Add Your Piece of History… 4th July

• On this day in 1776. Today is Independence Day in the United States, celebrating the signing of the American Declaration of Independence.  The American Declaration of Independence is the document which declared the American colonies’ independence from England.  On 11 June 1776 the “Committee of Five”, consisting of John Adams, of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R Livingston of New York and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, was formed to draft a suitable declaration.

• On this day in 1054.  Chinese astronomers observe the supernova explosion which created the Crab Nebula.  According to the observations of Chinese astronomers, on 4 July 1054 a guest star suddenly appeared where one had never been seen before, and was bright enough to be visible in daylight.  Its brightness gradually faded over a period of 2 years but its position was recorded and mapped.  Petroglyphs of the North American Indians indicate that they too observed and recorded the phenomenon.  In 1758 a French amateur astronomer, Charles Messier, discovered a nebulous patch similar in appearance to the claw of a crab near the star Zeta Taurui on the border of Taurus and Auriga where the bright star had been seen.  This is how the phenomenon came to be known as the Crab Nebula.

Please feel free to add your piece of history (something personal or general history).

The Crab Nebula seen in infrared by the Spitzer Space Telescope. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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  The “Committee of Five” that drafted the U.S. Declaration of Independence. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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