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Wells Cathedral is an Anglican place of worship in Wells, Somerset, dedicated to Andrew the Apostle. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedra it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built as a Roman Catholic cathedral from around 1175 to replace an earlier church on the site since 705, it became an Anglican cathedral when Henry VIII split from Rome. Its Gothic architecture is mostly inspired from Early English style of the late 12th to early 13th centuries. The stonework of its pointed arcades and fluted piers bears pronounced mouldings and carved capitals in a foliate, "stiff-leaf" style. The east end retains much ancient stained glass. Unlike many cathedrals of monastic foundation, Wells has many surviving secular buildings linked to its chapter of secular canons, including the Bishop's Palace and the 15th-century residential Vicars' Close. It is a Grade I listed building. (Full article...)

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Computer simulation of a neutron star

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In the news (For today)

Yahya Sinwar

Moldova votes to amend its constitution to include the aim of becoming a future European Union member.
Yahya Sinwar (pictured), the leader of Hamas, is killed in a firefight with Israeli forces in Gaza.
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson for their comparative studies of prosperity between nations.
The Europa Clipper spacecraft is launched to investigate Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter.

On the next day

October 23: Mole Day

Paulina Wright Davis

1798 – War of the Second Coalition: The Ottoman–Albanian forces of Ali Pasha of Janina defeated French troops and captured the town of Preveza at the Battle of Nicopolis.
1850 – The inaugural National Women's Rights Convention, presided over by American activist Paulina Wright Davis (pictured), began in Worcester, Massachusetts.
1906 – Alberto Santos-Dumont flew his biplane 14-bis for 50 metres (160 ft) at an altitude of about four metres (13 ft).
2001 – Grand Theft Auto III was released, helping to popularize open-world and mature-content video games.
2022 – Myanmar civil war: Burmese military forces launched airstrikes that killed at least 80 concertgoers in Kachin State.

Sweyn III of Denmark (d. 1157)
Ludwig Leichhardt (b. 1813)
Johan Gabriel Ståhlberg (b. 1832)
Josh Kirby (d. 2001)

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The hairy dragonfly (Brachytron pratense) is a species of European dragonfly in the hawker family, Aeshnidae. It is found in Europe and Asia Minor, as far east as the Caspian Sea, and resides close to water bodies containing plants with a flight season running from May to July. The hairy dragonfly is named for its hairy thorax, distinguishing it from other hawkers. With a typical length of around 5.5 centimetres (2.2 in), it has a long, narrow pterostigma and features coupled, oval-shaped markings on its abdomen, blue on males and yellow on females. This male hairy dragonfly on a fern was photographed in Burren National Park, County Clare, Ireland.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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