Lady Archduchess has accepted the said proposal".

In compliance with Article 56 of the Constitution of Spain, the Cortes passed a law granting a 500.000 pesetas annuity for the future queen consort on 2 November. The terms of the marriage were settled in an agreement executed between Austria and Spain in Vienna on 15 November by their respective plenipotentiaries. That same day Maria Christina renounced her succession rights to the Austrian throne before the Emperor and the court according to the tradition imposed to the archduchesses who were to marry a foreign prince. Another marriage agreement was signed in Madrid on 28 November by the King and Maria Christina themselves.

The wedding took place on 29 November 1879 at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid. The arranged marriage (the second of Alfonso XII after the death of his first wife María de las Mercedes of Orléans), was concerted on the basis of the conservative profile espoused by the Austro-Hungarian Empire as well as by the prestige attained by the Habsburgs in their previous involvement in the history of Spain, and blocked the possibility of a prospective Austrian endorsement to the Carlist cause.

After giving birth to two daughters —María de las Mercedes (born 1880) and María Teresa (born 1882)— she ensured dynastic continuity, yet, with the threatening landmark for the ruling dynasty set by the previous Carlist Wars, she was still pressured to undergo a new pregnancy and give birth to a male child in order to consolidate the political system, as it was considered at the time.

She became pregnant again before the death of her husband in November 1885 (the king suffered from tuberculosis yet he led an active life). An attributed dying wish by Alfonso XII pleading to her is "Ya verás cómo todo se arregla providencialmente. Pero, si muero, guarda el coño y ándate siempre de Cánovas a Sagasta y de Sagasta a Cánovas" ("You will see how everything is going to be providentially fixed, yet if I die, keep your pussy at bay and always go from Cánovas to Sagasta and from Sagasta to Cánovas"). While possibly apocryphal, it is representative of the Restoration era. Months later, in May 1886, she would give birth to a male child, Alfonso, who reigned as Alfonso XIII upon his birth.

Regency

Designated as regent upon the death of her husband in 1885, Maria Christina swore on the 1876 Constitution on 30 December 1885 at the Palacio de las Cortes, before the two legislative bodies. She rejected the title of reina gobernadora ("Queen Governor"), distancing from the memory of the previous regent Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, who had used it in the 1830s.

When the King died on 25 November 1885, Maria Christina was pregnant, so the throne was vacant, depending on whether Maria Christina's unborn child was a male or a female; a male would make that child king, while a female would place the elder daughter, the Princess of Asturias, María de las Mercedes, on the throne. During this period, Maria Christina ruled as regent until her child Alfonso, a son, was born on 17 May 1886; he was King (Alfonso XIII) from birth.

She nurtured a persona of austerity and staidness, and became known among the populace as Doña Virtudes, María la Seca ("Mary the Curt One") and la institutriz ("the governess"). She displayed strong religious beliefs which gained her the endorsement of Pope Leo XIII, weakening the adherence to Carlist stances within the clergy.

Her chief adviser and head of government was Práxedes Mateo Sagasta. Her rule is described as well-balanced and in accordance with respect for constitutional rights, and many political reforms were instated during her regency to prevent political conflicts and chaos. Her role was mostly ceremonial, and her purpose was to preserve the crown for her son until he became an adult.

Her spell as regent saw the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines after the 1898 Spanish–American War.

Later life

After the marriage of her son with Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg in 1906, she took a secondary role in public events. Nevertheless, Alfonso XIII continued to look to her on many occasions for advice.

She was the leading figure around which the Germanophile stronghold within the Royal Court coalesced during World War I, in contrast to the pro-Entente minority faction represented by her daughter-in-law, the British-born Victoria Eugenie. Spain remained a neutral country during the conflict.

She died on 6 February 1929, at the Royal Palace of Madrid, after some weeks of heart disease. She is buried at El Escorial.

Sir Charles Petrie, Alfonso XIII's biographer, maintained that the Queen dowager's death had a disastrous effect on her son, and that the latter never recovered politically from the blow. Within little more than two years the monarchy had collapsed.

Honours
She received the following awards: • Austria-Hungary:

• * Grand Cross of the Order of Elizabeth, 1898

• * Dame of the Order of the Starry Cross, 1st Class

•  undefined: 805th Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa, 1 September 1879; Grand Mistress, 29 November 1879

•  Siam: Dame of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 18 October 1897

•  undefined: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, 17 November 1898

•  Kingdom of Portugal:

• * Dame of the Order of Queen Saint Isabel, 14 November 1879

• * Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa, 14 October 1886

• * Grand Cross of the Sash of the Three Orders, 8 November 1892

•  Holy See: Golden Rose, 1886

•  Empire of Japan: Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown, 16 February 1889

•  Kingdom of Bavaria:

• * Dame of the Order of Saint Elizabeth, 1st Class

• * Dame of Honour of the Order of Theresa

• 🇧🇪 Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Royal Order of Leopold, 1902

•  Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Dame Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion, with Distinction for Jerusalem

•  Ottoman Empire: Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of Charity

•  Russian Empire: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St. Catherine

•  undefined: Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, 1st Class

title: Maria Christina of Austria


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Anglia Railways

Anglia Railways was a train operating company in England, owned by GB Railways and later FirstGroup, that operated the Anglia franchise from January 1997 until March 2004.

History
The InterCity Anglia franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising to GB Railways, with the franchise commencing on 5 January 1997. In June 1998, Anglia Railways unveiled a turquoise and white livery. Prior to 1997, the trains were run by British Rail sectors of InterCity, Regional Railways and Network SouthEast. After March 2004, the trains were run by National Express East Anglia.

Services
Anglia Railways operated InterCity services on the Great Eastern Main Line from London Liverpool Street to Harwich International and Norwich. It also operated regional services between Ipswich & Felixstowe, Ipswich & Lowestoft, Ipswich & Ely, Harwich International / Ipswich & Cambridge, Ely & Peterborough, Norwich & Ely, Norwich & Sheringham, Norwich & Great Yarmouth and Norwich & Lowestoft.

A franchise commitment was to increase the hourly London Liverpool Street and Norwich services to half-hourly. The half-hourly service was introduced in 2000 with some extended to Sheringham, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

With funding from the Strategic Rail Authority's Rail Partnership Funding, Anglia introduced a new experimental service from the Great Eastern Main Line via the North London Line to Basingstoke branded London Crosslink. It operated from 22 May 2000 until ceasing on 28 September 2002 due to poor loadings.

A more successful new service with Rail Partnership Funding was introduced on 29 September 2002 from Norwich to Cambridge. This continues to operate.

Rolling stock

Anglia Railways inherited a fleet of Class 86s, Mark 2 carriages, Driving Brake Standard Opens, Class 150s and Class 153s from British Rail. As part of the franchise, the fleet of Mark 2 carriages had a complete mechanical and interior refurbishment. On 10 June 1998, it unveiled its turquoise and white livery. In June 1998, preserved Class 201 unit 1001 commenced an eleven-month lease operating services from Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

To meet a franchise commitment to operate two services per hour between London Liverpool Street and Norwich, eight three-car Class 170 Turbostar units were delivered in 1999/2000. These units were used on new services from Liverpool Street to Sheringham, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft; they was also used on London Crosslink services and, from September 2000, were hired to GB Railways' Hull Trains subsidiary to work services between London King's Cross and Hull. Due to late delivery of these units, Class 317s and Class 322s were hired from West Anglia Great Northern for a time. A further four two-car Class 170s were delivered in 2002 and were used principally on the new Norwich to Cambridge services.

Anglia hired a Class 47 from Cotswold Rail, from June 2002, as a rescue locomotive and to haul Mark 2 sets on summer Saturday services to Great Yarmouth.

In July 2002, Anglia hired a Class 90 from Freightliner for a few months with a view to replacing the Class 86s. In October 2003, Anglia began operating three Class 90s from English, Welsh & Scottish Railway until the end of the franchise.

Depot

Anglia Railways' fleet was maintained at Crown Point TMD in Norwich.

Demise
In 2002, as part of a franchise reorganisation by the Strategic Rail Authority, it was announced that the Anglia Railways franchise would be merged into the Greater Anglia franchise. Having missed out on pre-qualifying for the Greater Anglia franchise, FirstGroup purchased GB Railways in August 2003.

In December 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the Greater Anglia franchise to National Express with the services operated by Anglia Railways transferring to One on 1 April 2004.

title: Anglia Railways