title: Ali Banat

text: After the diagnosis, he founded the charity ‘Muslims Around the World’, also known as MATW. An interview with Mohamed Hoblos titled "Gifted with Cancer" gave further publicity to his charity. His charity concentrated initially on Togo but spread to other mainly African countries like Burkina Faso, Ghana and Benin. He came to aid needy people in villages, including building of water wells, educational facilities, community development and income generating projects, food aid, in addition to building of schools, orphanages, facilities for widowed women and their children and in building and repairing of mosques.


title: Colleen Farrington

text: Colleen Leigh Violet Farrington (August 5, 1936 – October 12, 2015) was an American model, Playboy Playmate, and nightclub singer. She was the mother of actress Diane Lane.


title: Colleen Farrington

text: Farrington was born in Lordsburg, New Mexico, the daughter of Eleanor Biggs. She started work as a fashion model in New York City and was a particular favorite of fashion designer Oleg Cassini. She also had some acting roles. She was "Playboy" magazine's Playmate of the Month for its October 1957 issue. Her pictorial was photographed by Peter Basch.


title: Colleen Farrington

text: Farrington married acting coach Burton Eugene Lane, and divorced him in 1965, shortly after their daughter, Diane Lane, who went on to become an Academy Award-nominated actress, was born. She later settled in Georgia and married Lawrence Price.


title: Values education

text: Value education is the process by which people give moral values to each other. According to Powney et al. It can be an activity that can take place in "any" human organisation. during which people are assisted by others, who may be older, in a condition experienced to make explicit our ethics in order to assess the effectiveness of these values and associated behaviour for their own and others' long term well-being, and to reflect on and acquire other values and behaviour which they recognise as being more effective for long term well-being of self and others. There is a difference between literacy and education.


title: Values education

text: There has been very little reliable research on the results of values education classes, but there are some encouraging preliminary results.


title: Values education

text: One definition refers to it as the process that gives young people an initiation into values, giving knowledge of the rules needed to function in this mode of relating to other people and to seek the development in the student a grasp of certain underlying principles, together with the ability to apply these rules intelligently, and to have the settled disposition to do so Some researchers use the concept values education as an umbrella of concepts that includes moral education and citizenship education Themes that values education can address to varying degrees are character, moral development, Religious Education, Spiritual development, citizenship education, personal development, social development and cultural development.


title: Values education

text: There is a further distinction between explicit values education and implicit values education where:


title: Values education

text: Another definition of value education is "learning about self and wisdom of life" in a self-exploratory, systematic and scientific way through formal education. According to C.V.Good'value education is the aggregate of all the process by means of which a person develops abilities and other forms of behaviour of the positive values in the society in which he lives.


title: Values education

text: Morals as socio-legal-religious norms are supposed to help people behave responsibly. However, not all morals lead to responsible behaviour. Values education can show which morals are "bad" morals and which are "good". The change in behaviour comes from confusing questions about right and wrong.


title: Values education

text: This project of worldwide proportions inspired by the new religious movement called the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University incorporates twelve values (unity, peace, happiness, hope, humility, simplicity, trust, freedom, co-operation, honesty, courage, love), and has formed the basis of the whole-school ethos approach in schools such as West Kidlington Primary School, Kidlington whose head master Neil Hawkes and Values education coordinators Linda Heppenstall used the work and other programmes to help them form a values-based school. The Living Values Education Programme website lists 54 countries where values education projects are undertaken.


title: Values education

text: The Human Values Foundation was established in 1995 to make available worldwide, a comprehensive values-themed programme for children from 4 to 12 years entitled "Education in Human Values". Its fully resourced lesson plans utilise familiar teaching techniques of discussion, story-telling, quotations, group singing, activities to reinforce learning and times of quiet reflection. Following the success of "EHV", a second programme was published – Social and Emotional Education ("SEE"), primarily for ages 12 to 14+ but it has also proved constructive for older children identified as likely to benefit from help getting their lives 'back on track. The programmes enable children and young people to explore and put into practice a wide spectrum of values with the potential to enrich their lives. Through experiential learning, over time participants develop a well-considered personal morality, all the while gaining invaluable emotional and social skills to help them lead happy, fulfilled, successful lives.


title: Values education

text: Character education is an umbrella term generally used to describe the teaching of children in a manner that will help them develop as personal and social beings. However, this definition requires research to explain what is meant by "personal and social being". Concepts that fall under this term include social and emotional learning, moral reasoning/cognitive development, life skills education, health education; violence prevention, critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and conflict resolution and mediation. Lickona (1996) mentions eleven principles of successful character education. It seems to have been applied in the UK and the United States


title: Values education

text: Science of Living (Jeevan Vigyan; Jeevan = Life and Vigyan = Science) is a detailed program that complements the current educational approach with spiritual and value-based learning. While both mental and physical development is needed for a student's growth, Jeevan Vigyan adds a third pillar – that of emotional intelligence and morality (or values) – to education in schools and colleges. A combination of theory and practice, Jeevan Vigyan draws on the findings of various life sciences as well as nutritional sciences. Our parasympathetic nervous system and endocrinal system are known to be the drivers of our emotions and our behaviour. These biological centres can be influenced the Science of Living through a system of yogic exercises, breathing exercises, meditation and contemplation. Science of Living's source of inspiration is Jain Acharya Ganadhipati Shri Tulsi (1914–1997). His thoughts were further developed and expanded by Acharya Shri Mahapragya (1920–2010). Currently, Muni Shri Kishan Lal Ji, under the leadership of Acharya Shri Mahashraman, is the Principal of SOL.


title: Values education

text: The Australian Government currently funds Values education in its schools, with its own publications and funding of school forums on values education at all levels of education. It also helps in becoming a better person. A conference on "Moral Education and Australian Values" was held in 2007 at Monash University.


title: Values education

text: The Indian Government currently promote Values education in its schools. The Ministry of Human Resource Development has taken a strong step to introduce values among schools and teachers training centres.


title: Values education

text: Elementary school and middle school students from first to ninth grades will be taught the importance of life, to listen to others with different opinions, to be fair, respect their country and learn about foreign cultures.


title: Values education

text: Teacher training institutions in Singapore all have curricular for learning to teach civics and moral education programmes – but students do not take these as seriously as they should due to lack of assessment. The reason has been said to be the lack of innovative teaching approaches such as discourse pedagogy.


title: Values education

text: There is an obligatory school subject that includes the aspect of values education and Citizenship Culture and Ethics. It is taught in 7th or 8th grade of primary school. Besides this, there are two elective subjects that partly deal with values education: Religions and Ethics (for 7th, 8th, and 9th grade) and Philosophy for children (Critical thinking, Ethical exploring, Me and the other; for 7th, 8th, and 9th grade). The Slovenian educational system does not require special training in the field of values education for teachers that teach mentioned subjects.


title: Values education

text: Values education is a part of Swedish schools. Whereas the formal curricula are about educating students to be competent democratic citizens by practising student participation, qualitative studies have shown that in everyday school life, values education and school democracy often appeared to be reduced to traditional disciplining with a high focus on rules and regulations. This in turn evokes some critiques among students. Most research on values education in Sweden is done by qualitative methods, especially ethnographic or field studies as well as a focus group and interview studies. Some studies have been conducted by survey and other quantitative methods. In addition, theoretical work with roots in Dewey and Habermas has been done on deliberative democracy and deliberative conversations in schools.


title: Values education

text: In Thailand, values have traditionally been taught within the context of Buddhist religious education. Since 1982 there has been a revival of applied values as an extracurricular activity suitable for Buddhist, Moslem and Christian students alike to prepare Thai students for the effects of globalization.


title: Values education

text: Since 1988 the British government, although not recognising or calling it values education, has promoted and respected values in the guise of spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSCD) leaving the initiative to individual schools to decide how values education standards should be met. It is not clear whether there are standards of values education.


title: Values education

text: The Government and state school systems have never called it "values education". Values education courses in Britain may be implemented in the form of government-supported campaigns such as Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL, but are more often provided by local experts in the form of Living Values Education Programme.


title: Values education

text: One headteacher in Cornwall has achieved national recognition for his work on character development and "virtues", at Kehelland Village School, based on Baha'i teachings. He was asked to develop the primary section of the University of Birmingham's Character Education pack for use with the national curriculum.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world and one of the richest turf races. The event starts at 3:00 pm on the first Tuesday of November and is known locally as "the race that stops the nation".


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The Melbourne Cup has a long tradition, with the first race held in 1861. It was originally run over but was shortened to in 1972 when Australia adopted the metric system. This reduced the distance by , and Rain Lover's 1968 race record of 3:19.1 was accordingly adjusted to 3:17.9. The present record holder is the 1990 winner Kingston Rule with a time of 3:16.3.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The race is a quality handicap for horses three years old and over, run over a distance of 3200 metres, on the first Tuesday in November at Flemington Racecourse. The minimum handicap weight is 50 kg. There is no maximum weight, but the top allocated weight must not be less than 57 kg. The weight allocated to each horse is declared by the VRC Handicapper in early September.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The Melbourne Cup race is a handicap contest in which the weight of the jockey and riding gear is adjusted with ballast to a nominated figure. Older horses carry more weight than younger ones and weights are adjusted further according to the horse's previous results.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Weights were theoretically calculated to give each horse an equal winning chance in the past, but in recent years the rules were adjusted to a "quality handicap" formula where superior horses are given less severe weight penalties than under pure handicap rules.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: After the declaration of weights for the Melbourne Cup, the winner of any handicap flat race of the advertised value of A$55,000 or over to the winner, or an internationally recognised Listed, Group, or Graded handicap flat race, shall carry such additional weight (if any), for each win, as the VRC Handicapper shall determine.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Entries for the Melbourne Cup usually close during the first week of August. The initial entry fee is $600 per horse. Around 300 to 400 horses are nominated each year, but the final field is limited to 24 starters. Following the allocation of weights, the owner of each horse must on the four occasions before the race in November, declare the horse as an acceptor and pay a fee. First acceptance is $960, second acceptance is $1,450 and third acceptance is $2,420. The final acceptance fee, on the Saturday prior to the race, is $45,375. Should a horse be balloted out of the final field, the final declaration fee is refunded.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The race directors may exclude any horse from the race or exempt any horse from the ballot on the race, but in order to reduce the field to the safety limit of 24, horses are balloted out based on a number of factors which include prize money earned in the previous two years, wins or placings in certain lead-up races and allocated handicap weight


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The limitation of 24 starters is stated explicitly to be for safety reasons. However, in the past far larger numbers were allowed - the largest field ever raced was 39 runners in 1890.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: International horses (except from New Zealand) entering Australia must undergo quarantine in an approved premises in their own country for a minimum period of 14 days before travelling to Australia. As at 3 November 2020, international people must undergo quarantine in an approved premises at their port of entry for a minimum period of 14 days after travelling to Australia. Both premises must meet the Australian Government Standards. The Werribee International Horse Centre at Werribee Racecourse is the Victorian quarantine station for international horses competing in the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. The facility has stabling for up to 24 horses in five separate stable complexes and is located 32 km from the Melbourne CBD.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The total prize money for the 2019 race is A$8,000,000, plus trophies valued at $250,000. The first 12 past the post receive prize money, with the winner being paid $4.4 million, second $1.1 million, third $550,000, fourth $350,000, fifth $230,000, with sixth through to twelfth place earning $160,000. Prize money is distributed to the connections of each horse in the ratio of 85 percent to the owner, 10 percent to the trainer and 5 percent to the jockey.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The 1985 Melbourne Cup, won by "What a Nuisance", was the first race run in Australia with prize money of $1 million.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The Cup currently has a $500,000 bonus for the owner of the winner if it has also won the group one Irish St. Leger run the previous September.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The winner of the first Melbourne Cup in 1861 received a gold watch. The first Melbourne Cup trophy was awarded in 1865 and was an elaborate silver bowl on a stand that had been manufactured in England. This is currently owned by Australian wine personality Wolf Blass and is on display at the Wolf Blass Gallery & Museum/Adelaide Hills Wine Bar in Hahndorf, South Australia. The first existing and un-altered Melbourne Cup is from 1866, presented to the owners of The Barb; as of 2013, it is in the National Museum of Australia. The silver trophy presented in 1867, now also in the National Museum of Australia, was also made in England but jewellers in Victoria complained to the Victorian Racing Club that the trophy should have been made locally. They believed the work of Melburnian, William Edwards, to be superior in both design and workmanship to the English made trophy. No trophy was awarded to the Melbourne Cup winner for the next eight years.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: In 1876 Edward Fischer, an immigrant from Austria produced the first Australian-made trophy. It was an Etruscan shape with two handles. One side depicted a horse race with the grandstand and hill of Flemington in the background. The opposite side had the words "Melbourne Cup, 1876" and the name of the winning horse. A silver-plated base sporting three silver horses was added in 1888, but in 1891 the prize changed to being a , trophy showing a Victory figure offering an olive wreath to a jockey. From 1899 the trophy was in the form of silver galloping horse embossed on a plaque, although it was said to look like a greyhound by some people.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The last Melbourne Cup trophy manufactured in England was made for the 1914 event. It was a chalice centred on a long base which had a horse at each end. The trophy awarded in 1916, the first gold trophy, was a three-legged, three-armed rose bowl. The three-handled loving cup design was first awarded in 1919. In that year the Victorian Racing Club had commissioned James Steeth to design a trophy that would be in keeping with the prestige of the race, little realising that it would become the iconic Melbourne Cup still presented today. In the Second World War years (1942, 1943 and 1944) the winning owner received war bonds valued at 200 pounds.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: A new trophy is struck each year and becomes the property of the winning owner. In the event of a dead heat, a second cup is on hand. The present trophy is hand spun from 1.65 kg of 18-carat gold. The winning trainer and jockey also receive a miniature replica of the cup (since 1973) and the strapper is awarded the Tommy Woodcock Trophy, named after the strapper of Phar Lap.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: In 2003 an annual tour of the Melbourne Cup trophy was initiated to provide communities across Australia and New Zealand with an opportunity to view the Cup trophy and highlight the contribution the Melbourne Cup has made to Australia's social, sporting and racing culture. Each year, communities in Australia and New Zealand apply for the cup to tour their community and the tour also takes in cities around the world as part of the Victoria Racing Club's strategy to promote the Melbourne Cup and the Melbourne Cup Carnival internationally.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The Tour has visited schools and aged-care and hospital facilities, and participated in community events and celebrations including race days across Australia and New Zealand.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Frederick Standish, member of the Victorian Turf Club and steward on the day of the first Cup, was credited with forming the idea to hold a horse race and calling it the "Melbourne Cup".


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Seventeen horses contested the first Melbourne Cup on Thursday 7 November 1861, racing for the modest prize of 710 gold sovereigns (£710) cash and a hand-beaten gold watch, winner takes all. The prize was not, as some have suggested, the largest purse up to that time. A large crowd of 4,000 men and women watched the race, although it has been suggested this was less than expected because of news reaching Melbourne of the death of explorers Burke and Wills five days earlier on 2 November. Nevertheless, the attendance was the largest at Flemington on any day for the past two years, with the exception of the recently run Two Thousand Guinea Stakes.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The winner of this first Melbourne Cup race was a 16.3 hand bay stallion by the name of archer in a time of 3.52.00, ridden by John Cutts, trained by Etienne de Mestre, and leased (and consequently raced in his own name) by de Mestre. As a lessee de Mestre "owned" and was fully responsible for Archer during the lease. Archer was leased from the "Exeter Farm" of Jembaicumbene near Braidwood, New South Wales. His owners were Thomas John "Tom" Roberts (a good school-friend of de Mestre's), Rowland H. Hassall (Roberts' brother-in-law), and Edmund Molyneux Royds and William Edward Royds (Roberts' nephews).


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The inaugural Melbourne Cup of 1861 was an eventful affair when one horse bolted before the start, and three of the seventeen starters fell during the race, two of which died. Archer, a Sydney "outsider" who drew scant favour in the betting, spread-eagled the field and defeated the favourite, and Victorian champion, Mormon by six lengths. Dismissed by the bookies, Archer took a lot of money away from Melbourne, 'refuelling interstate rivalry' and adding to the excitement of the Cup. The next day, Archer was raced in and won another 2-mile long-distance race, the Melbourne Town Plate.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: It has become legend that Archer walked over 800 km (over 500 miles) to Flemington from de Mestre's stable at "Terara" near Nowra, New South Wales. However, newspaper archives of the day reveal that he had travelled south from Sydney to Melbourne on the steamboat "City of Melbourne", together with de Mestre, and two of de Mestre's other horses Exeter and Inheritor. Before being winched aboard the steamboat for the trip to Melbourne, the horses had arrived in Sydney in September 1861.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Archer travelled to Melbourne by steamboat again the following year (1862) to run in the second Melbourne Cup. This time he won 810 gold sovereigns (£810) cash and a gold watch before a crowd of 7,000, nearly twice the size of the previous years large crowd in a time of 3.47.00, taking to two the number of Melbourne Cup wins by this horse. Archer had already won the 1862 AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes in Randwick, Sydney, and returned to win his second Melbourne Cup carrying 10 stone 2 pounds. He defeated a field of twenty starters by eight lengths, a record that has never been beaten, and that was not matched for over 100 years. Mormon again running second. Winning the Melbourne Cup twice was a feat not repeated until more than seventy years later when Peter Pan won the race in 1932 and 1934, and winning the Melbourne Cup two years in a row was a feat not repeated until more than 30 years later when Rain Lover won in 1968 and 1969.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Archer travelled to Melbourne by steamboat yet again the next year (1863). Despite his weight of 11 stone 4 pounds, Archer would have contested the third cup in 1863, but due to a Victorian public holiday trainer Etienne de Mestre's telegraphed acceptance form arrived late, and Archer was scratched on a technicality. In protest of this decision and in a show of solidarity, many of de Mestre's owners boycotted the third race and scratched their horses in sympathy. As a result, the Melbourne Cup of that year ran with only 7 starters, the smallest number in the history of the Cup.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: In 1865, Adam Lindsay Gordon wrote a verse in which the Melbourne Cup winner was called Tim Whiffler. Two years later in 1867 two horses with the name Tim Whiffler ran in the Melbourne Cup. (The year before in 1866 two horses with the same name, Falcon, also ran in the Melbourne Cup.) To distinguish between the two Tim Whifflers they were called "Sydney" Tim Whiffler and "Melbourne" Tim Whiffler. "Sydney" Tim Whiffler actually won the Cup. He was trained by Etienne de Mestre, and like Archer before him raced in de Mestre's name but was leased from the "Exeter Farm".


title: Melbourne Cup

text: As early as 1865, Cup day was a half-holiday in Melbourne for public servants and bank officials. Various businesses also closed at lunchtime.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: It took some years before the purpose of the declared holiday was acknowledged in the Victoria Government Gazette. The Gazette of 31 October 1873 announced that the following Thursday (Cup Day) be observed as a bank and civil (public) service holiday.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: On 7 November 1876, the three-year-old filly, Briseis, owned and trained by James Wilson Snr., won in a time of 3.36.25. Briseis then went on to create a record that is never likely to be equalled, winning the VRC Derby, the Melbourne Cup and the VRC Oaks in the space of six days. She was ridden in the Melbourne Cup by the tiny featherweight figure of jockey Peter St. Albans. In 1876 at the recorded age thirteen (he was actually twelve, being 8 days short of his thirteenth birthday), Peter St. Albans is also the youngest person ever to win a Melbourne Cup. Before 75,000 at Flemington Briseis, with St Albans in the saddle, comfortably won by 1 length in the biggest field of all time. "At 4 o'clock the starter released the 33 runners and they swept down the long Flemington straight in a thundering rush. Briseis, ridden by what one writer termed a mere child, (in the Cup) captured a rare double, the Victoria Race Club Derby and the Melbourne Cup. Shouts and hurrahs were heard, hats were thrown in the air and one excited individual fell on his back in the attempt to do a somersault. The boy who rode the winner was carried around the pack and is the hero of the day," reported the "Australasian Sketcher" in 1876. Both Peter St. Albans and Briseis have now become racing legends, and Briseis is regarded as one of the greatest mares foaled in Australia.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Briseis wasn't the only sensation surrounding the 1876 Melbourne Cup. Two months before the event, on Saturday 9 September, the "City of Melbourne" sailed for Melbourne from Sydney with a cargo including 13 racehorses, many of whom were considered serious contenders for the Melbourne Cup. The following day the ship ran into a savage storm and was hit by several rogue waves, with Nemesis (the winner of the 1876 AJC Metropolitan Handicap in Randwick, Sydney and favourite for the Cup, owned by John Moffat) and Robin Hood (another favourite, owned by Etienne de Mestre) being among the 11 horses that were killed. Betting on the big race was paralysed. To the dismay and anger of the public, bookmakers, showing no feeling, presented a purse (loaded with coins) to the captain as token of their appreciation for his part in saving them many thousands of pounds in bets already laid on the favourites who had perished. Perhaps they should have kept their money, however. The outsider Briseis comfortably won by 1 length in the biggest field of all time and is an extremely good time, so it is unlikely that the horses who perished could have beaten her.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: 1877 is also the year that the trainer Etienne de Mestre won his fourth Melbourne Cup with Chester owned by Hon. James White. In 1878, as in previous years, De Mestre fielded more than one horse. He entered the favourite Firebell (owned by W.S. Cox) who finished last, Chester (owned by Hon. James White) the previous year's winner who fell, and Calamia (owned by de Mestre) who, though less fancied, won easily by two lengths. First prize was £1,790, the crowd was 80,000 and there were 30 starters. De Mestre's 1878 win with Calamia brought to 5 the number of Melbourne Cups he had won. This record was not to be matched for nearly 100 years when the trainer Bart Cummings won his fifth Melbourne Cup in 1975. Bart Cummings, regarded as the best Australian horse trainer of all time, went on to win 12 Melbourne Cups to 2008.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: In 1883, the hardy New Zealand bred, Martini-Henry won the VRC Derby, the Melbourne Cup and on the following Monday retained his undefeated record by winning Mares' Produce Stakes.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Phar Lap, the most famous horse in the world of his day, won the 1930 Melbourne Cup at 11/8 odds on, the shortest-priced favourite in the history of the race. He had to be hidden away at Geelong before the race after an attempt was made to shoot him and only emerged an hour before the race time of the Cup. Phar Lap also competed in 1929 and 1931, but came 3rd and 8th respectively, despite heavy favouritism in both years.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: There are a few legends of the first Aboriginal jockey to ride in a Melbourne Cup. It was believed to be John Cutts who won the first and second cups in 1861 and 1862 riding archer. He was reputedly an Aboriginal stockman born in the area where Archer was trained but was actually John 'Cutts' Dillon, the son of a Sydney clerk, a jockey who rode for many trainers in his long career, and who was one of the best known, best-liked and most respected jockeys in New South Wales. It is thought that Peter St. Albans was the first Aboriginal jockey to win the cup, on Briseis in 1876. Because St. Albans was not quite 13 years old, the jockey was too young to ride in the cup. Thus, to allow him to race Briseis in the Cup, it was argued his birthdate and parents were unknown, and from this, the legend of him being Aboriginal grew. Both these legends, however, can definitely be disproved, and history had to wait nearly another 100 years. The first jockey of Indigenous heritage to ride a Melbourne Cup winner was Frank Reys in 1973 on Gala Supreme, who had a Filipino father and a half-Aboriginal mother.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The race has undergone several alterations in recent years, the most visible being the entry of many foreign-trained horses. Most have failed to cope with the conditions; the three successful "foreign raids" include two by Irish trainer Dermot K. Weld successful in 1993 and 2002, and one in 2006 by Katsumi Yoshida of Japan's renowned Yoshida racing and breeding family. The attraction for foreigners to compete was, primarily, the low-profile change to the new "quality handicap" weighting system.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The 1910 Melbourne Cup was won by Comedy King, the first foreign bred horse to do so. Subsequent foreign bred horses to win Cup were Backwood 1924; Phar Lap 1930; Wotan 1936; Beldale Ball 1980; At Talaq 1986; Kingston Rule 1990; Vintage Crop 1993; Jeune 1994; Media Puzzle 2002; Makybe Diva 2003, 2004, 2005; Americain 2010 and Dunaden 2011.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The 1938 Melbourne Cup was won by trainer Mrs. Allan McDonald, who conditioned Catalogue. Mrs McDonald was a successful trainer in New Zealand, however, at the time women were not allowed to compete as trainers in Australia so her husband's name was officially recorded as the winning trainer. The 2001 edition was won by New Zealand mare Ethereal, trained by Sheila Laxon, the first woman to formally train a Melbourne Cup winner. She also won the Caulfield Cup, a 2,400-metre race also held in Melbourne, and therefore has won the "Cups Double".


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Maree Lyndon became the first female to ride in the Melbourne Cup, when she partnered Argonaut Style in 1987, in which she ran second last in the 21 horse field.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: In 2004, Makybe Diva became the first mare to win two cups, and also the first horse to win with different trainers, after David Hall moved to Hong Kong and transferred her to the Lee Freedman stables.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The 2005 Melbourne Cup was held before a crowd of 106,479. Makybe Diva made history by becoming the only horse to win the race three times. Trainer Lee Freedman said after the race, "Go and find the youngest child on the course because that's the only person here who will have a chance of seeing this happen again in their lifetime."


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Due to the 2007 Australian equine influenza outbreak, believed to have been started by a horse brought into Australia from Japan, neither Delta Blues nor Pop Rock participated in the 2007 Melbourne Cup. Both horses had been stabled in Japan. Corowa, NSW trained "Leica Falcon" also was not be permitted to race in Victoria, despite Corowa being close to the Victorian border. Leica Falcon was ordained as the new staying star of Australian racing in 2005 when he ran fourth in both the Caulfield Cup and in Makybe Diva's famous third Melbourne Cup victory. But serious leg injuries saw the horse not race for another 20 months. Efficient, the previous year's VRC Derby winner, won the race.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: In 2013, Damien Oliver returned from an eight-month ban, after betting against his own mount at a previous race meet, to win his 3rd Melbourne cup.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The 2019 Melbourne Cup was overshadowed by recent news of the ill-treatment of horses in the Australian racing industry, and by the pulling out of celebrities including Taylor Swift, Megan Gale, and X-Men actress Lana Condor.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: In 2016 ABC Bullion, a Pallion company, was awarded the rights to make the Melbourne Cup. The winning trophy contains 1.65 kg of 18ct Gold estimated at over $200,000. The cup is produced by W.J. Sanders a sister division within Pallion and takes over 250 hours to produce. W.j. Sanders has produced each Melbourne Cup from 2016 to present.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Melbourne Cup day is a public holiday for all working within metropolitan Melbourne and some parts of regional Victoria, but not for some country Victorian cities and towns which hold their own spring carnivals. For federal public servants it is also observed as a holiday in the entire state of Victoria, and from 2007 to 2009 also in the Australian Capital Territory known as Family and Community Day replacing Picnic Day. The Melbourne cup captures the public's imagination to the extent that people, whether at work, home, school, or out and about, usually stop to watch or listen to the race. Many people from outside of Melbourne take a half or full day off work to celebrate the occasion. Many people feel that the day should be a national public holiday as sick leave is said to increase on the day and productivity wanes.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: As early as 1865, Cup Day was a half-holiday in Melbourne for public servants and bank officials. Various businesses also closed at lunchtime.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: It took some years before the purpose of the declared holiday was acknowledged in the Victoria Government Gazette. The Gazette of 31 October 1873 announced that the following Thursday (Cup Day) be observed as a bank and civil (public) service holiday.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The event is one of the most popular spectator events in Australia, with sometimes over 110,000 people, some dressed in traditional formal raceday wear and others in all manner of exotic and amusing costumes, attending the race. The record crowd was 122,736 in 2003. The 1926 running of the Cup was the first time the 100,000 mark had been passed. Today the record at Flemington is held by the 2006 Victoria Derby when almost 130,000 attended.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: In 2007, a limit was placed on the Spring Carnival attendance at Flemington Racecourse and race-goers are now required to pre-purchase tickets. Every year more and more people travel to Flemington Racecourse, in 2016 there was a 7.8 per cent increase in the number of out-of-state individuals (80,472) attending the Melbourne Cup Carnival;


title: Melbourne Cup

text: The popularity of the Melbourne Cup has been declining in recent years; every Melbourne Cup after 2015 since has seen a decline in attendance, with the 2019 Melbourne Cup's crowd of 81,408 the race's smallest in decades.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: 'Fashions on the Field' is a major focus of the day, with substantial prizes awarded for the best-dressed man and woman. The requirement for elegant hats, and more recently the alternative of a fascinator, almost single-handedly keeps Melbourne's milliners in business. Raceday fashion has occasionally drawn almost as much attention as the race itself, The miniskirt received worldwide publicity when model Jean Shrimpton wore a white shift version of one on Derby Day during Melbourne Cup week in 1965.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: Flowers, especially roses are an important component of the week's racing at Flemington. The racecourse has around 12,000 roses within its large expanse. Over 200 varieties of the fragrant flower are nurtured by a team of up to 12 gardeners. Each of the major racedays at Flemington has an official flower. Victoria Derby Day has the Corn Flower, Melbourne Cup Day is for the Yellow Rose, Oaks Day highlights the Pink Rose and Stakes Day goes to the Red Rose.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: In the Melbourne metropolitan area, the race day has been a gazetted public holiday since 1877, but around both Australia and New Zealand a majority of people watch the race on television and gamble, either through direct betting or participating in workplace cup "sweeps". In 2000, a betting agency claimed that 80 percent of the adult Australian population placed a bet on the race that year. In 2010 it was predicted that $183 million would be spent by 83,000 tourists during the Spring Racing Carnival. In New Zealand, the Melbourne Cup is the country's single biggest betting event, with carnival race-days held at several of the country's top tracks showing the cup live on big screens.


title: Melbourne Cup

text: It is commonly billed as "The race that stops a nation", but it is more accurately "The race that stops two nations", as many people in New Zealand, as well as Australia, pause to watch the race.


title: Allan Mustafa

text: Allan "Seapa" Mustafa (born 29 September 1985) is a BAFTA-winning actor, comedian and writer who is best known for portraying Anthony "MC Grindah" Zografos in the BBC mockumentary series "People Just Do Nothing", which he co-created with Asim Chaudhry.


title: Allan Mustafa

text: Mustafa grew up in the town of Chessington and worked at Chessington World of Adventures in his teenage years. He was arrested in London at 14 for graffiti.


title: Allan Mustafa

text: At university, Mustafa met Hugo Chegwin, Steve Stamp and Asim Chaudhry, with whom he created YouTube mockumentary videos about a fictional pirate radio station. This led to the group being commissioned for "People Just Do Nothing", a BBC mockumentary about West London pirate radio station Kurupt FM. The pilot aired on BBC iPlayer in July 2012. The show ran for five series, winning a BAFTA and a Royal Television Society Award. In 2019, production began on a feature length adaptation of the series called "". The film was positively received by both fans and critics.


title: Allan Mustafa

text: Mustafa appeared in the 2020 Netflix film "Love Wedding Repeat" as Chaz, the boyfriend of Freida Pinto’s character Amanda.


title: Allan Mustafa

text: Mustafa starred for two series of the BBC Radio 4 sitcom "Ability" as the "useless carer" Bob, for the character played by comedian Lee Ridley, who also wrote the series.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Auriga is a constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is one of the 88 modern constellations; it was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy. Its name is Latin for '(the) charioteer', associating it with various mythological beings, including Erichthonius and Myrtilus. Auriga is most prominent during winter evenings in the northern Hemisphere, as are five other constellations that have stars in the Winter Hexagon asterism. Because of its northern declination, Auriga is only visible in its entirety as far south as -34°; for observers farther south it lies partially or fully below the horizon. A large constellation, with an area of 657 square degrees, it is half the size of the largest, Hydra.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Its brightest star, Capella, is an unusual multiple star system among the brightest stars in the night sky. Beta Aurigae is an interesting variable star in the constellation; Epsilon Aurigae, a nearby eclipsing binary with an unusually long period, has been studied intensively. Because of its position near the winter Milky Way, Auriga has many bright open clusters in its borders, including M36, M37, and M38, popular targets for amateur astronomers. In addition, it has one prominent nebula, the Flaming Star Nebula, associated with the variable star AE Aurigae.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: In Chinese mythology, Auriga's stars were incorporated into several constellations, including the celestial emperors' chariots, made up of the modern constellation's brightest stars. Auriga is home to the radiant for the Aurigids, Zeta Aurigids, Delta Aurigids, and the hypothesized Iota Aurigids.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: The first record of Auriga's stars was in Mesopotamia as a constellation called GAM, representing a scimitar or crook. However, this may have represented just Capella (Alpha Aurigae) or the modern constellation as a whole; this figure was alternatively called Gamlum or MUL.GAM in the MUL.APIN. The crook of Auriga stood for a goat-herd or shepherd. It was formed from most of the stars of the modern constellation; all of the bright stars were included except for Elnath, traditionally assigned to both Taurus and Auriga. Later, Bedouin astronomers created constellations that were groups of animals, where each star represented one animal. The stars of Auriga comprised a herd of goats, an association also present in Greek mythology. The association with goats carried into the Greek astronomical tradition, though it later became associated with a charioteer along with the shepherd.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: In Greek mythology, Auriga is often identified as the mythological Greek hero Erichthonius of Athens, the chthonic son of Hephaestus who was raised by the goddess Athena. Erichthonius was generally credited to be the inventor of the quadriga, the four-horse chariot, which he used in the battle against the usurper Amphictyon, the event that made Erichthonius the king of Athens. His chariot was created in the image of the Sun's chariot, the reason Zeus placed him in the heavens. The Athenian hero then dedicated himself to Athena and, soon after, Zeus raised him into the night sky in honor of his ingenuity and heroic deeds.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Auriga, however, is sometimes described as Myrtilus, who was Hermes's son and the charioteer of Oenomaus. The association of Auriga and Myrtilus is supported by depictions of the constellation, which rarely show a chariot. Myrtilus's chariot was destroyed in a race intended for suitors to win the heart of Oenomaus's daughter Hippodamia. Myrtilus earned his position in the sky when Hippodamia's successful suitor, Pelops, killed him, despite his complicity in helping Pelops win her hand. After his death, Myrtilus's father Hermes placed him in the sky. Yet another mythological association of Auriga is Theseus's son Hippolytus. He was ejected from Athens after he refused the romantic advances of his stepmother Phaedra, who committed suicide as a result. He was killed when his chariot was wrecked, but revived by Asclepius.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Auriga is also said to represent Phaethon, son of the sun Helios, who tricked his father into letting him drive his chariot for a day. Phaethon crashed and burned, scorching the earth. He was then placed in the night sky as the Auriga. Regardless of Auriga's specific representation, it is likely that the constellation was created by the ancient Greeks to commemorate the importance of the chariot in their society.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: An incidental appearance of Auriga in Greek mythology is as the limbs of Medea's brother. In the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, as they journeyed home, Medea killed her brother and dismembered him, flinging the parts of his body into the sea, represented by the Milky Way. Each individual star represents a different limb.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Capella is associated with the mythological she-goat Amalthea, who breast-fed the infant Zeus. It forms an asterism with the stars Epsilon Aurigae, Zeta Aurigae, and Eta Aurigae, the latter two of which are known as the "Haedi" (the Kids). Though most often associated with Amalthea, Capella has sometimes been associated with Amalthea's owner, a nymph. The myth of the nymph says that the goat's hideous appearance, resembling a Gorgon, was partially responsible for the Titans' defeat, because Zeus skinned the goat and wore it as his aegis. The asterism containing the goat and kids had been a separate constellation; however, Ptolemy merged the Charioteer and the Goats in the 2nd-century Almagest. Before that, Capella was sometimes seen as its own constellation—by Pliny the Elder and Manilius—called "Capra", "Caper", or "Hircus", all of which relate to its status as the "goat star". Zeta Aurigae and Eta Aurigae were first called the "Kids" by Cleostratus, an ancient Greek astronomer.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Traditionally, illustrations of Auriga represent it as a chariot and its driver. The charioteer holds a goat over his left shoulder and has two kids under his left arm; he holds the reins to the chariot in his right hand. However, depictions of Auriga have been inconsistent over the years. The reins in his right hand have also been drawn as a whip, though Capella is almost always over his left shoulder and the Kids under his left arm. The 1488 atlas "Hyginus" deviated from this typical depiction by showing a four-wheeled cart driven by Auriga, who holds the reins of two oxen, a horse, and a zebra. Jacob Micyllus depicted Auriga in his "Hyginus" of 1535 as a charioteer with a two-wheeled cart, powered by two horses and two oxen. Arabic and Turkish depictions of Auriga varied wildly from those of the European Renaissance; one Turkish atlas depicted the stars of Auriga as a mule, called "Mulus clitellatus" by Johann Bayer. One unusual representation of Auriga, from 17th-century France, showed Auriga as Adam kneeling on the Milky Way, with a goat wrapped around his shoulders.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Occasionally, Auriga is seen not as the Charioteer but as Bellerophon, the mortal rider of Pegasus who dared to approach Mount Olympus. In this version of the tale, Jupiter pitied Bellerophon for his foolishness and placed him in the stars.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Oxford research finds it likely the group was equally named Agitator in about the 15th century and provides a quotation as late as 1623, from a Gerard de Malynes multi-topic work. Some of the stars of Auriga were incorporated into a now-defunct constellation called Telescopium Herschelii. This constellation was introduced by Maximilian Hell to honor William Herschel's discovery of Uranus. Originally, it included two constellations, Tubus Hershelii Major ', in Gemini, Lynx, and Auriga, and Tubus Hershelii Minor ' in Orion and Taurus; both represented Herschel's telescopes. Johann Bode combined Hell's constellations into Telescopium Herschelii in 1801, located mostly in Auriga.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Since the time of Ptolemy, Auriga has remained a constellation and is officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union, although like all modern constellations, it is now defined as a specific region of the sky that includes both the ancient pattern and the surrounding stars. In 1922, the IAU designated its recommended three-letter abbreviation, "Aur". The official boundaries of Auriga were created in 1930 by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte as a polygon of 20 segments. Its right ascension is between 4 37.5 and 7 30.5 and its declination is between 27.9° and 56.2° in the equatorial coordinate system.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: The stars of Auriga were incorporated into several Chinese constellations. "Wuche", the five chariots of the celestial emperors and the representation of the grain harvest, was a constellation formed by Alpha Aurigae, Beta Aurigae, Beta Tauri, Theta Aurigae, and Iota Aurigae. "Sanzhu" or "Zhu" was one of three constellations which represented poles for horses to be tethered. They were formed by the triplets of Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta Aurigae; Nu, Tau, and Upsilon Aurigae; and Chi and 26 Aurigae, with one other undetermined star. "Xianchi", the pond where the sun set and "Tianhuang", a pond, bridge, or pier, were other constellations in Auriga, though the stars that composed them are undetermined. "Zuoqi", representing chairs for the emperor and other officials, was made up of nine stars in the east of the constellation. "Bagu", a constellation mostly formed from stars in Camelopardalis representing different types of crops, included the northern stars of Delta and Xi Aurigae.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: In ancient Hindu astronomy, Capella represented the heart of Brahma and was important religiously. Ancient Peruvian peoples saw Capella, called "Colca", as a star intimately connected to the affairs of shepherds.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: In Brazil, the Bororo people incorporate the stars of Auriga into a massive constellation representing a caiman; its southern stars represent the end of the animal's tail. The eastern portion of Taurus is the rest of the tail, while Orion is its body and Lepus is the head. This constellation arose because of the prominence of caymans in daily Amazonian life. There is evidence that Capella was significant to the Aztec people, as the Late Classic site Monte Albán has a marker for the star's heliacal rising. Indigenous peoples of California and Nevada also noticed the bright pattern of Auriga's stars. To them, the constellation's bright stars formed a curve that was represented in crescent-shaped petroglyphs. The indigenous Pawnee of North America recognized a constellation with the same major stars as modern Auriga: Alpha, Beta, Gamma (Beta Tauri), Theta, and Iota Aurigae.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: The people of the Marshall Islands featured Auriga in the myth of Dümur, which tells the story of the creation of the sky. Antares in Scorpius represents Dümur, the oldest son of the stars' mother, and the Pleiades represent her youngest son. The mother of the stars, Ligedaner, is represented by Capella; she lived on the island of Alinablab. She told her sons that the first to reach an eastern island would become the King of the Stars, and asked Dümur to let her come in his canoe. He refused, as did each of her sons in turn, except for Pleiades. Pleiades won the race with the help of Ligedaner, and became the King of the Stars. Elsewhere in the central Caroline Islands, Capella was called "Jefegen uun" (variations include "efang alul", "evang-el-ul", and "iefangel uul"), meaning "north of Aldebaran". Different names were noted for Auriga and Capella in Eastern Pacific societies. On Pukapuka, the figure of modern Auriga was called "Te Wale-o-Tutakaiolo" ("The house of Tutakaiolo"); in the Society Islands, it was called "Faa-nui" ("Great Valley"). Capella itself was called "Tahi-anii" ("Unique Sovereign") in the Societies. "Hoku-lei" was the name for Capella but may have been the name for the whole constellation; the name means "Star-wreath" and refers to one of the wives of the Pleiades, called "Makalii".


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: The stars of Auriga feature in Inuit constellations. Quturjuuk, meaning "collar-bones", was a constellation that included Capella (Alpha Aurigae), Menkalinan (Beta Aurigae), Pollux (Beta Geminorum), and Castor (Alpha Geminorum). Its rising signalled that the constellation Aagjuuk, made up of Altair (Alpha Aquilae), Tarazed (Gamma Aquilae), and sometimes Alshain (Beta Aquilae), would rise soon. Aagjuuk, which represented the dawn following the winter solstice, was an incredibly important constellation in the Inuit mythos. It was also used for navigation and time-keeping at night.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Alpha Aurigae (Capella), the brightest star in Auriga, is a G8III class star (G-type giant) 43 light-years away and the sixth-brightest star in the night sky at magnitude 0.08. Its traditional name is a reference to its mythological position as Amalthea; it is sometimes called the "Goat Star". Capella's names all point to this mythology. In Arabic, Capella was called "al-'Ayyuq", meaning "the goat", and in Sumerian, it was called mul.ÁŠ.KAR, "the goat star". On Ontong Java, Capella was called "ngahalapolu". Capella is a spectroscopic binary with a period of 104 days; the components are both yellow giants, more specifically, the primary is a G-type star and the secondary is between a G-type and F-type star in its evolution. The secondary is formally classified as a G0III class star (G-type giant). The primary has a radius of 11.87 solar radii () and a mass of 2.47 solar masses (); the secondary has a radius of and a mass of . The two components are separated by 110 million kilometers, almost 75% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The star's status as a binary was discovered in 1899 at the Lick Observatory; its period was determined in 1919 by J.A. Anderson at the 100-inch Mt. Wilson Observatory telescope. It appears with a golden-yellow hue, though Ptolemy and Giovanni Battista Riccioli both described its color as red, a phenomenon attributed not to a change in Capella's color but to the idiosyncrasies of their color sensitivities. Capella has an absolute magnitude of 0.3 and a luminosity of 160 times the luminosity of the Sun, or (the primary is and the secondary is ). It may be loosely associated with the Hyades, an open cluster in Taurus, because of their similar proper motion. Capella has one more companion, Capella H, which is a pair of red dwarf stars located 11,000 astronomical units (0.17 light-years) from the main pair.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Beta Aurigae (Menkalinan, Menkarlina) is a bright A2IV class star (A-type subgiant). Its Arabic name comes from the phrase "mankib dhu al-'inan", meaning "shoulder of the charioteer" and is a reference to Beta Aurigae's location in the constellation. Menkalinan is 81 light-years away and has a magnitude of 1.90. Like Epsilon Aurigae, it is an eclipsing binary star that varies in magnitude by 0.1. The two components are blue-white stars that have a period of 3.96 days. Its double nature was revealed spectroscopically in 1890 by Antonia Maury, making it the second spectroscopic binary discovered, and its variable nature was discovered photometrically 20 years later by Joel Stebbins. Menkalinan has an absolute magnitude of 0.6 and a luminosity of . The component of its motion in the direction of Earth is per second. Beta Aurigae may be associated with a stream of about 70 stars including Delta Leonis and Alpha Ophiuchi; the proper motion of this group is comparable to that of the Ursa Major Moving Group, though the connection is only hypothesized. Besides its close eclipsing companion, Menkalinan has two other stars associated with it. One is an unrelated optical companion, discovered in 1783 by William Herschel; it has a magnitude of 10.5 and has a separation of 184 arcseconds. The other is likely associated gravitationally with the primary, as determined by their common proper motion. This 14th-magnitude star was discovered in 1901 by Edward Emerson Barnard. It has a separation of 12.6 arcseconds, and is around 350 astronomical units from the primary.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Besides particularly bright stars of Alpha and Beta Aurigae, Auriga has many dimmer naked-eye visible stars.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Gamma Aurigae, now known under its once co-name Beta Tauri (El Nath, Alnath) is a B7III class star (B-type giant). At about +1.65 it would rank a clear third in apparent magnitude if still co-placed in Auriga. It is a mercury-manganese star, with some large signatures of heavy elements.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Iota Aurigae, also called Hasseleh and Kabdhilinan, is a K3II class star (K-type bright giant) of magnitude 2.69; it is about 494 light-years away from Earth. It evolved from a B-type star to K-type over the estimated 30–45 million years since its birth. It has an absolute magnitude of −2.3 and a luminosity of . It is classed as a particularly luminous bright giant but its light is in part "extinguished" (blocked) by intra-galactic dust clouds — astronomers estimate by these it appears 0.6 magnitudes fainter. It is also a hybrid star, an x-ray producing giant star that emits x-rays from its corona and has a cool stellar wind. Though its proper motion is just 0.02 arcseconds per year, it has a radial velocity of per second in recession. The traditional name Kabdhilinan, sometimes shortened to "Alkab", comes from the Arabic phrase "al-kab dh'il inan", meaning "shoulder of the rein holder". Iota may end as a supernova, but because it is close to the mass limit for such stars, it may instead become a white dwarf.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Delta Aurigae, the northernmost bright star in Auriga, is a K0III-type star (K-type giant), 126 light-years from Earth and approximately 1.3 billion years old. It has a magnitude of 3.72, an absolute magnitude of 0.2, and a luminosity of . About 12 times the radius of the Sun, Delta weighs only two solar masses and rotates with a period of almost one year. Though it is often listed as a single star, it actually has three very widely spaced optical companions. One is a double star of magnitude 11, two arcminutes apart; the other is a star of magnitude 10, three arcminutes apart.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Lambda Aurigae (Al Hurr) is a G1.5IV-V-type star (G-type star intermediate between a subgiant and main-sequence star) of magnitude 4.71. It has an absolute magnitude of 4.4 and is 41 light-years from Earth. It has very weak emissions in the infrared spectrum, like Epsilon Aurigae. In photometric observations of Epsilon, an unusual variable, Lambda is commonly used as a comparison star. It is reaching the end of its hydrogen-fusing lifespan at an age of 6.2 billion years. It also has an unusually high radial velocity at 83 km/second. Though older than the Sun, it is similar in many ways; its mass is 1.07 solar masses, a radius of 1.3 solar radii, and a rotational period of 26 days. However, it differs from the Sun in its metallicity; its iron content is 1.15 times that of the Sun and it has relatively less nitrogen and carbon. Like Delta, it has several optical companions and is often categorized as a single star. The brightest companions are of magnitude 10, separated by 175 and 203 arcseconds. The dimmer companions are of magnitude 13 and 14, 87 and 310 arcseconds from Lambda, respectively.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Nu Aurigae is a G9.5III (G-type giant) star of magnitude 3.97, 230 light-years from Earth. It has a luminosity of and an absolute magnitude of 0.2. Nu is a giant star with a radius of 20–21 solar radii and a mass of approximately 3 solar masses. It may technically be a binary star; its companion, sometimes listed as optical and separated by 56 arcseconds, is a dwarf star of spectral type K6 and magnitude 11.4. Its period is more than 120,000 years and it orbits at least 3,700 AU from the primary.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: The most prominent variable star in Auriga is Epsilon Aurigae (Al Maz, Almaaz), an F0 class eclipsing binary star with an unusually long period of 27 years; its last minima occurred in 1982–1984 and 2009–2011. The distance to the system is disputed, variously cited as 4600 and 2,170 light-years. The primary is a white supergiant, and the secondary may be itself a binary star within a large dusty disk. Its maximum magnitude is 3.0, but it stays at a minimum magnitude of 3.8 for around a year; its most recent eclipse began in 2009. The primary has an absolute magnitude of −8.5 and an unusually high luminosity of , the reason it appears so bright at such a great distance. Epsilon Aurigae is the longest-period eclipsing binary currently known. The first observed eclipse of Epsilon Aurigae occurred in 1821, though its variable status was not confirmed until the eclipse of 1847–48. From that time forward, many theories were put forth as to the nature of the eclipsing component. Epsilon Aurigae has a noneclipsing component, which is visible as a 14th magnitude companion separated from the primary by 28.6 arcseconds. It was discovered by Sherburne Wesley Burnham in 1891 at the Dearborn Observatory, and is about 0.5 light-years from the primary.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Another eclipsing binary in Auriga, part of the "Haedi" asterism with Eta Aurigae, is Zeta Aurigae (Sadatoni), an eclipsing binary star at a distance of 776 light-years with a period of 2 years and 8 months. It has an absolute magnitude of −2.3. The primary is an orange-hued K5II-type star (K-type bright giant) and the secondary is a smaller blue star similar to Regulus; its period is 972 days. The secondary is a B7V-type star, a B-type main-sequence star. Zeta Aurigae's maximum magnitude is 3.7 and its minimum magnitude is 4.0. The full eclipse of the small blue star by the orange giant lasts 38 days, with two partial phases of 32 days at the beginning and end. The primary has a diameter of 150 D and a luminosity of ; the secondary has a diameter of 4 D and a luminosity of . Zeta Aurigae was spectroscopically determined to be a double star by Antonia Maury in 1897 and was confirmed as a binary star in 1908 by William Wallace Campbell. The two stars orbit each other about apart. Zeta Aurigae is moving away from Earth at a rate of per second. The second of the two "Haedi" or "Kids" is Eta Aurigae, a B3 class star located 243 light-years from Earth with a magnitude of 3.17. It is a B3V class star, meaning that it is a blue-white hued main-sequence star. Eta Aurigae has an absolute magnitude of −1.7 and a luminosity of . Eta Aurigae is moving away from Earth at a rate of per second.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: T Aurigae (Nova Aurigae 1891) was a nova discovered at magnitude 5.0 on January 23, 1892, by Thomas David Anderson. It became visible to the naked eye by December 10, 1891, as shown on photographic plates examined after the nova's discovery. It then brightened by a factor of 2.5 from December 11 to December 20, when it reached a maximum magnitude of 4.4. T Aurigae faded slowly in January and February 1892, then faded quickly during March and April, reaching a magnitude of 15 in late April. However, its brightness began to increase in August, reaching magnitude 9.5, where it stayed until 1895. Over the subsequent two years, its brightness decreased to 11.5, and by 1903, it was approximately 14th magnitude. By 1925, it had reached its current magnitude of 15.5. When the nova was discovered, its spectrum showed material moving at a high speed towards Earth. However, when the spectrum was examined again in August 1892, it appeared to be a planetary nebula. Observations at the Lick Observatory by Edward Emerson Barnard showed it to be disc-shaped, with clear nebulosity in a diameter of 3 arcseconds. The shell had a diameter of 12 arcseconds in 1943. T Aurigae is classified as a slow nova, similar to DQ Herculis. Like DQ Herculis, WZ Sagittae, Nova Persei 1901 and Nova Aquilae 1918, it is a very close binary with a very short period. T Aurigae's period of 4.905 hours is comparable to DQ Herculis's period of 4.65 hours, and it has a partial eclipse period of 40 minutes.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: There are many other variable stars of different types in Auriga. ψ Aurigae (Dolones) is an orange-hued supergiant, which ranges between magnitudes 4.8 and 5.7, though not with a regular period. It has a spectral class of K5Iab, an average magnitude of 4.91, and an absolute magnitude of −5.7. Dolones is 3,976 light-years from Earth. RT Aurigae is a Cepheid variable which ranges between magnitudes 5.0 and 5.8 over a period of 3.7 days. A yellow-white supergiant, it lies at a distance of 1,600 light-years. It was discovered to be variable by English amateur T.H. Astbury in 1905. It has a spectral class of F81bv, meaning that it is an F-type supergiant star. RX Aurigae is a Cepheid variable as well; it varies in magnitude from a minimum of 8.0 to a maximum of 7.3; its spectral class is G0Iabv. It has a period of 11.62 days. RW Aurigae is the prototype of its class of irregular variable stars. Its variability was discovered in 1906 by Lydia Ceraski at the Moscow Observatory. RW Aurigae's spectrum indicates a turbulent stellar atmosphere, and has prominent emission lines of calcium and hydrogen. Its spectral type is G5V:e. SS Aurigae is an SS Cygni-type variable star, classified as an explosive dwarf. Discovered by Emil Silbernagel in 1907, it is almost always at its minimum magnitude of 15, but brightens to a maximum up to 60 times brighter than the minimum an average of every 55 days, though the period can range from 50 days to more than 100 days. It takes about 24 hours for the star to go from its minimum to maximum magnitude. SS Aurigae is a very close binary star with a period of 4 hours and 20 minutes. Both components are small subdwarf stars; there has been dispute in the scientific community about which star originates the outbursts. UU Aurigae is a variable red giant star at a distance of 2,000 light-years. It has a period of approximately 234 days and ranges between magnitudes 5.0 and 7.0.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: AE Aurigae is a blue-hued main-sequence variable star. It is normally of magnitude 6.0, but its magnitude varies irregularly. AE Aurigae is associated with the 9-light-year-wide Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405), which it illuminates. However, AE Aurigae likely entered the nebula only recently, as determined through the discrepancy between the radial velocities of the star and the nebula, per second and per second, respectively. It has been hypothesized that AE Aurigae is a "runaway star" from the young cluster in the Orion Nebula, leaving the cluster approximately 2.7 million years ago. It is similar to 53 Arietis and Mu Columbae, other runaway stars from the Orion cluster. Its spectral class is O9.5Ve, meaning that it is an O-type main-sequence star. The Flaming Star Nebula, is located near IC 410 in the celestial sphere. IC 410 obtained its name from its appearance in long exposure astrophotographs; it has extensive filaments that make AE Aurigae appear to be on fire.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: There are four Mira variable stars in Auriga: R Aurigae, UV Aurigae, U Aurigae, and X Aurigae, all of which are type M stars. More specifically, R Aurigae is of type M7III, UV Aurigae is of type C6 (a carbon star), U Aurigae is of type M9, and X Aurigae is of type K2. R Aurigae, with a period of 457.5 days, ranges in magnitude from a minimum of 13.9 to a maximum of 6.7. UV Aurigae, with a period of 394.4 days, ranges in magnitude from a minimum of 10.6 to a maximum of 7.4. U Aurigae, with a period of 408.1 days, ranges in magnitude from a minimum of 13.5 to a maximum of 7.5. X Aurigae, with a particularly short period of 163.8 days, ranges in magnitude from a minimum of 13.6 to a maximum of 8.0.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Auriga is home to several less prominent binary and double stars. Theta Aurigae (Bogardus, Mahasim) is a blue-white A0p class binary star of magnitude 2.62 with a luminosity of . It has an absolute magnitude of 0.1 and is 165 light-years from Earth. The secondary is a yellow star of magnitude 7.1, which requires a telescope of in aperture to resolve; the two stars are separated by 3.6 arcseconds. It is the eastern vertex of the constellation's pentagon. Theta Aurigae is moving away from Earth at a rate of per second. Theta Aurigae additionally has a second optical companion, discovered by Otto Wilhelm von Struve in 1852. The separation was at 52 arcseconds in 1978 and has been increasing since then because of the proper motion of Theta Aurigae, 0.1 arcseconds per year. The separation of this magnitude 9.2 component was 2.2 arcminutes (130.7 arcseconds) in 2007 with an angle of 350°. 4 Aurigae is a double star at a distance of 159 light-years. The primary is of magnitude 5.0 and the secondary is of magnitude 8.1. 14 Aurigae is a white optical binary star. The primary is of magnitude 5.0 and is at a distance of 270 light-years; the secondary is of magnitude 7.9 and is at a distance of 82 light-years. HD 30453 is spectroscopic binary of magnitude 5.9, with a spectral type assessed as either A8m or F0m, and a period of seven days.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: There are several stars with confirmed planetary systems in Auriga; there is also a white dwarf with a suspected planetary system. HD 40979 has one planet, HD 40979 b. It was discovered in 2002 through radial velocity measurements on the parent star. HD 40979 is 33.3 parsecs from Earth, a spectral class F8V star of magnitude 6.74 — just past the limit of visibility to the naked eye. It is of similar size to the Sun, at 1.1 solar masses and 1.21 solar radii. The planet, with a mass of 3.83 Jupiter masses, orbits with a semi-major axis of 0.83 AU and a period of 263.1 days. HD 45350 has one planet as well. HD 45350 b was discovered through radial velocity measurements in 2004. It has a mass of 1.79 Jupiter masses and orbits every 890.76 days at a distance of 1.92 AU. Its parent star is faint, at an apparent magnitude of 7.88, a G5IV type star 49 parsecs away. It has a mass of 1.02 solar masses and a radius of 1.27 solar radii. HD 43691 b is a significantly larger planet, with a mass of 2.49 Jupiter masses; it is also far closer to its parent star, HD 43691. Discovered in 2007 from radial velocity measurements,


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: it orbits at a distance of 0.24 AU with a period of 36.96 days. HD 43691 has a radius identical to the Sun's, though it is more dense—its mass is 1.38 solar masses. It is a G0IV type star of magnitude 8.03, 93.2 parsecs from Earth.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: HD 49674 is a star in Auriga with one planet orbiting it. This G3V type star is faint, at magnitude 8.1, and fairly distant, at 40.7 parsecs from Earth. Like the other stars, it is similar in size to the Sun, with a mass of 1.07 solar masses and a radius of 0.94 solar radii. Its planet, HD 49674 b, is a smaller planet, at 0.115 Jupiter masses. It orbits very close to its star, at 0.058 AU, every 4.94 days. HD 49674 b was discovered by radial velocity observations in 2002. HAT-P-9 b is the first transiting exoplanet confirmed in Auriga, orbiting the star HAT-P-9. Unlike the other exoplanets in Auriga, detected by radial velocity measurements, HAT-P-9 b was detected using the transit method in 2008. It has a mass of 0.67 Jupiter masses and orbits just 0.053 AU from its parent star, with a period of 3.92 days; its radius is 1.4 Jupiter radii, making it a hot Jupiter. Its parent star, HAT-P-9, is an F-type star approximately 480 parsecs from Earth. It has a mass of 1.28 solar masses and a radius of 1.32 solar radii.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: The star KELT-2A (HD 42176A) is the brightest star in Auriga known to host a transiting exoplanet, KELT-2Ab, and is the fifth-brightest transit hosting star overall. The brightness of the star KELT-2A allows the mass and radius of the planet KELT-2Ab to be known quite precisely. KELT-2Ab is 1.524 Jupiter masses and 1.290 Jupiter radii and on a 4.11-day-long orbit, making it another hot Jupiter, similar to HAT-P-9b. The star KELT-2A is a late F-dwarf and is one member of the common-proper-motion binary star system KELT-2. KELT-2B is an early K-dwarf about 295 AU away, and was discovered the same time as the exoplanet.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Auriga has the galactic anticenter, about 3.5° to the east of Beta Aurigae. This is the point on the celestial sphere opposite the Galactic Center; it is the edge of the galactic plane roughly nearest to the solar system. Ignoring nearby bright stars in the foreground this is a smaller and less luminous part of the Milky Way than looking towards the rest of its arms or central bar and has dust bands of the outer spiral arms. Auriga has many open clusters and other objects; rich star-forming arms of the Milky run through it. The three brightest open clusters are M36, M37 and M38, all of which are visible in binoculars or a small telescope in suburban skies. A larger telescope resolves individual stars. Three other open clusters are NGC 2281, lying close to ψ Aurigae, NGC 1664, which is close to ε Aurigae, and IC 410 (surrounding NGC 1893), a cluster with nebulosity next to IC 405, the Flaming Star Nebula, found about midway between M38 and ι Aurigae. AE Aurigae, a runaway star, is a bright variable star currently within the Flaming Star Nebula.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: M36 (NGC 1960) is a young galactic open cluster with approximately 60 stars, most of which are relatively bright; however, only about 40 stars are visible in most amateur instruments. It is at a distance of 3,900 light-years and has an overall magnitude of 6.0; it is 14 light-years wide. Its apparent diameter is 12.0 arcminutes. Of the three open clusters in Auriga, M36 is both the smallest and the most concentrated, though its brightest stars are approximately 9th magnitude. It was discovered in 1749 by Guillaume Le Gentil, the first of Auriga's major open clusters to be discovered. M36 features a 10-arcminute-wide knot of bright stars in its center, anchored by Struve 737, a double star with components separated by 10.7 arcseconds. Most of the stars in M36 are B type stars with rapid rates of rotation. M36's Trumpler class is given as both I 3 r and II 3 m. Besides the central knot, most of the cluster's other stars appear in smaller knots and groups.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: M37 (NGC 2099) is an open cluster, larger than M36 and at a distance of 4,200 light-years. It has 150 stars, making it the richest cluster in Auriga; the most prominent member is an orange star that appears at the center. M37 is approximately 25 light-years in diameter. It is the brightest open cluster in Auriga with a magnitude of 5.6; it has an apparent diameter of 23.0 arcminutes. M37 was discovered in 1764 by Charles Messier, the first of many astronomers to laud its beauty. It was described as "a virtual cloud of glittering stars" by Robert Burnham, Jr. and Charles Piazzi Smyth commented that the star field was "strewed ...with sparkling gold-dust". The stars of M37 are older than those of M36; they are approximately 200 million years old. Most of the constituent stars are A type stars, though there are at least 12 red giants in the cluster as well. M37's Trumpler class is given as both I 2 r and II 1 r. The stars visible in a telescope range in magnitude from 9.0 to 13.0; there are two 9th magnitude stars in the center of the cluster and an east to west chain of 10th and 11th magnitude stars.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: M38 is a diffuse open cluster at a distance of 3,900 light-years, the least concentrated of the three main open clusters in Auriga; it is classified as a Trumpler Class II 2 r or III 2 r cluster because of this. It appears as a cross-shaped or pi-shaped object in a telescope and contains approximately 100 stars; its overall magnitude is 6.4. M38, like M36, was discovered by Guillaume Le Gentil in 1749. It has an apparent diameter of approximately 20 arcseconds and a true diameter of about 25 light-years. Unlike M36 or M37, M38 has a varied stellar population. The majority of the population consists of A and B type main sequence stars, the B type stars being the oldest members, and a number of G type giant stars. One yellow-hued G type star is the brightest star in M38 at a magnitude of 7.9. The brightest stars in M38 are magnitude 9 and 10. M38 is accompanied by NGC 1907, a smaller and dimmer cluster that lies half a degree south-southwest of M38; it is at a distance of 4,200 light-years. The smaller cluster has an overall magnitude of 8.2 and a diameter of 6.0 arcminutes, making it about a third the size of M38. However, NGC 1907 is a rich cluster, classified as a Trumpler Class I 1 m n cluster. It has approximately 12 stars of magnitude 9–10, and at least 25 stars of magnitude 9–12.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: IC 410, a faint nebula, is accompanied by the bright open cluster NGC 1893. The cluster is thin, with a diameter of 12 arcminutes and a population of approximately 20 stars. Its accompanying nebula has very low surface brightness, partially because of its diameter of 40 arcminutes. It appears in an amateur telescope with brighter areas in the north and south; the brighter southern patch shows a pattern of darker and lighter spots in a large instrument. NGC 1893, of magnitude 7.5, is classified as a Trumpler Class II 3 r n or II 2 m n cluster, meaning that it is not very large and is somewhat bright. The cluster possesses approximately 30 stars of magnitude 9–12. In an amateur instrument, IC 410 is only visible with an Oxygen-III filter. NGC 2281 is a small open cluster at a distance of 1,500 light-years. It contains 30 stars in a crescent shape. It has an overall magnitude of 5.4 and a fairly large diameter of 14.0 arcseconds, classified as a Trumpler Class I 3 m cluster. The brightest star in the cluster is magnitude 8; there are approximately 12 stars of magnitude 9–10 and 20 stars of magnitude 11–13.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: NGC 1931 is a nebula in Auriga, slightly more than one degree to the west of M36. It is considered to be a difficult target for an amateur telescope. NGC 1931 has an approximate integrated magnitude of 10.1; it is 3 by 3 arcminutes. However, it appears to be elongated in an amateur telescope. Some observers may note a green hue in the nebula; a large telescope will easily show the nebula's "peanut" shape, as well as the quartet of stars that are engulfed by the nebula. The open cluster portion of NGC 1931 is classed as a I 3 p n cluster; the nebula portion is classed as both an emission and reflection nebula. NGC 1931 is approximately 6,000 light-years from Earth and could easily be confused with a comet in the eyepiece of a telescope.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: NGC 1664 is a fairly large open cluster, with a diameter of 18 arcminutes, and moderately bright, with a magnitude of 7.6, comparable to several other open clusters in Auriga. One open cluster with a similar magnitude is NGC 1778, with a magnitude of 7.7. This small cluster has a diameter of 7 arcminutes and contains 25 stars. NGC 1857, a small cluster, is slightly brighter at magnitude 7.0. It has a diameter of 6 arcminutes and contains 40 stars, making it far more concentrated than the similar-sized NGC 1778. Far dimmer than the other open clusters is NGC 2126 at magnitude 10.2. Despite its dimness, NGC 2126 is as concentrated as NGC 1857, having 40 stars in a diameter of 6 arcminutes.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: Auriga is home to two meteor showers. The Aurigids, named for the entire constellation and formerly called the "Alpha Aurigids", are renowned for their intermittent outbursts, such as those in 1935, 1986, 1994, and 2007. They are associated with the comet Kiess (C/1911 N1), discovered in 1911 by Carl Clarence Kiess. The association was discovered after the outburst in 1935 by Cuno Hoffmeister and Arthur Teichgraeber. The Aurigid outburst on September 1, 1935, prompted the investigation of a connection with Comet Kiess, though the 24-year delay between the comet's return caused doubt in the scientific community. However, the outburst in 1986 erased much of this doubt. Istvan Teplickzky, a Hungarian amateur meteor observer, observed many bright meteors radiating from Auriga in a fashion very similar to the confirmed 1935 outburst. Because the position of Teplickzky's observed radiant and the 1935 radiant were close to the position of Comet Kiess, the comet was confirmed as the source of the Aurigid meteor stream.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: The Aurigids had a spectacular outburst in 1994, when many grazing meteors—those that have a shallow angle of entry and seem to rise from the horizon—were observed in California. The meteors were tinted blue and green, moved slowly, and left trails at least 45° long. Because they had such a shallow angle of entry, some 1994 Aurigids lasted up to 2 seconds. Though there were only a few visual observers for part of the outburst, the 1994 Aurigids peak, which lasted less than two hours, was later confirmed by Finnish amateur radio astronomer Ilkka Yrjölä. The connection with Comet Kiess was finally confirmed in 1994. The 2007 outburst of the Aurigids was predicted by Peter Jenniskens and was observed by astronomers worldwide. Despite some predictions that there would be no Alpha Aurigid outburst, many bright meteors were observed throughout the shower, which peaked on September 1 as predicted. Much like in the 1994 outburst, the 2007 Aurigids were very bright and often colored blue and green. The maximum zenithal hourly rate was 100 meteors per hour, observed at 4:15 am, California time (12:15 UTC) by a team of astronomers flying on NASA planes.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: The Aurigids are normally a placid Class II meteor shower that peaks in the early morning hours of September 1, beginning on August 28 every year. Though the maximum zenithal hourly rate is 2–5 meteors per hour, the Aurigids are fast, with an entry velocity of /sec. The annual Aurigids have a radiant located about two degrees north of Theta Aurigae, a third-magnitude star in the center of the constellation. The Aurigids end on September 4. Some years, the maximum rate has reached 9–30 meteors per hour.


title: Auriga (constellation)

text: The other meteor showers radiating from Auriga are far less prominent and capricious than the Alpha Aurigids. The Zeta Aurigids are a weak shower with a northern and southern branch lasting from December 11 to January 21. The shower peaks on January 1 and has very slow meteors, with a maximum rate of 1–5 meteors per hour. It was discovered by William Denning in 1886 and was discovered to be the source of rare fireballs by Alexander Stewart Herschel. There is another faint stream of meteors called the "Aurigids", unrelated to the September shower. This shower lasts from January 31 to February 23, peaking from February 5 through February 10; its slow meteors peak at a rate of approximately 2 per hour. The Delta Aurigids are a faint shower radiating from Auriga. It was discovered by a group of researchers at New Mexico State University and has a very low peak rate. The Delta Aurigids last from September 22 through October 23, peaking between October 6 and October 15. They may be related to the September Epsilon Perseids, though they are more similar to the Coma Berenicids in that the Delta Aurigids last longer and have a dearth of bright meteors. They too have a hypothesized connection to an unknown short period retrograde comet. The Iota Aurigids are a hypothesized shower occurring in mid-November; its parent body may be the asteroid 2000 NL10, but this connection is highly disputed. The hypothesized Iota Aurigids may instead be a faint stream of Taurids.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCS, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control towers on the ground, they monitor the position, speed, and altitude of aircraft in their assigned airspace visually and by radar, and give directions to the pilots by radio. The position of air traffic controller is one that requires highly specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities. Controllers apply separation rules to keep aircraft at a safe distance from each other in their area of responsibility and move all aircraft safely and efficiently through their assigned sector of airspace, as well as on the ground. Because controllers have an incredibly large responsibility while on duty (often in aviation, "on position") and make countless real-time decisions on a daily basis, the ATC profession is consistently regarded around the world as one of the most mentally challenging careers, and can be notoriously stressful depending on many variables (equipment, configurations, weather, traffic volume, traffic type, special activities, governmental actions, human factors). Many controllers, however, cite high salaries, and a large, unique, and privileged degree of autonomy as major advantages of their jobs.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Although the media in the United States frequently refers to them as air controllers, or flight controllers, most air traffic professionals use the term air traffic controllers, ATCOs, or controllers. For a more detailed article on the job itself, see air traffic control.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Air traffic controllers are generally individuals who are well organized, are quick with numeric computations and mathematics, have assertive and firm decision-making skills, are able to maintain their composure under pressure, and possess an excellent short-term memory. Through numerous studies throughout the decades, it has been demonstrated that traffic controllers usually have a superior visual memory, and in addition, studies have shown that air traffic controllers generally have a degree of situational awareness that is significantly better than the population average. In 'games' involving short-term memory, peer-induced stresses, and real-time risk analysis, air traffic control specialists scored better than the control group in every experiment . Excellent hearing and speaking skills are a requirement, and trainees undergo rigorous physical and psychological testing.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Moreover, the position of the air traffic controller requires some of the strictest medical and mental requirements for any profession in the world; conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease, and many psychiatric disorders (e.g., clinical depression, ADHD, bipolar disorder, a history of drug abuse) almost always disqualify people from obtaining medical certification from the overseeing aviation authority without explicit testing and waivers signed by the overseeing medical authority, demonstrating that the disorder does not impact the individuals ability to do the job. Almost universally, controllers are subjected to rigid medical and mental exams to ensure safety in the air traffic system. In the United States, for example, all air traffic controllers are required to take and pass a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory before being hired by the Federal Aviation Administration. Conditions such as hypertension, while not disqualifying, are taken seriously and must be monitored with medical examinations by certified doctors. Controllers must take precautions to remain healthy and avoid certain medications that are banned for them; all medications, even over-the-counter drugs, must be reported to the medical authority, and failure to do so can result in a revocation of medical certification. Numerous drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are either banned or would require an air traffic controller to apply for a Special Consideration Medical Certificate and undergo stringent and continuous monitoring of the underlying medical condition. Almost universally, trainee controllers begin work in their twenties and retire in their fifties. This is due to an FAA requirement that trainees begin their training at the Academy no later than their 31st birthday, and face mandatory retirement at age 56. However, retired military air traffic controllers may qualify for appointment after reaching 31 years of age.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Communication is a vital part of the job: controllers are trained to focus on the exact words that pilots and other controllers speak, because a single misunderstanding about altitude levels or runway numbers can have tragic consequences. Controllers communicate with the pilots of aircraft using a push-to-talk radiotelephony system which has many attendant issues, such as the fact that only one transmission can be made on a frequency at a time and can either merge or block each other and become unintelligible.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Although local languages are used in ATC communications, the default language of aviation worldwide is Aviation English. Controllers who do not speak English as a first language are generally expected to show a certain minimum level of competency.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Area controllers are responsible for the safety of aircraft at higher altitudes, in the en-route phase of their flight surrounding busier airports and airspace. Area controllers may also handle aircraft at lower altitudes as well as air traffic around small airports that do not have their own towers or approach controllers. In most nations, they are known as "area," "en route," or, colloquially in the US, "center" controllers. Area controllers are responsible for specific sectors of 3D blocks of airspace with defined dimensions. Each sector is managed by at least one area controller, known as an "R-side" controller that handles radio communications. During busier times of traffic, there may also be a second area controller, known as a "D-side", assigned to the same area in order to assist the R-side Area controller. This can be done with or without the use of radar: radar allows a sector to handle much more traffic; however, procedural control is used in many areas where traffic levels do not justify radar or the installation of radar is not feasible, such as over oceans.


title: Air traffic controller

text: In the United States, en-route controllers work at air route traffic control centers or ARTCCs. In other countries, area controllers work in area control centers, controlling high-level en-route aircraft, or terminal control centers, which control aircraft climbing from or descending to major groups of airports.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Aerodrome or Tower controllers control aircraft within the immediate vicinity of the airport and use visual observation from the airport tower. The tower's airspace is often a radius around the airport, but can vary greatly in size and shape depending on traffic configuration and volume.


title: Air traffic controller

text: The tower positions are typically split into many different positions such as Flight Data/Clearance Delivery, Ground Control, and Local Control (known as Tower by the pilots); at busier facilities, a limited radar approach control position may be needed.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Most countries' armed forces employ air traffic controllers, often in most if not all branches of the forces. Although actual terms vary from country to country, controllers are usually enlisted.


title: Air traffic controller

text: In some countries, all air traffic control is performed by the military. In other countries, military controllers are responsible solely for military airspace and airbases; civilian controllers maintain airspace for civilian traffic and civilian airports. Historically, in most countries, this was part of the government and controllers were civil servants. However, many countries have partly or wholly privatized their air traffic control systems; others are looking to do the same.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Civilian Air Traffic Controllers' licensing is standardized by international agreement through ICAO. Many countries have Air Traffic Control schools, academies or colleges, often operated by the incumbent provider of air traffic services in that country, but sometimes privately. These institutions are structured to provide training to individuals without any prior air traffic control experience. At the completion of academic training, the graduating student will be granted an Air Traffic Control license, which will include one or more Ratings. These are sub-qualifications denoting the air traffic control discipline or disciplines in which the person has been trained. ICAO defines five such ratings: Area (procedural), Area Radar, Approach (procedural), Approach Radar, and Aerodrome. In the United States, controllers may train in several similar specialties: Tower, Ground-Controlled Approach (GCA), Terminal Radar Control, or En route Control (both radar and non-radar). This phase of training takes between six months and several years.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Whenever an air traffic controller is posted to a new unit or starts work on a new sector within a particular unit, they must undergo a period of training regarding the procedures peculiar to that particular unit and/or sector. The majority of this training is done in a live position controlling real aircraft and is termed On the Job Training (OJT), with a fully qualified and trained mentor or On the Job Training Instructor (OJTI) also 'plugged into' the position to give guidance and ready to immediately take over should it become necessary. The length of this phase of training varies from a matter of months to years, depending on the complexity of the sector.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Only once a person has passed all these training stages they will be allowed to control a position alone.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Typically, controllers work "on position" for 90 to 120 minutes followed by a 30-minute break. Except at quieter airports, air traffic control is a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year job where controllers usually work rotating shifts, including nights, weekends, and public holidays. These are usually set 28 days in advance. In many countries, the structure of controllers' shift patterns is regulated to allow for adequate time off. In the UK, the most common pattern is two mornings, two late afternoons, and two evenings/nights followed by a four-day break.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Many countries regulate work hours to ensure that controllers are able to remain focused and effective. Research has shown that when controllers remain "on position" for more than two hours without a break, performance can deteriorate rapidly, even at low traffic levels. Many national regulations, therefore, require breaks at least every two hours. Sylvia Noble Tesh documented the stresses and challenges faced by air traffic controllers in her 1984 study "The politics of stress: the case of air traffic control." published in the International journal of health services. In a study which compared stress in the general population and in this kind of systems markedly showed more stress level for controllers. This variation can be explained, at least in part, by the characteristics of the job.


title: Air traffic controller

text: Despite years of effort and billions of dollars spent on computer software designed to assist air traffic control, success has been largely limited to improving the tools at the disposal of the controllers, such as computer-enhanced radar. It is likely that in the next few decades, future technology will make the controller more of a systems manager overseeing decisions made by automated systems and manually intervening to resolve situations not handled well by the computers, rather than being automated out of existence altogether.


title: Air traffic controller

text: However, there are problems envisaged with technology that normally takes the controller out of the decision loop but requires the controller to step back in to control exceptional situations: air traffic control is a skill that has to be kept current by regular practice. This in itself may prove to be the largest stumbling block to the introduction of highly automated air traffic control systems.


title: Air traffic controller

text: User acceptance or willingness to use such technology is another important consideration air service providers need to consider prior to implementing any new technology. In a recent study with over 500 air traffic controllers from around the world, Bekier and colleagues found that once the focus of decision-making shifts from the air traffic controller, support for the technology dramatically decreases. Unsurprisingly, they also found that air traffic controllers enjoy the core tasks of their role: namely, conflict detection and resolution.


title: Air traffic controller

text: In 2014, it was reported that in the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration had stopped giving preferential treatment to air-traffic controller applicants who had passed classes from the 36 FAA-approved college aviation programs across the United States, with some speculating it was due to too many white males being hired over minorities. The FAA says it "is blind on the issue of diversity". At the same time, the FAA also stopped giving preference to applicants who were military veterans with aviation experience.


title: Panama disease

text: Panama disease (or Fusarium wilt) is a plant disease that infects banana plants ("Musa" spp.). It is a wilting disease caused by the fungus "Fusarium oxysporum" f. sp. "cubense" (Foc). The pathogen is resistant to fungicides and its control is limited to phytosanitary measures.


title: Panama disease

text: During the 1950s, an outbreak of Panama disease almost wiped out the commercial Gros Michel banana production. The Gros Michel banana was the dominant cultivar of bananas, and Fusarium wilt inflicted enormous costs and forced producers to switch to other, disease-resistant cultivars. Currently, a new outbreak of Panama disease caused by the strain Tropical Race 4 (TR4) threatens the production of the Cavendish banana, today's most popular cultivar.