15th century church in Lavenham

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Chile's biggest planetarium located on the campus of University of Santiago (Planetario Universidad de Santiago de Chile)

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Lake Toba is a large lake, 100 km long and 30 km wide, in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

In 1949 the Dutch geologist Rein van Bemmelen reported that Lake Toba was surrounded by a layer of ignimbrite rocks, and was a large volcanic caldera. Later researchers found rhyolite ash similar to that in the ignimbrite around Toba (and now called Young Toba Tuff) in Malaysia and India, 3000 km away. Oceanographers discovered Toba ash on the floor of the eastern Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal.

Landsat photo of Lake Toba

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Landsat photo of Lake Toba

Landsat photo of Sumatra surrounding Lake Toba

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Landsat photo of Sumatra surrounding Lake Toba

The Toba eruption (the Toba event) refers to a volcanic eruption at Lake Toba on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia which occurred 74,000 years ago. It was the largest volcanic eruption on Earth within the last 2 million years[1], and was also the most recent Volcanic Explosivity Index 8 (i.e. supervolcano-sized) eruption.

The eruption occurred at what is now Lake Toba on the island of Sumatra about 71,500 ± 4000 years ago. It had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 8, making it the most recent supervolcano-sized and probably the largest volcanic eruption within the last two million years. Bill Rose and Craig Chesner of Michigan Technological University deduced that the total amount of erupted material was about 2,800 cubic km — around 2,000 km3 of ignimbrite that flowed over the ground and around 800 km3 that fell as ash, with the wind blowing most of it to the west.

This eruption was the last of a series of at least three caldera forming eruptions which have occurred at the volcano. Earlier calderas were formed around 700,000 and 840,000 years ago

(Source: Wikipedia)

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The Parliament of Canada (French: Parlement du Canada) is Canada's legislative branch, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. According to Section 17 of the Constitution Act, 1867, Parliament consists of three components: the Sovereign (la Couronne), the Senate (le Sénat), and the House of Commons (la Chambre des communes). The Sovereign is normally represented by the Governor General, who appoints the 105 members of the Senate on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The 308 members of the House of Commons are directly elected by the people, with each member representing a single electoral district, frequently called a constituency or a "riding" in Canadian English.

The lower house, the House of Commons, is the dominant branch of the Canadian Parliament. The upper house, the Senate, rarely opposes the will of the other Chamber, and the duties of the Sovereign and Governor General are largely ceremonial, as in theory he or she could refuse to sign a bill, and could dismiss the cabinet and call an election unprompted. The Prime Minister and Cabinet must retain the support of a majority of members of the Lower House in order to remain in office; they need not have the confidence of the Upper House.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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The Saturn V (popularly known as the Moon Rocket) was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs. It remains the most powerful launch vehicle ever brought to operational status, from a height, weight and payload standpoint. The Russian Energia, which flew two test missions, had slightly more takeoff thrust. It was the largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets, although NASA contemplated larger models (such as the Nova rocket). The rocket was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, with the lead contractors being Boeing, North American Aviation, Douglas Aircraft Company, and IBM.