title: Srinagar

text: Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natural environment, gardens, waterfronts and houseboats. It is known for traditional Kashmiri handicrafts like the Kashmir shawl (made of pashmina and cashmere wool), and also dried fruits. It is the 31st-most populous city in India, the northernmost city in India to have over one million people, and the second-largest metropolitan area in the Himalayas (after Kathmandu, Nepal).


title: Srinagar

text: The earliest records, such as Kalhana's "Rajatarangini", mentions the Sanskrit name "shri-nagara" which have been interpreted distinctively by scholars in two ways: one being "sūrya-nagar", meaning ""City of the Surya"" (trans) ""City of Sun"" and other being ""The city of "Shri"" (श्री), the Hindu goddess of wealth, meaning ""City of Lakshmi"".


title: Srinagar

text: In 1989, Srinagar became the focus of the Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. The area continues to be a highly politicised hotbed of separatist activity with frequent spontaneous protests and strikes ("bandhs" in local parlance). The city saw increased violence against minorities, particularly the Kashmiri Hindus, starting from mid-1980s and resulting in their ultimate exodus. Posters were pasted to walls of houses of Hindus, telling them to leave or die, temples were destroyed and houses burnt; but a very small minority of Hindus still remains in the city. Kashmiri Hindus constituted 21.9% of Srinagar's population as per 1891 census and 2.75% as per 2011 census.


title: Srinagar

text: On 19 January 1990, the Gawakadal massacre of at least 50 unarmed protestors by Indian forces, and up to 280 by some estimates from eyewitness accounts, set the stage for bomb blasts, shootouts, and curfews that characterised Srinagar throughout the early and mid-1990s. As a result, bunkers and checkpoints are found throughout the city, although their numbers have come down in the past few years as militancy has declined. However, frequent protests still occur against Indian rule, such as the 22 August 2008 rally in which hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri civilians protested against Indian rule in Srinagar. Similar protests took place every summer for the next 4 years. In 2010 alone 120 protesters, many of whom were stone pelters and arsonists, were killed by police and CRPF. Large scale protests were seen following the execution of Afzal Guru in February 2013. In 2016, after the death of militant leader Burhan Wani, there were mass protests in the valley and about 87 protesters were killed by Indian Army, CRPF and police in the 2016 Kashmir unrest.


title: Srinagar

text: After revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and the subsequent devolution of the state into a union territory in August 2019, a lockdown was imposed in Kashmir, including in Srinagar. This lockdown continued for more than 15 months till 5 February 2021. Thousands, including three former chief ministers - Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti - were detained for an extended period. The Union Government announced the restoration of 4G mobile internet in Kashmir, including Srinagar, on 15 February 2021.


title: Srinagar

text: The city is located on both the sides of the Jhelum River, which is called "Vyath" in Kashmir, at the base of Zabarwan Mountain range. The river passes through the city and meanders through the valley, moving onward and deepening in the Wular Lake. The city is known for its nine old bridges, connecting the two parts of the city.


title: Srinagar

text: There are a number of lakes and swamps in and around the city. These include the Dal, the Nigeen, the Anchar, Khushal Sar, Gil Sar and Hokersar.


title: Srinagar

text: Hokersar is a wetland situated near Srinagar. Thousands of migratory birds come to Hokersar from Siberia and other regions in the winter season. Migratory birds from Siberia and Central Asia use wetlands in Kashmir as their transitory camps between September and October and again around spring. These wetlands play a vital role in sustaining a large population of wintering, staging and breeding birds.


title: Srinagar

text: Hokersar is north of Srinagar, and is a world class wetland spread over including lake and marshy area. It is the most accessible and well-known of Kashmir's wetlands which include Hygam, Shalibug and Mirgund. A record number of migratory birds have visited Hokersar in recent years.


title: Srinagar

text: Birds found in Hokersar are migratory ducks and geese which include brahminy duck, tufted duck, gadwall, garganey, greylag goose, mallard, common merganser, northern pintail, common pochard, ferruginous pochard, red-crested pochard, ruddy shelduck, northern shoveller, common teal, and Eurasian wigeon.


title: Srinagar

text: Srinagar has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cfa"). The valley is surrounded by the Himalayas on all sides. Winters are cool, with daytime temperature averaging to , and drops below freezing point at night. Moderate to heavy snowfall occurs in winter and the highway connecting Srinagar with the rest of India faces frequent blockades due to icy roads and avalanches. Summers are warm with a July daytime average of . The average annual rainfall is around . Spring is the wettest season while autumn is the driest. The highest temperature reliably recorded is and the lowest is .


title: Srinagar

text: In November 2011, the City Mayors Foundationan advocacy think tankannounced that Srinagar was the 92nd fastest growing urban areas in the world in terms of economic growth, based on actual data from 2006 onwards and projections to 2020.


title: Srinagar

text: Srinagar is one of several places that have been called the "Venice of the East". Lakes around the city include Dal Lakenoted for its houseboats and Nigeen Lake. Apart from Dal Lake and Nigeen Lake, Wular Lake and Manasbal Lake both lie to the north of Srinagar. Wular Lake is one of the largest fresh water lakes in Asia.


title: Srinagar

text: Srinagar has some Mughal gardens, forming a part of those laid by the Mughal emperors across the Indian subcontinent. Those of Srinagar and its close vicinity include Chashma Shahi (the royal fountains); Pari Mahal (the palace of the fairies); Nishat Bagh (the garden of spring); Shalimar Bagh; the Naseem Bagh.


title: Srinagar

text: Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Botanical Garden is a botanical garden in the city, set up in 1969. The Indian government has included these gardens under "Mughal Gardens of Jammu and Kashmir" in the tentative list for sites to be included in world Heritage sites.


title: Srinagar

text: The Sher Garhi Palace houses administrative buildings from the state government. Another palace of the Maharajas, the Gulab Bhavan, has now become the Lalit Grand Palace hotel.


title: Srinagar

text: The city is run by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) under the leadership of a Mayor. The Srinagar district along with the adjoining Budgam and Ganderbal districts forms the Srinagar Parliamentary seat.


title: Srinagar

text: Srinagar's city government attracted brief international attention in March 2008 when it announced a mass poisoning program aimed at eliminating the city's population of stray dogs. Officials estimate that 100,000 stray dogs roam the streets of the city, which has a human population of just under 900,000. In a survey conducted by an NGO, it was found that some residents welcomed this program, saying the city was overrun by dogs, while critics contended that more humane methods should be used to deal with the animals.


title: Srinagar

text: The situation has become alarming with local news reports coming up at frequent intervals highlighting people, especially children being mauled by street dogs.


title: Srinagar

text: As of 2011 census Srinagar urban agglomeration had 1,273,312 population. Both the city and the urban agglomeration has average literacy rate of approximately 70%. The child population of both the city and the urban agglomeration is approximately 12% of the total population. Males constituted 53.0% and females 47% of the population. The sex ratio in the city area is 888 females per 1000 males, whereas in the urban agglomeration it is 880 per 1,000. The predominant religion of Srinagar is Islam with 96% of the population being Muslim. Hindus constitute the second largest religious group representing 2.75% of the population. The remaining population constitutes Sikhs, Buddhist and Jains. Kashmiri Hindus constituted 21.9% of Srinagar's population as per 1891 census and 2.75% as per 2011 census.


title: Srinagar

text: Srinagar International Airport has regular domestic flights to Leh, Jammu, Chandigarh, Delhi and Mumbai and occasional international flights. An expanded terminal capable of handling both domestic and international flights was inaugurated on 14 February 2009 with Air India Express flights to Dubai. Hajj flights also operate from this airport to Saudi Arabia.


title: Srinagar

text: Srinagar is a station on the long Banihal-Baramulla line that started in October 2009 and connects Baramulla to Srinagar, Anantnag and Qazigund. The railway track also connects to Banihal across the Pir Panjal mountains through a newly constructed 11 km long Banihal tunnel, and subsequently to the Indian railway network after a few years. It takes approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds for a train to cross the tunnel. It is the longest rail tunnel in India. This railway system, proposed in 2001, is not expected to connect the Indian railway network until 2017 at the earliest, with a cost overrun of 55 billion INR.


title: Srinagar

text: There are proposals to develop a metro system in the city. The feasibility report for the Srinagar Metro is planned to be carried out by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.


title: Srinagar

text: In December 2013, the 594m cable car allowing people to travel to the shrine of the Sufi saint Hamza Makhdoom on Hari Parbat was unveiled. The project is run by the Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation (JKCCC), and has been envisioned for 25 years. An investment of 300 million INR was made, and it is the second cable car in Kashmir after the Gulmarg Gondola.


title: Srinagar

text: Whilst popular since the 7th century, water transport is now mainly confined to Dal Lake, where shikaras (wooden boats) are used for local transport and tourism. There are efforts to revive transportation on the River Jhelum.


title: Srinagar

text: Like the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar too has a distinctive blend of cultural heritage. Holy places in and around the city depict the historical cultural and religious diversity of the city as well as the Kashmir valley.


title: Srinagar

text: Additional structures include the Dastgeer Sahib shrine, Mazar-e-Shuhada, Roza Bal shrine, Khanqah of Shah Hamadan, Pathar Masjid ("The Stone Mosque"), Hamza Makhdoom shrine, tomb of the mother of Zain-ul-abidin, tomb of Pir Haji Muhammad, Akhun Mulla Shah Mosque, cemetery of Baha-ud-din Sahib, tomb and Madin Sahib Mosque at Zadibal. Apart from these, dozens of smaller mosques are located all over the city. Several temples and temple ghats are located on the banks of river Jhelum in Srinagar, including Shurayar temple, Gadhadhar temple, Pratapishwar temple, Ganpatyar Ganesh temple, Purshyar temple, Sheshyar temple, Raghunath Mandir, Durga Patshala and Dhar temple. Gurdwaras are located in Rainawari, Amira Kadal, Jawahar Nagar, Mehjoor Nagar, Shaheed Gunj, Maharajpur and Indra Nagar areas of the city. There are three Christian churches in Srinagar.


title: Srinagar

text: The Sheikh Bagh Cemetery is a Christian cemetery located in Srinagar that dates from the British colonial era. The oldest grave in the cemetery is that of a British colonel from the 9th Lancers of 1850 and the cemetery is valued for the variety of persons buried there which provides an insight into the perils faced by British colonisers in India. It was damaged by floods in 2014. It contains a number of war graves. The notable interments here are Robert Thorpe and Jim Borst.


title: Srinagar

text: Srinagar is home to various premiere Higher Education Institutes including the University of Kashmir, the Cluster University of Srinagar, Central University of Kashmir besides the National Institute of Technology Srinagar formerly known as Regional Engineering College (REC Srinagar). Most of these are among the oldest and earliest Institutions of the country including the University of Kashmir dating back to 1948 while the National Institute of Technology Srinagar was established during the second Five year plan. The educational institutions in the City include:


title: Srinagar

text: Srinagar is broadcasting hub for radio channels in UT which are Radio Mirchi 98.3FM, Red FM 93.5 and AIR Srinagar. State television channel DD Kashir is also broadcast.


title: Srinagar

text: The city is home to the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium, where international cricket matches have been played.


title: Srinagar

text: The first international match was played in 1983 in which West Indies defeated India and the last international match was played in 1986 in which Australia defeated India by six wickets. Since then no international matches have been played in the stadium due to the security situation (although the situation has now improved quite considerably). Srinagar has an outdoor stadium namely Bakshi Stadium for hosting football matches. It is named after Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad. The city has a golf course named Royal Springs Golf Course, Srinagar located on the banks of Dal lake, which is considered one of the best golf courses of India. Football is also followed by the youth of Srinagar and TRC Turf Ground is maintained for the particular sports recently. Srinagar is the home of professional football club Real Kashmir FC, which competes in I-League. There are certain other sports being played but those are away from the main city like in Pahalgam (Water rafting) and Gulmarg (skiing).


title: Ivan the Terrible (Treblinka guard)

text: Ivan the Terrible (born circa 1911) is the nickname given to a notorious guard at the Treblinka extermination camp during the Holocaust. The moniker alluded to Ivan IV, also known as Ivan the Terrible, the infamous Tsar of Russia. "Ivan the Terrible" gained international recognition following the 1986 John Demjanjuk case. By 1944, a cruel guard named "Ivan", sharing his distinct duties and extremely violent behavior with a guard named "Nicholas", was mentioned in survivor literature ("Rok w Treblince" by Jankiel Wiernik, translated into English as "A Year in Treblinka" in 1945). John Demjanjuk was first accused of being Ivan the Terrible at the Treblinka concentration camp. Demjanjuk was found guilty of war crimes and was sentenced to death by hanging. Exculpatory material in the form of conflicting identifications from Soviet archives was subsequently released, identifying Ivan the Terrible as one Ivan Marchenko, leading the Supreme Court of Israel to acquit Demjanjuk in 1993 because of reasonable doubt. Demjanjuk was later extradited to Germany where he was convicted in 2011 of war crimes for having served at Sobibor extermination camp.


title: Ivan the Terrible (Treblinka guard)

text: Treblinka was managed by 20 to 25 "SS" overseers (Germans) and 80 to 120 Hiwi guards of various Soviet ethnicities, including Russian and Ukrainian Red army prisoners of war. They were assisted by a cadre of Jewish inmates known as Kapos, who were prisoner functionaries. The name Ivan was not an uncommon name in the camp. Ivan is a common Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian given name. "Volksdeutsche" were known to have Slavic given names. An example would be Ivan Klatt, or a "Volksdeutscher" who served in the Sobibor extermination camp, as the Ukrainian guard leader. According to Rajchman six men called Ivan worked at Treblinka. The vast majority of Hiwi guards who were trained at the Trawniki concentration camp facility had to contend with the language barrier. However, there were a number of "Volksdeutsche" among them, valued because they spoke German, Ukrainian, Russian and other languages. They could also understand basic Yiddish. The German and Austrian "SS" command, local Poles, and Jewish inmates often referred to guards as Ukrainians not only because of their ethnicity, or because they originated from Ukraine, but because they spoke Ukrainian between themselves. Most of the squad commanders however were "Volksdeutsche".


title: Ivan the Terrible (Treblinka guard)

text: Although there were more guards known as Ivan at Treblinka, Ivan the Terrible was also referred to as Ukrainian. His function at the camp was to operate the two tank engines that fed the gas chambers. The motors had been installed and fine-tuned by "SS-Scharführer" Erich Fuchs. Holocaust survivor Chil Rajchman testified that Ivan was about 25 years old at the time he worked in the camp. He was also known for his extreme cruelty. Ivan the Terrible used to cut off the ears of workers as they walked by, and these people were forced to continue working as they bled. Shortly after, he would proceed to killing them outright. He tortured victims with pipes, a sword, and whips before they entered the gas chambers.


title: Ivan the Terrible (Treblinka guard)

text: The true identity of the guard referred to as Ivan the Terrible has not been conclusively determined. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, John Demjanjuk, a retired suburban Cleveland autoworker of Ukrainian descent, was accused of being Ivan. He was tried in Israel in 1988 and sentenced to death, but the conviction was overturned.


title: Ivan the Terrible (Treblinka guard)

text: One remarkable event during the trial in Israel involved a star witness for the prosecution, Eliyahu Rosenberg. Asked by the prosecution if he recognised Demjanjuk, Rosenberg asked Demjanjuk to remove his glasses "so I can see his eyes". Rosenberg approached and peered closely at Demjanjuk's face. When Demjanjuk smiled and offered his hand, Rosenberg recoiled and shouted, () meaning, "terrible" in Russian. "Ivan," Rosenberg said. "I say it unhesitatingly, without the slightest shadow of a doubt. It is Ivan from Treblinka, from the gas chambers, the man I am looking at now". "I saw his eyes, I saw those murderous eyes", Rosenberg told the court, glaring at Demjanjuk. Rosenberg then exclaimed directly to Demjanjuk: "How dare you put out your hand, murderer that you are!" It was later revealed that Eliyahu Rosenberg had previously testified in a 1947 deposition that "Ivan the Terrible" had been killed during a prisoner uprising.


title: Ivan the Terrible (Treblinka guard)

text: On 29 July 1993, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the guilty verdict on appeal. The ruling was based on new evidence, the written statements of 37 former guards at Treblinka (some of whom had been executed by the Soviet Union, others died of old age, and could therefore not be cross-examined) that identified Ivan the Terrible as another man named Ivan Marchenko (possibly Marshenko, or Marczenko). One document described Ivan the Terrible as having brown hair, hazel eyes, a square face, and a large scar down to his neck; (Demjanjuk was dark blond with gray eyes, a round face, and no such scar.) According to one testimony, Marchenko was last seen in Yugoslavia in 1944. According to the testimony of Nikolai Yegorovich Shelayev, a Russian Treblinka gas chamber operator, he and Marchenko together with two Germans and two Jews, operated the motor which produced the exhaust gas which was fed into gas chambers. Shelayev and Marchenko were transferred from Treblinka to Trieste in July 1943 where Marchenko guarded German warehouses and a local prison. In 1944, as Allied forces approached, Marchenko and a driver named Gregory "fled in an armored car to the partisans in Yugoslavia." Shelayev last saw Marchenko in the spring of 1945, in Fiume, where he saw him coming out of a brothel. Marchenko told Shelayev that he had joined the Yugoslav partisans. As late as 1962, the Soviet authorities were looking for him. The Soviet documents created enough reasonable doubt to disqualify Demjanjuk, and his previous conviction was overturned. Some of the exculpatory evidence that led to Demjanjuk's release in 1993 had come to light years before and was deliberately withheld from the Israelis by the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) of the US Department of Justice, which had urged Israel to charge him with being Ivan the Terrible.


title: Ivan the Terrible (Treblinka guard)

text: Gilbert S. Merritt Jr., judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, said of the OSI's handling of the Demjanjuk case: "Today we know that they — the OSI, the prosecution in the case and the State Department — lied through their teeth. Even then they knew without a doubt that Demjanjuk was not Ivan the Terrible, but they hid the information from us. I am sorry that I did not have the information at the time. If I did, we would never have ruled in favor of his extradition to Israel." Merritt claimed that what happened in his courtroom was "nothing short of a witch hunt. In retrospect, it reminds me of the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts 300 years ago. The prosecution, counseled by the OSI, presented documents and witnesses whose testimony was based on emotions and hysteria, but not hard evidence. To my regret, we believed them. This instance is a prime example of how justice can be distorted."


title: Ivan the Terrible (Treblinka guard)

text: John Demjanjuk was later extradited to Germany on charges that he was another guard by the name of Ivan Demjanjuk, who served at the Sobibor extermination camp. During the trial, the problem of identity again became a key issue. Demjanjuk claimed he was not the Ivan Demjanjuk alleged to be a guard at Sobibor, and that the Trawniki identification card supplied by the OSI to Germany, and on which the prosecution based its case, was a Soviet KGB forgery. On 12 May 2011, Demjanjuk was convicted pending appeal by a German criminal court of being a guard at Sobibor extermination camp. Demjanjuk's appeal had not yet been heard by the German Appellate Court when he died in March 2012. As a consequence, the German Munich District Court declared him "presumed innocent". The court also confirmed that Demjanjuk's previous interim conviction was invalidated, and that Demjanjuk was cleared of any criminal record.


title: Ivan the Terrible (Treblinka guard)

text: Ivan Marchenko is not on the Most Wanted Nazis list. Marchenko, if he is still alive and were to be caught, would be 110 years old as of 2021, and therefore it is unlikely that he would be brought to trial. The Netflix documentary "The Devil Next Door" shows documents that indicate the birthdate of Ivan Marchenko to be 2 March 1911. Furthermore, the Netflix documentary shows documents where Demjanjuk listed his mother's maiden name as Marchenko.


title: 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election

text: The Sixteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Election was held on 6 April 2021, to elect representatives from the 234 constituencies in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won the election, ending the decade-long reign of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The DMK's leader M. K. Stalin became the eighth Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and the 12th Chief Minister since the 1956 reorganization. He replaced Edappadi K. Palaniswami of the AIADMK.


text: The poll was Tamil Nadu's first assembly election after the demises of the two most prominent Chief Ministers in the state's modern history, J. Jayalalithaa—general secretary of the AIADMK, and M. Karunanidhi—president of the DMK, who died in 2016 and 2018 respectively. With the AIADMK winning the 2016 election, Jayalalithaa became the Chief Minister and served for almost six months. Upon her death, O. Panneerselvam took charge as the Chief Minister, shortly after which Palaniswami was sworn in instead in 2017, who served till the end of the fifteenth assembly's tenure. The Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the elections in Tamil Nadu to the sixteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on 26 February 2021.


text: The DMK continued its Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) with the Indian National Congress, the Communist parties and many others, and named Stalin as its candidate for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Office. The AIADMK joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling party of the Union Government of India, with Palanisami as its Chief Ministerial candidate. The polling was held on 6 April 2021 under COVID-19 guidelines. The state recorded a voter turnout of 72.81%. Surveys before and after the polls predicted the Stalin-led SPA to win the elections with a large margin. The votes were counted on 2 May 2021; the SPA amassed 159 seats, with the DMK alone winning in 133 constituencies, securing an absolute majority for the first time in 25 years. The NDA won 75 seats, out of which 66 were of the AIADMK. The DMK formed the Government of Tamil Nadu for the sixth time; Stalin and his council of ministers were sworn in on 7 May 2021.


text: The state of Tamil Nadu is divided into 234 assembly constituencies, each of which elects a member (called an MLA) to represent it at the state's unicameral legislative assembly, as per Article 168 of the Constitution of India. The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly convenes at Fort St. George, Chennai. The member that manages to receive the support of the majority of the members of the assembly (that is the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party that secures more than 50% of the seats), which is a minimum of 118 members, is appointed as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, who is the executive head of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The Governor of Tamil Nadu, the state's ceremonial head, will invite the Chief-Minister-elect and his Council of Ministers to be sworn in, to lead the state government for a term of the next five years.


text: Tamil Nadu's partisan politics have been dominated by its two regional Dravidian parties, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), for the last 50 years (since 1967). Each recognized party in India is given a polling symbol by the Election Commission of India, an independent and neutral body of officers that conducts and regulates all the elections in the country. The DMK contests with the "Rising Sun" symbol, while the AIADMK contests with the "Two Leaves".


text: The legislative assembly of Tamil Nadu goes to polls alongside the legislative assemblies of three other Indian states, namely Assam, Kerala, and West Bengal, and that of the union territory of Puducherry.


text: Since the death of AIADMK founder M.G Ramachandran (who had been in power since 1977) in 1987, DMK's M Karunanidhi (who came into prominence in 1969 following the death of DMK founder C.N Annadurai) & AIADMK's J Jayalalitha heavily dominated the state's politics. DMK won the 1989, 1996 & 2006 elections while AIADMK won the 1991, 2001 & 2011 elections. In 2016, AIADMK retained its majority with 136 seats, while the DMK increased its strength to 98 seats. Jayalalitah became the second incumbent Chief minister of Tamil Nadu to be re-elected back in power since MGR. 2021's election of the sixteenth assembly election is the first state election after the deaths of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi, who died in 2016 and 2018 respectively.


text: Following Jayalalithaa's demise from cardiac arrest on 5 December 2016, O. Panneerselvam of the AIADMK became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the third time. The first two times he attained the post (21 September 2001 to 2 March 2002, and 28 September 2014 to 23 May 2015) was when Jayalalithaa was forcibly removed from office twice due to the lawsuit against her. He served as the Acting Chief Minister during Jayalalithaa's hospitalization in 2016. However, soon after swearing-in, Panneerselvam rebelled against the influence of V. K. Sasikala, a long-time friend and close associate of Jayalalithaa, inside the AIADMK party, and deemed her a threat to his Chief Ministership, exposing the factionalism inside the party. In a meeting of the party's general council held on 29 December 2016, the first meeting after Jayalalithaa's death, Sasikala was appointed as the party's general secretary. On 5 February 2017, all the MLAs of the AIADMK unanimously elected Sassikala as the Legislative Assembly leader of the AIADMK, making her the Chief-Minister-elect officially.


text: On 6 February 2017, Panneerselvam submitted his resignation letter to then Governor of Tamil Nadu, C. Vidyasagar Rao, who accepted the resignation but instructed him to continue to functioning as Chief Minister "until alternate arrangements are made", awaiting the pending verdict of the 18-year-long trial regarding the disproportionate assets of Jayalalithaa and Sasikala. Panneerselvam also claimed that he was coerced into resignation. Later in the evening, Sasikala met the Governor and laid claims to the Chief Ministership, by submitting the list of AIADMK legislators who back her. Reports stated Sasikala had those MLAs sequestered at a resort in South Chennai.


text: On 14 February 2017, the Supreme Court of India pronounced Sasikala and her relatives guilty of criminally conspiring, laundering and amassing illicit wealth worth about in the 1990s, and sentenced them to serve a four-year jail term at Central Prison, Bangalore, giving the convicts 24 hours to surrender. This restored "in toto" her earlier conviction in the case delivered on 27 September 2014. Proceedings against Jayalalithaa had been abated and dismissed on account of her death. The conviction effectively ended Sasikala's Chief Ministerial ambitions.


text: Following Sasikala's conviction, the Governor rejected her claims to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. In her ticking 24-hour surrender time-limit and capacity as the general secretary of the AIADMK, Sasikala convened the party's MLAs, who unanimously elected Edappadi K. Palaniswami, a then supporter of Sasikala, as the new Chief Minister. She also appointed her nephew and former treasurer of the party, T. T. V. Dhinakaran, as the party's deputy general secretary. Palaniswami as sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu the next day, replacing Panneerselvam.


text: On 23 March 2017, the Election commission of India designated the two factions separately; Panneerselvam's faction known as "AIADMK (PURATCHI THALAIVI AMMA)", while Dhinakaran-Palaniswami's faction known as "AIADMK (AMMA)". By-polls were announced at the Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency, which was vacated due to Jayalalithaa's death. Dhinakaran was named candidate by his faction. However, the Election Commission canceled the by-polls after evidence of large-scale bribing by the ruling AIADMK (AMMA) surfaced. On 17 April 2017, Delhi Police registered a case against Dhinakaran for allegedly attempting to bribe the Election Commission into giving the AIADMK's significant "Two Leaves" symbol to his faction. Dhinakaran was granted bail on the grounds that the police failed to identify the bribed officer.


text: In the following months, the Chief Minister had a fallout with Dhinakaran. Palaniswami pronounced Dhinakaran's appointment as deputy general secretary "invalid" on 17 August 2017, and ousted him from the party. On 21 August 2017, it was reported that the Paneerselvam faction of AIADMK had decided to merge back with the Palaniswami faction, under the terms that Sasikala would be expelled from the party. On 21 August 2017, both Palaniswami and Paneerselvam factions of the AIADMK reunited, with the leaders assuming co-leadership of the party. Panneerselvam sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu and the coordinator of the AIADMK. Palaniswami was dubbed the deputy coordinator of the party. Mainstream media and publications suspected the involvement of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling party of the Union Government of India, in the AIADMK's merger. This marked the first time the BJP began to play an influential role in the Tamil Nadu politics, acting as the mediator that united the two factions. Dhinakaran and his supporters continued to dub themselves the "real AIADMK".


text: On 22 August 2017, 18 MLAs of the AIADMK pledged allegiance to Dhinakaran and submitted letters to the Governor, expressing lack of confidence in Palaniswami and withdrawing their support to the Palaniswami-led government. Immediately, those MLAs were expelled from the AIADMK. The Speaker of the fifteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, P. Dhanapal, also disqualified those MLAs from their offices, citing the Constitution Act of 1985, which prevents the instability caused by democratically elected representatives in India's legislatures shifting allegiance from the parties they supported at the time of election, or disobeying their parties' decisions at critical times, by rendering their seats vacant. This resulted in a long legal battle, at the end of which, the Madras High Court, the highest court of Tamil Nadu, gave a verdict in the Speaker's favour and confirmed the disqualification of the 19 legislators. Following these events, Sasikala was expelled from the party on 12 September 2017, with her position as interim general secretary disputed and abolished. Instead, the late Jayalalithaa was named the eternal general secretary of AIADMK.


text: On 23 November 2017, the Election Commission of India granted the "Two Leaves" symbol to the Palaniswami-Panneerselvam led AIADMK, authorizing the faction as the original AIADMK, and announced by-polls to the vacant seat of Radhakrishnan Nagar on 21 December 2017. Dhinakaran contested in the constituency as an independent candidate, and won the election with a huge margin, with around 40,000 votes more than his closest competitor. He became the first independent candidate in Tamil Nadu history to win a bypoll, claiming 50.32% of the total votes, defeating the ruling AIADMK and the opposition DMK.


text: In March 2018, Dinakaran formed the new party Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), with the goal of obtaining control of the AIADMK.


text: After Karunanidhi's demise on 7 August 2018, Karunanidhi's son and political heir M. K. Stalin, who has served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and the Mayor of Chennai, became the unquestioned president of the DMK. The Election Commission of India announced by-polls to 24 vacant seats in the state, alongside the 2019 Indian parliamentary elections, which elects 543 members across India to its lower house, the Lok Sabha. The DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (nationally, United Progressive Alliance headed by the Indian National Congress) swept Tamil Nadu in the Lok Sabha elections, winning a landslide 38 seats out of the state's 39 parliamentary constituencies. The AIADMK, which contested the election in an alliance with the BJP and the regional DMDK, won only one seat (Theni). This marked a huge shift from the 2014 parliamentary elections, in which the AIADMK had won 37 seats solo, whereas the NDA won two and the DMK none. In the by-polls, out of the 24 formerly AIADMK seats in the state assembly, the Stalin-led DMK won over 13 seats while the AIADMK won 10, indicating a shift in the political mindset of the state's voters. Although the incumbent AIADMK government lost 13 of its seats to the opposition party, the 10 retained seats (with new MLAs to represent them) were enough to maintain the AIADMK's absolute majority at the Legislative Assembly.


text: In January 2021, VK Sasikala was released from jail after completion of her prison time. In February 2021, she announced her intention to actively involve herself in the state's politics. Nevertheless, on 3 March 2021, she announced her decision to quit politics, to everyone's surprise.


text: In order to improve the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, both the AIADMK and DMK promised jobs in their manifestos. Industries, especially MSMEs, have been hit hard by the slowdown in the economy. The AIADMK-led government approved a sub-quota in MBC of 10.5% for the Vanniyars, who are particularly dominant in northern Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK & BJP also fulfilled the demand of grouping 7 castes under Devendrakula Velalar an agricultural community found in Tamil Nadu. Recent events such as the Thoothukudi protest in 2018 against the district's Sterlite Copper plant and the Kattupalli fishermen's agitation against the expansion of Adani port have also made environmental concerns, especially climate change, a topic of debate in the elections.


text: On 26 April 2021, the Madras High Court remarked that the Election Commission should be put on murder charges for allowing rallies. Further, the court said that the Election Commission was the only institution responsible for the deadly second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in India as the elections of four states and a union territory were being held when second wave was striking India.


text: Election Manifesto plays a key role in determining the voting behaviour of the voters in the Tamil Nadu Electoral Politics. Enabling people with information about manifestos, promises, and candidate details through technology can ensure that it reaches a huge number of people. Global Shapers Chennai, a non-partisan group powered by the World Economic Forum has released the TN Election Promises 2021 platform. The platform provides the voters with data and insights on the promises made by different parties, constituency-wise candidate background details (assets, education, criminal cases, etc.), and helps them compare the promises by categorizing them into different focus areas such as agriculture, education, etc., to help make an informed voting decision.


text: According to the ECI, 62.6 million people were eligible to vote in upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Sholinganallur assembly has the highest number of eligible voters with 694,845 voters.


text: The DMK went on a campaign tour titled "Vidiyalai Nokki Stalinin Kural", which began on 20 December 2020 at Thirukkuvalai, the birthplace of M. Karunanidhi. Palaniswami started the AIADMK's campaign at his hometown, Edappadi, on 19 December 2020. CM Palanisami also launched his "Vetrinadai Podum Tamilagam" campaign followed by "Thodarattu Vetrinadai" campaign


text: BJP politician and the 22nd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, addressed a public rally in Coimbatore to support Vanathi Srinivasan on March 31, 2021. The BJP and the Hindu Munnani organized a bike rally where they shouted communal slogans. The BJP supporters also reportedly pelted stones at Muslim shops in the area. BJP candidate Vanathi Srinivasan described the stone-pelting incident as a minor incident while MNM president Kamal Haasan said that "riot specialists must be defeated through unity".


text: Candidates from recognized parties contested in 234 constituencies on 6 April. The Indian National Congress candidate for Srivilliputhur Assembly constituency, P. S. W. Madhava Rao, died on 11 April 2021 after testing positive for COVID-19.


text: The state recorded 72.81% voter turnout, which is 2% lesser than the preceding 2016 election. Karur district recorded the highest voter turnout amongst the state's districts, with 83.92%. Chennai district turned out the lowest (59.06%), as usual.


text: The Election Commission of India, on 13 April 2021, declared the polling held at the polling station No. 92 in the Velachery Assembly constituency "void" under 58 (1)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The commission ordered a repoll in the station on the basis of a report submitted by the returning officers and observers. Fresh voting was conducted on 17 April 2021 between 7 am and 7 pm IST. The repoll follows the suspension of three Greater Chennai Corporation officials for transporting two EVMs and one VVPAT machine of booth number 92 on a two-wheeler in the Velachery-Tharamani road.


text: The Election Commission on March 24, banned the publication of any exit poll from 27 March till 7:30 PM of 29 April to prevent any influence on voters in the general election of West Bengal and by-elections in other states. On April 26, the ban period was advanced to 7:00 PM.


text: The results were announced by the Election Commission of India on 2 May 2021, starting at 9 AM IST. The DMK won 133 constituencies on its own, receiving an absolute majority in the sixteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, whereas its SPA alliance saw victory in a total of 159 constituencies. Meanwhile, the NDA alliance captured 75 constituencies, out of which the AIADMK had won 66. Other parties, alliances, and independent candidates did not secure any seats. After spending a decade as the opposition party, the DMK won Tamil Nadu from the AIADMK, which reigned the state for two consecutive terms (2011-2021). The AIADMK assumed the position of the opposition party at the sixteenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.


text: Palaniswami and his ministers resigned on 3 May 2021, submitting their papers of resignation to Banwarilal Purohit, the Governor of Tamil Nadu. During the early hours of the same day, DMK president Stalin paid respects at the memorial of his father and five-time Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi. Speaking to the journalists gathered there, Stalin stated that he will be sworn in as the Chief Minister in a simplistic ceremony that may be held at the Raj Bhavan, the Governor's residence. He underlined that the DMK will form the government for the sixth time in Tamil Nadu, and will follow the footsteps of Karunanidhi. Stalin added that the DMK's governance "will be such that those who had voted for the party will feel happy voting for it, and even those who did not vote would regret their decision to not have voted for the party".


text: After the resignation of Palanisami's administration, officials of the Public Works Department began resetting the Tamil Nadu Secretariat to prepare the campus for the new government under Stalin. The Chief Minister's Office returned all the files to the departments concerned, with the office quarters white-washed and name-boards of former ministers taken down.


text: Politicians, celebrities and government officials across India congratulated Stalin on his victory. The out-going Chief Minister Palanisami congratulated Stalin, tweeting: "My best wishes to M.K. Stalin who is going to take oath as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister". In another tweet, Stalin thanked Palanisami and sought his cooperation for "building the best Tamil Nadu". Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, tweeted that he will work with Stalin to enhance the nation's progress, fulfill the regional interests of Tamil Nadu, and fight the COVID-19 pandemic.


text: On 10 May 2021, the newly elected AIADMK MLAs convened to choose the new Leader of the Opposition, an important post equivalent to a cabinet minister. The meeting was inconclusive, with both Panneerselvam and Palaniswami staking claims to the post, while their supporters hurled charges against each other. This included a prolonged quarrel between the two sections of the party outside the party's head office, causing unrest. Supporters of Palaniswami believed that he should be the Leader of the Opposition due to the party's good performance in the election in western Tamil Nadu, the region he hails from; whereas, Panneerselvam's supporters felt that the party fared poorly in other regions of the state due to Palaniswami's wrong policies during his Chief Ministerial tenure. Eventually, Palaniswami was elected as the Leader of the Opposition.


text: After MNM performed unfavorably in its first-ever election, many officials and candidates resigned from the party, such as its vice president Dr. Mahendran, Muruganandam, C K Kumaravel. Mahendran said that "the attitude of Kamal Haasan towards the growth of the party has not been changed even after facing huge loss in the Tamil Nadu assembly election". He cited the presence of "Sankhya solutions" in the party and added that Haasan is being misguided. Others cited "personal reasons".


text: On 3 May 2021, Durai Murugan, the general secretary of the DMK, called for a meeting of all the party's newly elected MLAs on 4 May 2021, at 4 PM, in Anna Arivalayam (the DMK headquarters, Chennai). In the meeting, the 133 MLAs formally extended their support to Stalin's appointment as the DMK's head at the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, making him the Chief-Minister-elect. Stalin's council of ministers and their allocated departments were revealed on 6 May 2021. The Stalin administration took charge on 7 May 2021, sworn in by Governor Purohit, in a ceremony at Raj Bhavan. Stalin became the eighth Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, and the twelfth Chief Minister since the linguistic reformation of the state's boundaries in 1956.


title: Impact event

text: An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects. Impact events have physical consequences and have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or meteoroids and have minimal effect. When large objects impact terrestrial planets such as the Earth, there can be significant physical and biospheric consequences, though atmospheres mitigate many surface impacts through atmospheric entry. Impact craters and structures are dominant landforms on many of the Solar System's solid objects and present the strongest empirical evidence for their frequency and scale.


title: Impact event

text: Impact events appear to have played a significant role in the evolution of the Solar System since its formation. Major impact events have significantly shaped Earth's history, and have been implicated in the formation of the Earth–Moon system.


title: Impact event

text: Impact events also appear to have played a significant role in the evolutionary history of life. Impacts may have helped deliver the building blocks for life (the panspermia theory relies on this premise). Impacts have been suggested as the origin of water on Earth. They have also been implicated in several mass extinctions. The prehistoric Chicxulub impact, 66 million years ago, is believed to not only be the cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event but acceleration of the evolution of mammals leading to their dominance and in turn, setting in place conditions for the eventual rise of humans.


title: Impact event

text: Throughout recorded history, hundreds of Earth impacts (and exploding bolides) have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage, or other significant localised consequences. One of the best-known recorded events in modern times was the Tunguska event, which occurred in Siberia, Russia, in 1908. The 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor event is the only known such incident in modern times to result in numerous injuries. Its meteor is the largest recorded object to have encountered the Earth since the Tunguska event.


title: Impact event

text: The Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 impact provided the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of Solar System objects, when the comet broke apart and collided with Jupiter in July 1994. An extrasolar impact was observed in 2013, when a massive terrestrial planet impact was detected around the star ID8 in the star cluster NGC 2547 by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and confirmed by ground observations. Impact events have been a plot and background element in science fiction.


title: Impact event

text: In April 2018, the B612 Foundation reported "It's 100 percent certain we'll be hit [by a devastating asteroid], but we're not 100 percent certain when." Also in 2018, physicist Stephen Hawking, in his final book "Brief Answers to the Big Questions", considered an asteroid collision to be the biggest threat to the planet. In June 2018, the US National Science and Technology Council warned that America is unprepared for an asteroid impact event, and has developed and released the "National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy Action Plan" to better prepare. According to expert testimony in the United States Congress in 2013, NASA would require at least five years of preparation before a mission to intercept an asteroid could be launched.


title: Impact event

text: On 26 September 2022 the Double Asteroid Redirection Test demonstrated the deflection of an asteroid. It was the first such experiment to be carried out by mankind and was considered to be highly successful. The orbital period of the target body was changed by 32 minutes. The criterion for success was a change of more than 73 seconds.


title: Impact event

text: Major impact events have significantly shaped Earth's history, having been implicated in the formation of the Earth–Moon system, the evolutionary history of life, the origin of water on Earth, and several mass extinctions. Impact structures are the result of impact events on solid objects and, as the dominant landforms on many of the System's solid objects, present the most solid evidence of prehistoric events. Notable impact events include the hypothesized Late Heavy Bombardment, which would have occurred early in the history of the Earth–Moon system, and the confirmed Chicxulub impact 66 million years ago, believed to be the cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.


title: Impact event

text: Small objects frequently collide with Earth. There is an inverse relationship between the size of the object and the frequency of such events. The lunar cratering record shows that the frequency of impacts decreases as approximately the cube of the resulting crater's diameter, which is on average proportional to the diameter of the impactor. Asteroids with a diameter strike Earth every 500,000 years on average. Large collisions – with objects – happen approximately once every twenty million years. The last known impact of an object of or more in diameter was at the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago.


title: Impact event

text: The energy released by an impactor depends on diameter, density, velocity, and angle. The diameter of most near-Earth asteroids that have not been studied by radar or infrared can generally only be estimated within about a factor of two, by basing it on the asteroid's brightness. The density is generally assumed, because the diameter and mass, from which density can be calculated, are also generally estimated. Due to Earth's escape velocity, the minimum impact velocity is 11 km/s with asteroid impacts averaging around 17 km/s on the Earth. The most probable impact angle is 45 degrees.


title: Impact event

text: Impact conditions such as asteroid size and speed, but also density and impact angle determine the kinetic energy released in an impact event. The more energy is released, the more damage is likely to occur on the ground due to the environmental effects triggered by the impact. Such effects can be shock waves, heat radiation, the formation of craters with associated earthquakes, and tsunamis if water bodies are hit. Human populations are vulnerable to these effects if they live within the affected zone. Large seiche waves arising from earthquakes and large-scale deposit of debris can also occur within minutes of impact, thousands of kilometres from impact.


title: Impact event

text: Stony asteroids with a diameter of enter Earth's atmosphere about once a year. Asteroids with a diameter of 7 meters enter the atmosphere about every 5 years with as much kinetic energy as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (approximately 16 kilotons of TNT), but the air burst is reduced to just 5 kilotons. These ordinarily explode in the upper atmosphere and most or all of the solids are vaporized. However, asteroids with a diameter of , and which strike Earth approximately twice every century, produce more powerful airbursts. The 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor was estimated to be about 20 m in diameter with an airburst of around 500 kilotons, an explosion 30 times the Hiroshima bomb impact. Much larger objects may impact the solid earth and create a crater.


title: Impact event

text: Objects with a diameter less than are called meteoroids and seldom make it to the ground to become meteorites. An estimated 500 meteorites reach the surface each year, but only 5 or 6 of these typically create a weather radar signature with a strewn field large enough to be recovered and be made known to scientists.


title: Impact event

text: The late Eugene Shoemaker of the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the rate of Earth impacts, concluding that an event about the size of the nuclear weapon that destroyed Hiroshima occurs about once a year. Such events would seem to be spectacularly obvious, but they generally go unnoticed for a number of reasons: the majority of the Earth's surface is covered by water; a good portion of the land surface is uninhabited; and the explosions generally occur at relatively high altitude, resulting in a huge flash and thunderclap but no real damage.


title: Impact event

text: Although no human is known to have been killed directly by an impact, over 1000 people were injured by the Chelyabinsk meteor airburst event over Russia in 2013. In 2005 it was estimated that the chance of a single person born today dying due to an impact is around 1 in 200,000. The two to four-meter-sized asteroids , , 2018 LA, 2019 MO, 2022 EB5, and the suspected artificial satellite WT1190F are the only known objects to be detected before impacting the Earth.


title: Impact event

text: The Moon's existence is widely attributed to a huge impact early in Earth's history. Impact events earlier in the history of Earth have been credited with creative as well as destructive events; it has been proposed that impacting comets delivered the Earth's water, and some have suggested that the origins of life may have been influenced by impacting objects by bringing organic chemicals or lifeforms to the Earth's surface, a theory known as exogenesis.


title: Impact event

text: These modified views of Earth's history did not emerge until relatively recently, chiefly due to a lack of direct observations and the difficulty in recognizing the signs of an Earth impact because of erosion and weathering. Large-scale terrestrial impacts of the sort that produced the Barringer Crater, locally known as Meteor Crater, northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona, are rare. Instead, it was widely thought that cratering was the result of volcanism: the Barringer Crater, for example, was ascribed to a prehistoric volcanic explosion (not an unreasonable hypothesis, given that the volcanic San Francisco Peaks stand only to the west). Similarly, the craters on the surface of the Moon were ascribed to volcanism.


title: Impact event

text: It was not until 1903–1905 that the Barringer Crater was correctly identified as an impact crater, and it was not until as recently as 1963 that research by Eugene Merle Shoemaker conclusively proved this hypothesis. The findings of late 20th-century space exploration and the work of scientists such as Shoemaker demonstrated that impact cratering was by far the most widespread geological process at work on the Solar System's solid bodies. Every surveyed solid body in the Solar System was found to be cratered, and there was no reason to believe that the Earth had somehow escaped bombardment from space. In the last few decades of the 20th century, a large number of highly modified impact craters began to be identified. The first direct observation of a major impact event occurred in 1994: the collision of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter.


title: Impact event

text: Based on crater formation rates determined from the Earth's closest celestial partner, the Moon, astrogeologists have determined that during the last 600 million years, the Earth has been struck by 60 objects of a diameter of or more. The smallest of these impactors would leave a crater almost across. Only three confirmed craters from that time period with that size or greater have been found: Chicxulub, Popigai, and Manicouagan, and all three have been suspected of being linked to extinction events though only Chicxulub, the largest of the three, has been consistently considered. The impact that caused Mistastin crater generated temperatures exceeding 2,370 °C, the highest known to have occurred on the surface of the Earth.


title: Impact event

text: Besides the direct effect of asteroid impacts on a planet's surface topography, global climate and life, recent studies have shown that several consecutive impacts might have an effect on the dynamo mechanism at a planet's core responsible for maintaining the magnetic field of the planet, and may have contributed to Mars' lack of current magnetic field. An impact event may cause a mantle plume (volcanism) at the antipodal point of the impact. The Chicxulub impact may have increased volcanism at mid-ocean ridges and has been proposed to have triggered flood basalt volcanism at the Deccan Traps.


title: Impact event

text: While numerous impact craters have been confirmed on land or in the shallow seas over continental shelves, no impact craters in the deep ocean have been widely accepted by the scientific community. Impacts of projectiles as large as one km in diameter are generally thought to explode before reaching the sea floor, but it is unknown what would happen if a much larger impactor struck the deep ocean. The lack of a crater, however, does not mean that an ocean impact would not have dangerous implications for humanity. Some scholars have argued that an impact event in an ocean or sea may create a megatsunami, which can cause destruction both at sea and on land along the coast, but this is disputed. The Eltanin impact into the Pacific Ocean 2.5 Mya is thought to involve an object about across but remains craterless.


title: Impact event

text: The effect of impact events on the biosphere has been the subject of scientific debate. Several theories of impact-related mass extinction have been developed. In the past 500 million years there have been five generally accepted major mass extinctions that on average extinguished half of all species. One of the largest mass extinctions to have affected life on Earth was the Permian-Triassic, which ended the Permian period 250 million years ago and killed off 90 percent of all species; life on Earth took 30 million years to recover. The cause of the Permian-Triassic extinction is still a matter of debate; the age and origin of proposed impact craters, i.e. the Bedout High structure, hypothesized to be associated with it are still controversial. The last such mass extinction led to the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs and coincided with a large meteorite impact; this is the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (also known as the K–T or K–Pg extinction event), which occurred 66 million years ago. There is no definitive evidence of impacts leading to the three other major mass extinctions.


title: Impact event

text: In 1980, physicist Luis Alvarez; his son, geologist Walter Alvarez; and nuclear chemists Frank Asaro and Helen V. Michael from the University of California, Berkeley discovered unusually high concentrations of iridium in a specific layer of rock strata in the Earth's crust. Iridium is an element that is rare on Earth but relatively abundant in many meteorites. From the amount and distribution of iridium present in the 65-million-year-old "iridium layer", the Alvarez team later estimated that an asteroid of must have collided with Earth. This iridium layer at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary has been found worldwide at 100 different sites. Multidirectionally shocked quartz (coesite), which is normally associated with large impact events or atomic bomb explosions, has also been found in the same layer at more than 30 sites. Soot and ash at levels tens of thousands times normal levels were found with the above.


title: Impact event

text: Anomalies in chromium isotopic ratios found within the K-T boundary layer strongly support the impact theory. Chromium isotopic ratios are homogeneous within the earth, and therefore these isotopic anomalies exclude a volcanic origin, which has also been proposed as a cause for the iridium enrichment. Further, the chromium isotopic ratios measured in the K-T boundary are similar to the chromium isotopic ratios found in carbonaceous chondrites. Thus a probable candidate for the impactor is a carbonaceous asteroid, but a comet is also possible because comets are assumed to consist of material similar to carbonaceous chondrites.


title: Impact event

text: Probably the most convincing evidence for a worldwide catastrophe was the discovery of the crater which has since been named Chicxulub Crater. This crater is centered on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and was discovered by Tony Camargo and Glen Penfield while working as geophysicists for the Mexican oil company PEMEX. What they reported as a circular feature later turned out to be a crater estimated to be in diameter. This convinced the vast majority of scientists that this extinction resulted from a point event that is most probably an extraterrestrial impact and not from increased volcanism and climate change (which would spread its main effect over a much longer time period).


title: Impact event

text: Although there is now general agreement that there was a huge impact at the end of the Cretaceous that led to the iridium enrichment of the K-T boundary layer, remnants have been found of other, smaller impacts, some nearing half the size of the Chicxulub crater, which did not result in any mass extinctions, and there is no clear linkage between an impact and any other incident of mass extinction.


title: Impact event

text: Paleontologists David M. Raup and Jack Sepkoski have proposed that an excess of extinction events occurs roughly every 26 million years (though many are relatively minor). This led physicist Richard A. Muller to suggest that these extinctions could be due to a hypothetical companion star to the Sun called Nemesis periodically disrupting the orbits of comets in the Oort cloud, leading to a large increase in the number of comets reaching the inner Solar System where they might hit Earth. Physicist Adrian Melott and paleontologist Richard Bambach have more recently verified the Raup and Sepkoski finding, but argue that it is not consistent with the characteristics expected of a Nemesis-style periodicity.


title: Impact event

text: An impact event is commonly seen as a scenario that would bring about the end of civilization. In 2000, "Discover" magazine published a list of 20 possible sudden doomsday scenarios with an impact event listed as the most likely to occur.


title: Impact event

text: A joint Pew Research Center/"Smithsonian" survey from April 21 to 26, 2010 found that 31 percent of Americans believed that an asteroid will collide with Earth by 2050. A majority (61 percent) disagreed.


title: Impact event

text: In the early history of the Earth (about four billion years ago), bolide impacts were almost certainly common since the Solar System contained far more discrete bodies than at present. Such impacts could have included strikes by asteroids hundreds of kilometers in diameter, with explosions so powerful that they vaporized all the Earth's oceans. It was not until this heavy bombardment slackened that life appears to have begun to evolve on Earth.


title: Impact event

text: The leading theory of the Moon's origin is the giant impact theory, which postulates that Earth was once hit by a planetoid the size of Mars; such a theory is able to explain the size and composition of the Moon, something not done by other theories of lunar formation.


title: Impact event

text: According to the theory of the Late Heavy Bombardment, there should have been 22,000 or more impact craters with diameters >20 km (12 mi), about 40 impact basins with diameters about 1,000 km (620 mi), and several impact basins with diameters about 5,000 km (3,100 mi). However, hundreds of millions of years of deformation at the Earth's crust pose significant challenges to conclusively identifying impacts from this period. Only two pieces of pristine lithosphere are believed to remain from this era: Kaapvaal Craton (in contemporary South Africa) and Pilbara Craton (in contemporary Western Australia) to search within which may potentially reveal evidence in the form of physical craters. Other methods may be used to identify impacts from this period, for example, indirect gravitational or magnetic analysis of the mantle, but may prove inconclusive.


title: Impact event

text: In 2021, evidence for a probable impact 3.46 billion-years ago at Pilbara Craton has been found in the form of a crater created by the impact of a asteroid into the sea at a depth of (near the site of Marble Bar, Western Australia). The event caused global tsunamis. It is also coincidental to some of the earliest evidence of life on Earth, fossilized Stromatolites.


title: Impact event

text: Evidence of a massive impact in South Africa near a geological formation known as the Barberton Greenstone Belt was uncovered by scientists in 2014. They estimated the impact occurred at Kaapvaal Craton (South Africa) about 3.26 billion years ago and that the impactor was approximately wide. The crater from this event, if it still exists, has not yet been found.


title: Impact event

text: The Maniitsoq structure, dated to around 3 billion years old (3 Ga), was once thought to be the result of an impact; however, follow-up studies have not confirmed its nature as an impact structure. The Maniitsoq structure is not recognised as an impact structure by the Earth Impact Database.


title: Impact event

text: In 2020, scientists discovered the world's oldest confirmed impact crater, the Yarrabubba crater, caused by an impact that occurred in Yilgarn Craton (what is now Western Australia), dated at more than 2.2 billion years ago with the impactor estimated to be around wide. It is believed that, at this time, the Earth was mostly or completely frozen, commonly called the Huronian glaciation.


title: Impact event

text: The Vredefort impact event, which occurred around 2 billion years ago in Kaapvaal Craton (what is now South Africa), caused the largest verified crater, a multi-ringed structure across, forming from an impactor approximately in diameter.


title: Impact event

text: The Sudbury impact event occurred on the Nuna supercontinent (now Canada) from a bolide approximately in diameter approximately 1.849 billion years ago Debris from the event would have been scattered across the globe.


title: Impact event

text: Two 10-kilometre sized asteroids are now believed to have struck Australia between 360 and 300 million years ago at the Western Warburton and East Warburton Basins creating a 400-kilometre impact zone. According to evidence found in 2015 it is the largest ever recorded. A third, possible impact was also identified in 2015 to the north, on the upper Diamantina River, also believed to have been caused by an asteroid 10 km across about 300 million years ago, but further studies are needed to establish that this crustal anomaly was indeed the result of an impact event.


title: Impact event

text: The prehistoric Chicxulub impact, 66 million years ago, believed to be the cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event was caused by an asteroid estimated to be about wide.


title: Impact event

text: Analysis of the Hiawatha Glacier reveals the presence of a 31km wide impact crater dated at 58 million years of age, less than 10 million years after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, scientists believe that the impactor was a metallic asteroid with a diameter in the order of 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi). The impact would have had global effects.


title: Impact event

text: Artifacts recovered with tektites from the 803,000-year-old Australasian strewnfield event in Asia link a "Homo erectus" population to a significant meteorite impact and its aftermath. Significant examples of Pleistocene impacts include the Lonar crater lake in India, approximately 52,000 years old (though a study published in 2010 gives a much greater age), which now has a flourishing semi-tropical jungle around it.


title: Impact event

text: The Rio Cuarto craters in Argentina were produced approximately 10,000 years ago, at the beginning of the Holocene. If proved to be impact craters, they would be the first impact of the holocene.


title: Impact event

text: The Campo del Cielo ("Field of Heaven") refers to an area bordering Argentina's Chaco Province where a group of iron meteorites were found, estimated as dating to 4,000–5,000 years ago. It first came to attention of Spanish authorities in 1576; in 2015, police arrested four alleged smugglers trying to steal more than a ton of protected meteorites. The Henbury craters in Australia (~5,000 years old) and Kaali craters in Estonia (~2,700 years old) were apparently produced by objects that broke up before impact.


title: Impact event

text: Whitecourt crater in Alberta, Canada is estimated to be between 1,080 and 1,130 years old. The crater is approximately 36 m (118 ft) in diameter and 9 m (30 ft) deep, is heavily forested and was discovered in 2007 when a metal detector revealed fragments of meteoric iron scattered around the area.


title: Impact event

text: A Chinese record states that 10,000 people were killed in the 1490 Ch'ing-yang event with the deaths caused by a hail of "falling stones"; some astronomers hypothesize that this may describe an actual meteorite fall, although they find the number of deaths implausible.


title: Impact event

text: Kamil Crater, discovered from Google Earth image review in Egypt, in diameter and deep, is thought to have been formed less than 3,500 years ago in a then-unpopulated region of western Egypt. It was found February 19, 2009 by V. de Michelle on a Google Earth image of the East Uweinat Desert, Egypt.


title: Impact event

text: One of the best-known recorded impacts in modern times was the Tunguska event, which occurred in Siberia, Russia, in 1908. This incident involved an explosion that was probably caused by the airburst of an asteroid or comet above the Earth's surface, felling an estimated 80 million trees over .


title: Impact event

text: In February 1947, another large bolide impacted the Earth in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, Primorye, Soviet Union. It was during daytime hours and was witnessed by many people, which allowed V. G. Fesenkov, then chairman of the meteorite committee of the USSR Academy of Science, to estimate the meteoroid's orbit before it encountered the Earth. Sikhote-Alin is a massive fall with the overall size of the meteoroid estimated at approximately . A more recent estimate by Tsvetkov (and others) puts the mass at around . It was an iron meteorite belonging to the chemical group IIAB and with a coarse octahedrite structure. More than 70 tonnes (metric tons) of material survived the collision.


title: Impact event

text: A case of a human injured by a space rock occurred on November 30, 1954, in Sylacauga, Alabama. There a stone chondrite crashed through a roof and hit Ann Hodges in her living room after it bounced off her radio. She was badly bruised by the fragments. Several persons have since claimed to have been struck by "meteorites" but no verifiable meteorites have resulted.


title: Impact event

text: A small number of meteorite falls have been observed with automated cameras and recovered following calculation of the impact point. The first was the Pribram meteorite, which fell in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) in 1959. In this case, two cameras used to photograph meteors captured images of the fireball. The images were used both to determine the location of the stones on the ground and, more significantly, to calculate for the first time an accurate orbit for a recovered meteorite.


title: Impact event

text: Following the Pribram fall, other nations established automated observing programs aimed at studying infalling meteorites. One of these was the Prairie Meteorite Network, operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory from 1963 to 1975 in the midwestern U.S. This program also observed a meteorite fall, the "Lost City" chondrite, allowing its recovery and a calculation of its orbit. Another program in Canada, the Meteorite Observation and Recovery Project, ran from 1971 to 1985. It too recovered a single meteorite, "Innisfree", in 1977. Finally, observations by the European Fireball Network, a descendant of the original Czech program that recovered Pribram, led to the discovery and orbit calculations for the Neuschwanstein meteorite in 2002.


title: Impact event

text: On August 10, 1972, a meteor which became known as the 1972 Great Daylight Fireball was witnessed by many people as it moved north over the Rocky Mountains from the U.S. Southwest to Canada. It was filmed by a tourist at the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming with an 8-millimeter color movie camera. In size range the object was roughly between a car and a house, and while it could have ended its life in a Hiroshima-sized blast, there was never any explosion. Analysis of the trajectory indicated that it never came much lower than off the ground, and the conclusion was that it had grazed Earth's atmosphere for about 100 seconds, then skipped back out of the atmosphere to return to its orbit around the Sun.


title: Impact event

text: Many impact events occur without being observed by anyone on the ground. Between 1975 and 1992, American missile early warning satellites picked up 136 major explosions in the upper atmosphere. In the November 21, 2002, edition of the journal "Nature", Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario reported on his study of U.S. early warning satellite records for the preceding eight years. He identified 300 flashes caused by meteors in that time period and estimated the rate of Tunguska-sized events as once in 400 years. Eugene Shoemaker estimated that an event of such magnitude occurs about once every 300 years, though more recent analyses have suggested he may have overestimated by an order of magnitude.


title: Impact event

text: In the dark morning hours of January 18, 2000, a fireball exploded over the city of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory at an altitude of about , lighting up the night like day. The meteor that produced the fireball was estimated to be about in diameter, with a weight of 180 tonnes. This blast was also featured on the Science Channel series "Killer Asteroids", with several witness reports from residents in Atlin, British Columbia.


title: Impact event

text: On 7 June 2006, a meteor was observed striking Reisadalen in Nordreisa municipality in Troms County, Norway. Although initial witness reports stated that the resultant fireball was equivalent to the Hiroshima nuclear explosion, scientific analysis places the force of the blast at anywhere from 100 to 500 tonnes TNT equivalent, around three percent of Hiroshima's yield.


title: Impact event

text: On 15 September 2007, a chondritic meteor crashed near the village of Carancas in southeastern Peru near Lake Titicaca, leaving a water-filled hole and spewing gases across the surrounding area. Many residents became ill, apparently from the noxious gases shortly after the impact.


title: Impact event

text: On 7 October 2008, an approximately 4 meter asteroid labeled was tracked for 20 hours as it approached Earth and as it fell through the atmosphere and impacted in Sudan. This was the first time an object was detected before it reached the atmosphere and hundreds of pieces of the meteorite were recovered from the Nubian Desert.


title: Impact event

text: On 15 February 2013, an asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere over Russia as a fireball and exploded above the city of Chelyabinsk during its passage through the Ural Mountains region at 09:13 YEKT (03:13 UTC). The object's air burst occurred at an altitude between above the ground, and about 1,500 people were injured, mainly by broken window glass shattered by the shock wave. Two were reported in serious condition; however, there were no fatalities. Initially some 3,000 buildings in six cities across the region were reported damaged due to the explosion's shock wave, a figure which rose to over 7,200 in the following weeks. The Chelyabinsk meteor was estimated to have caused over $30 million in damage. It is the largest recorded object to have encountered the Earth since the 1908 Tunguska event. The meteor is estimated to have an initial diameter of 17–20 metres and a mass of roughly 10,000 tonnes. On 16 October 2013, a team from Ural Federal University led by Victor Grokhovsky recovered a large fragment of the meteor from the bottom of Russia's Lake Chebarkul, about 80 km west of the city.


title: Impact event

text: On 1 January 2014, a 3-meter (10 foot) asteroid, 2014 AA was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey and observed over the next hour, and was soon found to be on a collision course with Earth. The exact location was uncertain, constrained to a line between Panama, the central Atlantic Ocean, The Gambia, and Ethiopia. Around roughly the time expected (2 January 3:06 UTC) an infrasound burst was detected near the center of the impact range, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. This marks the second time a natural object was identified prior to impacting earth after 2008 TC3.


title: Impact event

text: Nearly two years later, on October 3, WT1190F was detected orbiting Earth on a highly eccentric orbit, taking it from well within the Geocentric satellite ring to nearly twice the orbit of the Moon. It was estimated to be perturbed by the Moon onto a collision course with Earth on November 13. With over a month of observations, as well as precovery observations found dating back to 2009, it was found to be far less dense than a natural asteroid should be, suggesting that it was most likely an unidentified artificial satellite. As predicted, it fell over Sri Lanka at 6:18 UTC (11:48 local time). The sky in the region was very overcast, so only an airborne observation team was able to successfully observe it falling above the clouds. It is now thought to be a remnant of the Lunar Prospector mission in 1998, and is the third time any previously unknown object – natural or artificial – was identified prior to impact.


title: Impact event

text: On 22 January 2018, an object, A106fgF, was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) and identified as having a small chance of impacting Earth later that day. As it was very dim, and only identified hours before its approach, no more than the initial 4 observations covering a 39-minute period were made of the object. It is unknown if it impacted Earth or not, but no fireball was detected in either infrared or infrasound, so if it did, it would have been very small, and likely near the eastern end of its potential impact area – in the western Pacific Ocean.


title: Impact event

text: On 2 June 2018, the Mount Lemmon Survey detected (ZLAF9B2), a small 2–5 meter asteroid which further observations soon found had an 85% chance of impacting Earth. Soon after the impact, a fireball report from Botswana arrived to the American Meteor Society. Further observations with ATLAS extended the observation arc from 1 hour to 4 hours and confirmed that the asteroid orbit indeed impacted Earth in southern Africa, fully closing the loop with the fireball report and making this the third natural object confirmed to impact Earth, and the second on land after .


title: Impact event

text: On 8 March 2019, NASA announced the detection of a large airburst that occurred on 18 December 2018 at 11:48 local time off the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The Kamchatka superbolide is estimated to have had a mass of roughly 1600 tons, and a diameter of 9 to 14 meters depending on its density, making it the third largest asteroid to impact Earth since 1900, after the Chelyabinsk meteor and the Tunguska event. The fireball exploded in an airburst above Earth's surface.


title: Impact event

text: 2019 MO, an approximately 4m asteroid, was detected by ATLAS a few hours before it impacted the Caribbean Sea near Puerto Rico in June 2019


title: Impact event

text: In the late 20th and early 21st century scientists put in place measures to detect Near Earth objects, and predict the dates and times of asteroids impacting Earth, along with the locations at which they will impact. The International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the global clearing house for information on asteroid orbits. NASA's Sentry System continually scans the MPC catalog of known asteroids, analyzing their orbits for any possible future impacts. Currently none are predicted (the single highest probability impact currently listed is ~7 m asteroid , which is due to pass earth in September 2095 with only a 5% predicted chance of impacting).


title: Impact event

text: Currently prediction is mainly based on cataloging asteroids years before they are due to impact. This works well for larger asteroids (> 1 km across) as they are easily seen from a long distance. Over 95% of them are already known and their orbits have been measured, so any future impacts can be predicted long before they are on their final approach to Earth. Smaller objects are too faint to observe except when they come very close and so most cannot be observed before their final approach. Current mechanisms for detecting asteroids on final approach rely on wide-field ground based telescopes, such as the ATLAS system. However, current telescopes only cover part of the Earth and even more importantly cannot detect asteroids on the day-side of the planet, which is why so few of the smaller asteroids that commonly impact Earth are detected during the few hours that they would be visible.


title: Impact event

text: So far only four impact events have been successfully predicted, all from innocuous 2–5 m diameter asteroids and detected a few hours in advance.


title: Impact event

text: In April 2018, the B612 Foundation reported "It's 100 per cent certain we’ll be hit [by a devastating asteroid], but we're not 100 per cent certain when." Also in 2018, physicist Stephen Hawking, in his final book "Brief Answers to the Big Questions", considered an asteroid collision to be the biggest threat to the planet. In June 2018, the US National Science and Technology Council warned that America is unprepared for an asteroid impact event, and has developed and released the ""National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy Action Plan"" to better prepare. According to expert testimony in the United States Congress in 2013, NASA would require at least five years of preparation to launch a mission to intercept an asteroid. The preferred method is to deflect rather than disrupt an asteroid.


title: Impact event

text: Impact craters provide evidence of past impacts on other planets in the Solar System, including possible interplanetary terrestrial impacts. Without carbon dating, other points of reference are used to estimate the timing of these impact events. Mars provides some significant evidence of possible interplanetary collisions. The North Polar Basin on Mars is speculated by some to be evidence for a planet-sized impact on the surface of Mars between 3.8 and 3.9 billion years ago, while Utopia Planitia is the largest confirmed impact and Hellas Planitia is the largest visible crater in the Solar System. The Moon provides similar evidence of massive impacts, with the South Pole–Aitken basin being the biggest. Mercury's Caloris Basin is another example of a crater formed by a massive impact event. Rheasilvia on Vesta is an example of a crater formed by an impact capable of, based on ratio of impact to size, severely deforming a planetary-mass object. Impact craters on the moons of Saturn such as Engelier and Gerin on Iapetus, Mamaldi on Rhea and Odysseus on Tethys and Herschel on Mimas form significant surface features. Models developed in 2018 to explain the unusual spin of Uranus support a long-held theory that this was caused by an oblique collision with a massive object twice the size of Earth.


title: Impact event

text: Jupiter is the most massive planet in the Solar System, and because of its large mass it has a vast sphere of gravitational influence, the region of space where an asteroid capture can take place under favorable conditions.


title: Impact event

text: Jupiter is able to capture comets in orbit around the Sun with a certain frequency. In general, these comets travel some revolutions around the planet following unstable orbits as highly elliptical and perturbable by solar gravity. While some of them eventually recover a heliocentric orbit, others crash on the planet or, more rarely, on its satellites.


title: Impact event

text: In addition to the mass factor, its relative proximity to the inner solar system allows Jupiter to influence the distribution of minor bodies there. For a long time it was believed that these characteristics led the gas giant to expel from the system or to attract most of the wandering objects in its vicinity and, consequently, to determine a reduction in the number of potentially dangerous objects for the Earth. Subsequent dynamic studies have shown that in reality the situation is more complex: the presence of Jupiter, in fact, tends to reduce the frequency of impact on the Earth of objects coming from the Oort cloud, while it increases it in the case of asteroids and short period comets.


title: Impact event

text: For this reason Jupiter is the planet of the Solar System characterized by the highest frequency of impacts, which justifies its reputation as the "sweeper" or "cosmic vacuum cleaner" of the Solar System. 2009 studies suggest an impact frequency of one every 50–350 years, for an object of 0.5–1 km in diameter; impacts with smaller objects would occur more frequently. Another study estimated that comets in diameter impact the planet once in approximately 500 years and those in diameter do so just once in every 6,000 years.


title: Impact event

text: In July 1994, Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 was a comet that broke apart and collided with Jupiter, providing the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of Solar System objects. The event served as a "wake-up call", and astronomers responded by starting programs such as Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR), Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT), Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search (LONEOS) and several others which have drastically increased the rate of asteroid discovery.


title: Impact event

text: The 2009 impact event happened on July 19 when a new black spot about the size of Earth was discovered in Jupiter's southern hemisphere by amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley. Thermal infrared analysis showed it was warm and spectroscopic methods detected ammonia. JPL scientists confirmed that there was another impact event on Jupiter, probably involving a small undiscovered comet or other icy body. The impactor is estimated to have been about 200–500 meters in diameter.


title: Impact event

text: Later minor impacts were observed by amateur astronomers in 2010, 2012, 2016, and 2017; one impact was observed by "Juno" in 2020.


title: Impact event

text: In 1998, two comets were observed plunging toward the Sun in close succession. The first of these was on June 1 and the second the next day. A video of this, followed by a dramatic ejection of solar gas (unrelated to the impacts), can be found at the NASA website. Both of these comets evaporated before coming into contact with the surface of the Sun. According to a theory by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Zdeněk Sekanina, the latest impactor to actually make contact with the Sun was the "supercomet" Howard-Koomen-Michels on August 30, 1979. (See also sungrazer.)


title: Impact event

text: In 2010, between January and May, Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 took images of an unusual X shape originated in the aftermath of the collision between asteroid P/2010 A2 with a smaller asteroid.


title: Impact event

text: Around March 27, 2012, based on evidence, there were signs of an impact on Mars. Images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provide compelling evidence of the largest impact observed to date on Mars in the form of fresh craters, the largest measuring 48.5 by 43.5 meters. It is estimated to be caused by an impactor 3 to 5 meters long.


title: Impact event

text: On March 19, 2013, an impact occurred on the Moon that was visible from Earth, when a boulder-sized 30 cm meteoroid slammed into the lunar surface at 90,000 km/h (25 km/s; 56,000 mph) creating a 20-meter crater. NASA has actively monitored lunar impacts since 2005, tracking hundreds of candidate events.


title: Impact event

text: On 18 September, 2021 an impact event on Mars formed a cluster of craters, the largest being 130m in diameter. On 24 December, 2021 an impact created a 150m-wide crater. Debris was ejected up to 35km (19 miles) from the impact site.


title: Impact event

text: Collisions between galaxies, or galaxy mergers, have been observed directly by space telescopes such as Hubble and Spitzer. However, collisions in planetary systems including stellar collisions, while long speculated, have only recently begun to be observed directly.


title: Impact event

text: In 2013, an impact between minor planets was detected around the star NGC 2547 ID 8 by Spitzer and confirmed by ground observations. Computer modelling suggests that the impact involved large asteroids or protoplanets similar to the events believed to have led to the formation of terrestrial planets like the Earth.


title: Papillon (2017 film)

text: Papillon is a 2017 drama film directed by Michael Noer and also (the last film by Red Granite Pictures Before 2023’s "Ture Love)" It tells the story of French convict Henri Charrière (Charlie Hunnam), nicknamed "Papillon" ("butterfly"), who was imprisoned in 1933 in the notorious Devil's Island penal colony and escaped in 1941 with the help of another convict, counterfeiter Louis Dega (Rami Malek). The film's screenplay is based on Charrière's autobiographies "Papillon" and "Banco", as well as the former's 1973 film adaptation, which was written by Dalton Trumbo and Lorenzo Semple Jr. and starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.


title: Papillon (2017 film)

text: "Papillon" premiered on September 9, 2017, in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.


title: Papillon (2017 film)

text: Henri "Papillon" Charrière, a safecracker from the Parisian underworld, is framed for murder. Though he has an alibi from his lover, Nenette, Papillon is convicted and condemned to the notorious penal colony in French Guiana — a hellish prison from which nobody has escaped.


title: Papillon (2017 film)

text: On the ship to South America, Papillon meets a quirky counterfeiter named Louis Dega. That evening Dega is awakened as two convicts murder a prisoner sleeping next to him in order to cut open his stomach and steal the money he had swallowed. Papillon forms an unlikely alliance with Dega, who is targeted by the other prisoners who suspect him of also hiding money. Papillon saves Dega's life and is punished for fighting by the guards. In exchange for Papillon's protection, Dega agrees to finance Papillon's escape, ultimately resulting in a bond of lasting friendship.


title: Papillon (2017 film)

text: While Papillon and Dega are ordered to carry away a guillotined body, a guard starts to whip Dega. Papillon strikes the guard with a rock and runs into the jungle for his first escape. He is given two years of silent solitary confinement. After the warden learns he has been receiving extra food, his rations are cut in half until he gives up the name of his supplier. Papillon does not betray Dega.


title: Papillon (2017 film)

text: The second escape plan is made from the prison infirmary, while Papillon is feigning insanity from his confinement. Dega is an aide to the warden and still has money to fund the escape. Celier has a connection to get a boat, and the sexually abused Maturette is the fourth to join the dangerous venture. Dega drugs the guards using pills meant to sedate a supposedly insane Papillon and the three others escape over the walls to the jungle, with Dega injuring his leg in the process, to reach a boat Dega paid for. As a storm approaches, it is clear they will not all survive in the small leaky boat. Celier wants to kill the injured Dega but Papillon defends Dega, who stabs and kills Celier as he fights with Papillon. After a treacherous storm destroys their boat, the three survivors find themselves being cared for in a Colombian convent. Their apparent freedom is short lived. The Colombian authorities arrive, kill Maturette, and return Papillon to Royal Island, where he is subjected to five years in solitary confinement. Dega is sent to Devil's Island.


title: Papillon (2017 film)

text: Papillon is released from solitary as a weathered older man and sent to Devil's Island, where the high cliffs provide a natural barrier for escape attempts. He finds Dega who has adjusted to prison life and has no interest in escape. Because a fall from the cliffs would mean certain death, Papillon bags coconuts together for a raft. During a swell of waves, he jumps from the cliffs and survives the fall. The third escape is a success and he is a free man. He writes a memoir based on his time in prison and escape attempts.


title: Papillon (2017 film)

text: The movie postscript reads: "Over 80,000 prisoners were condemned to the penal colony in French Guiana, most of whom never returned to France. Henri Charriere's autobiography 'Papillon' became the number one bestseller for 21 weeks in France. To date, it has sold over 13 million copies in 30 languages. In 1970, the French Minister of Justice signed a decree allowing Charriere to return to France. For the remainder of his life, he lived a free man. The penal colony in French Guiana did not survive him".


title: Papillon (2017 film)

text: "Papillon" was shot in different locations around Europe including Montenegro, Malta, and Belgrade, Serbia.


title: Papillon (2017 film)

text: The film debuted to $1.2 million from 544 theaters in its opening weekend, finishing 16th. , "Papillon" had grossed $2,335,896 in the United States and Canada, and $2,180,684 in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $4,516,580.


title: Papillon (2017 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 52% based on reviews from 111 critics, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Papillon" puts its own well-acted, solidly produced spin on a previously adapted tale, although it suffers in comparison to the 1973 version." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Hoka One One

text: Hoka One One (stylized as HOKA) is an athletic shoe company originating in Annecy, France that designs and markets running shoes. The brand first gained attention in the running industry by producing shoes with oversized outsoles, dubbed "maximalist" shoes due to extra cushion; this was in contrast to the minimalist shoes trend that was gaining popularity at the time of the company's founding in 2009.


title: Hoka One One

text: Hoka produces both low-profile and max-cushion shoes for road, trail, and all-terrain; throughout its product line, Hoka shoes retain features like a low weight-to-cushion ratio and midsole and outsole geometry designed to promote inherent stability and an efficient stride.


title: Hoka One One

text: The company was founded in 2009 in Annecy, France; it has been based in Richmond, California and its corporate headquarters are currently in Goleta, California. The company operates as subsidiary of Deckers Brands. The Brand President is Wendy Yang, who serves as President of the Deckers Performance Lifestyle Group, which includes the brands Teva and Sanuk.


title: Hoka One One

text: The company was founded by Nicolas Mermoud and Jean-Luc Diard, former Salomon employees, in 2009, when they sought to design a shoe that allowed them to run downhill faster, and created a model with an oversized outsole that had more cushion than other running shoes at the time. The shoes are named after the Māori language phrase loosely meaning "fly over the earth".


title: Hoka One One

text: The shoes were initially embraced by ultramarathon runners due to their enhanced cushion and inherent stability; however, they quickly gained popularity among other runners for offering maximum cushion and minimal weight. The brand's original, highest-cushion models are now accompanied in the Hoka lineup by lighter-weight shoes that retain much of the brand's signature cushion, and even lightweight training and racing shoes and track spikes.


title: Hoka One One

text: Hoka was purchased on April 1, 2013 by Deckers Brands, the parent company for UGG, Teva and other footwear brands.


title: Hoka One One

text: The company sponsors a variety of professional runners; its first athletes were primarily trail-ultra runners, but their roster has expanded to include several track & field, triathlon, and road-running athletes.


title: Hoka One One

text: Hoka also has long-term sponsorship deals with the professional training groups Northern Arizona Elite, based in Flagstaff, Arizona; and the California-based Aggies Running Club. Hoka is also the former sponsor of the New Jersey New York Track Club.


title: Ullu

text: Ullu is an Over-The-Top media streaming platform, owned and maintained by Vibhu Agarwal, founder and group CEO of Ullu and Atrangii. It is currently available for Android and iOS.


title: Ullu

text: In February 2020, MX Player collaborated with the Ullu app for Adult shows. After a year, when the government announced intermediary guidelines for OTT platforms in February 2021, MX Player removed all shows of Ullu.


title: Tammi Terrell

text: Tammi Terrell (born Thomasina Winifred Montgomery; April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye.