17th December Current Affairs ( English )

Geminid Meteor Shower

• Meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from asteroids

• Meteors are usually fragments of comets.

• As they enter the Earth's atmosphere at high speed, they burn up, creating a spectacular "shower".

• When these objects come around the Sun, they leave a dusty trail behind them.

• Every year Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky 

Gemind Meteor Shower:

   What it is?

• It peaks during mid- December each year and is considered to be one of thr best and most reliable annual meteor showers.

• Unlike most meteor showers that originate from comets the Geminid stream appears to originate from an asteroid known as 3200 phaethon.

   Trade Deficit:

• A trade deficit is an amount by which the cost of a country's imports exceeds its exports.

• The trade deficit in goods shows a rise of demand in the economy.

• It is a part of dav the Current Account Deficit.

   Context:

• NASA’S James Webb Space Telescope captured a stunning new image of a star that exploded in the supernova remnat Cassiopeia A (CAS A).

About Cassiopeia A:

• It is a remnant of a massive star that exploded same 340 years ago.

• It is the youngest remnant of the massive star in our galaxy known to mankind

• It belongs to the prototypical type of supernova remant and has been extensively studied by a number of ground based and space based observation.

• It gives information related to the supernova phenomenon and its complexities.

Context:-

• The Kawal Tiger Reserve is evolving into a thriving haven for an intriguing aquatic species the smooth coated otter referred to as Neeti Pilli in Telugu.

 

Smooth Coated Otter:

• It is a species of otter, the only extant  representative of the genus Lutrogale.

• Scientific Name: Lutrogale Perscpicillata.

Distribution: 

• They are found throughout much of southern Asia from India eastward.

• There is also an isolated population found in the mashes of Iraq.

Context:-

• Activists in the United Kingdom are coming together to stop the construction of  two mile road tunnel close to the great circle of Stonehenge by the government.

About Stonehenge:

• It is a massive stone circle monument located on Salisbury Plain in Southern England.

• It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site of outstanding universal value in 1986.

• When was Stonehenge built?

• Work starte on this super circle around 5000 years ago in the late Neolithic age but it took obver 1000 years to build in four long stages.

• Archeologists believe that final change were made around 1500 BC in the early Bronze Age.

Purpose:

• Though there is no definite evidence as to the intended purpose of Stonehenge, it was presumably a religious site and an expression of the power and wealth of the chieftains aristrocrats and priest who had it built.

• It is just one part of a larger sacred landscape that contained many other stone and wooden structures, as well as burials.

Context:-

• Recently the cinereous vultures (Aegypius monachus), on eof the largest raptors in the world, has been sighted at the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary.

About cinereous vultures :

• It is also known as the Eurasian Black Vulture or monk vulture

• It is one of the heaviest and largest raptors in the world.

• It is one of the two largest old world vultures.

• It is an altitudinal migrant- which means it migrates from a higher to a lower altitude.

Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary:

• It is located on the southern Delhi Ridge of the Aravalli Hill Range on the Delhi-Haryana Border.

• It is also part of  the Sariska-Delhi Wildlife Corridor which runs from Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan to Delhi Ridge.

 

Context:

• Iran recently unveile advanced Karrar combat drones armed with air-to-air missiles, enhancing its air defense capabilities.

About Karrar Combat Drones:

• It is Unnamed Combat Air Vehical (UCAV) develop by Iran.

• It is the first long-endurance, combat-capable Iranian drone.

Features

• The Karrar drone which was first introduced in 2010 has an operational range of up to 1000 kilometers (620 Miles)

• It has a maximum speed granted by its turbojet installation of 560 miles per hour.

• It reportedly boasts a service ceiling altitude of 47000 feets

• Lacking any retractable or fixed undercarriage the karrar is launched via rocket assist and it recovered way of a parachute-retarded freefall.

• It has been equipped with the Majid thermal missile with a range of 8 Kilometers.

Context:

• Recently the saiga species category was changed from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Saiga Antelope:

• It is a large migratory herbivore.

Appearance:

• This antelope has an extremely unusual appearance with an oversized and flexible nose, the internal structure of which acts like a filter.

Habitat:

• It inhabits open dry steppe grasslands and semi-arid deserts.

Distributions:

• The antelope were once found throughout the Eurasian Steppe, the great band of grassland that stretches from Hungry in Europe to Manchuria in Asia.
  Presently it is found in fragmented popuations within Kazakhastan, Mongolia, the Russian Frederation and Uzbekistan.