odditudes-and-weirdities

Holidays today are about topics like the US transportation system, improving relations between neighbors, riding a bicycle to work, NASCAR, patching something, virtual assistants, and astronomy: Astronomy_Day Bike To Work Day European Neighbours' Day I Need a Patch for That Day International Virtual Assistants Day NASCAR Day National Defense Transportation Day It sounds like the virtual assistant is a person who works for you remotely. I Need a Patch for That Day claims to be about any sort of patch, like for clothing, tires, or software. (For the latter, you might be able to get help from a virtual assistant.) Bringing astronomy information to the general public is part of the Astronomy Day mission. Photo by Trac Vu on Unsplash

On this date in 1859 it was believed that a planet was spotted inside the orbit of Mercury by  Edmond Modeste Lescarbault , an amateur astronomer. This "observation" was taken seriously by scientists like Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier , who had a theory explaining eccentricities of Mercury's orbit that required just such a planet. These eccentricities were later explained by Einstein's theory of relativity , which also ruled out any planet inside Mercury's orbit. This alleged planet was given the name Vulcan , which made a certain amount of sense since a planet that close to the sun would no doubt be pretty toasty. As we've explored the solar system, other planets destroyed ( Phaeton ) or beyond Neptune have also been hypothesized. Today is a day to recognize that while striving to understand our universe we sometimes make mistakes. By Lith. of E. Jones & G.W. Newman - Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3180.ct003790, CC0, https://com...