Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 2010

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Picture of the day archives

2004: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2005: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2006: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2007: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2008: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2009: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2010: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2011: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2012: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2013: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2014: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2015: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2016: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2017: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2018: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2019: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2020: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2021: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2022: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2023: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2024: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2025: January February March April May June July August September October November December

These featured pictures, as scheduled below, appeared as the picture of the day (POTD) on the English Wikipedia's Main Page in December 2010. Individual sections for each day on this page can be linked to with the day number as the anchor name (e.g. [[Wikipedia:Picture of the day/December 2010#1]] for December 1).

You can add an automatically updating POTD template to your user page using {{Pic of the day}} (version with blurb) or {{POTD}} (version without blurb). For instructions on how to make custom POTD layouts, see Wikipedia:Picture of the day.Purge server cache


December 1

Azurite

Azurite is a soft, deep blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. Its primary use is for pigment: it gives a wide range of blues depending on the degree of fineness to which it was ground and its basic content of copper carbonate. Azurite is easily confused with lapis lazuli, another blue stone composed primarily of a different mineral, lazurite.

Photo:

Noodle snacks

Recently featured:

December 2

William Henry Smith in Punch

"Our New 'First Lord' at Sea", an 1877

Member of Parliament for the previous ten years, but he had no naval or even military experience whatsoever. The following year, Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore would satirise
him on similar grounds, and he became known as "Pinafore Smith" throughout the course of his three years in the post.

Artist: John Tenniel; Restoration: Adam Cuerden


December 3

Gonia capitata close-up

A macro view of a Gonia capitata fly feeding on honey, showing its proboscis and pedipalps (the two appendages protruding from the proboscis), two types of insect mouthparts. The proboscis actually comprises the labium, a quadrupedal structure, and a sponge-like labellum at the end. Flies eat solid food by secreting saliva and dabbing it over the food item. As the saliva dissolves the food, the solution is then drawn up into the mouth as a liquid. The labellum's surface is covered by minute food channels which form a tube leading to the esophagus, and food is drawn up the channels by capillary action.

Photo: Richard Bartz


December 4

Amanita muscaria

Two immature Amanita muscaria mushrooms, a poisonous and psychoactive basidiomycete fungus found throughout the world. Its main psychoactive constituent is the compound muscimol, an alkaloid that occurs naturally in Amanita species. It was used as an intoxicant and entheogen by the peoples of Siberia and has a religious significance in these cultures.

Photo:

Noodle snacks


December 5

Abutilon × hybridum flower

The

Physalis alkekengi. It is a popular group of hybrids that are semi-tropical, frost-tender shrubs typically growing 2–3 m (7–10 ft) tall. The lantern-like buds open to solitary, pendulous, bell- to cup-shaped flowers to 8 cm (3 in) diameter with five overlapping petals and significant staminal columns typical of the mallow family. Flowers come in red, pink, yellow, white and pastel shades. Lobed, maple-like, light green leaves are often variegated
with white and yellow.

Photo:

Noodle snacks


December 6

Anthophora sp. bee

A female

Holarctic and African
biogeographic regions.

Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim


December 7

Derwentwater

A panoramic view of the northern shore of Derwentwater, one of the principal bodies of water in the Lake District in North West England, as seen from near Keswick. The lake measures approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) long by 1 mile (1.6 km) wide, with a depth of about 72 feet (21.9 m). Derwentwater is a popular tourist destination, especially for recreational walking, and there is an extensive network of footpaths within the hills and woods surrounding the lake.

Photo: David Iliff


December 8

Dún Laoghaire in the 1890s

An 1890s

Laoghaire, a 5th century High King of Ireland
.

Image:


December 9

Pacific Black Duck

The

dabbling duck found throughout much of the southwestern Pacific. It has a dark body, and a paler head with a dark crown and facial stripes, with a green speculum
and pale underwing. The size range is 54–61 cm (21–24 in), with males being slightly larger than females.

Photo: Fir0002


December 10

Scene from Rob Roy

A scene from Sir

Robert Roy MacGregor. Though Rob Roy is not the lead character (in fact the narrative does not move to Scotland until halfway through the book) his personality and actions are key to the story's development. The novel is a brutally realistic depiction of the social conditions in Highland and Lowland
Scotland in the early 18th century.

Engraving:


December 11

Gawthorpe Hall

Houses of Parliament
, redesigned it to its current state.

Photo: Childzy


December 12

Smoky quartz

ferric oxide
impurity.

Photo:

Noodle snacks


December 13

Internal spider anatomy

The

spinnerets and poison
glands are shown in green.

Image:


December 14

Karkalla flower

The

Australian Aborigines
traditionally eat the globular purplish-red fruit, fresh and dried. The salty leaves are also reported to be eaten with meat.

Photo:

Noodle snacks


December 15

Scene from "The Canterville Ghost"

A scene from "The Canterville Ghost", Oscar Wilde's first published story, which is about an American family that moves into a haunted house in England. However, instead of being frightened of the eponymous ghost, they turn the tables and prank him, such as in this scene, where the twin boys have set up a butter-slide, causing the ghost to slip down the staircase. The story satirises both the unrefined tastes of Americans and the determination of the British to guard their traditions.

Artist: Wallace Goldsmith; Restoration: Adam Cuerden


December 16

Frontispiece to A Memoir of Jane Austen

The frontispiece to A Memoir of Jane Austen, a biography of the author Jane Austen (1775–1817), written by her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh and published 52 years after her death. Common to biographies written in the Victorian era, it did not attempt to unreservedly tell the story of the author's life, but instead kept much private information from the public. The Memoir generated popular interest in the works of Jane Austen, which only a literary elite had read up until that point. The art for the frontispiece took some liberties with the original painting, softening Austen's features in the Victorian style.

Image: James Andrews, after Cassandra Austen
Restoration: Adam Cuerden/Staxringold


December 17

White-barred Emperor butterfly

The

Charaxes species are tropical Old World butterflies, with the highest diversity in the humid forests
around the Indian Ocean, from Africa to Indonesia.

Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim


December 18

Black Currawong

The

Clinking Currawong, but the latter has a white rump and larger white wing patches. The Black Currawong is usually found in wetter eucalypt forests, in areas above 200 m (656 ft) altitude, mainly in the Central Highlands
, with scattered records elsewhere in Tasmania and the surrounding islands.

Photo:

Noodle snacks


December 19

Semi-submersible oil platform

The semi-submersible oil platform P-51, operated by Brazilian energy company Petrobras, being positioned by tugboats. Semisubs sit on pontoons located under the ocean surface, with the operating deck atop columns, above the sea level. In this manner, they are relatively protected from wave action.

Photo: Agência Brasil


December 20

Estádio da Luz

The

Portuguese Catholicism. It replaced an older, larger stadium, also called Estádio da Luz
.

Photo: Massimo Catarinella


December 21

Great Britain snowed under

A satellite photo of

winter of 2009–2010, the coldest in Europe since 1981–82. Starting on 16 December 2009 a persistent weather pattern brought cold moist air from the north with systems undergoing cyclogenesis
from North American storms moving across the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and saw many parts of Europe experiencing heavy snowfall and record low temperatures.

Photo: Jeff Schmaltz,

MODIS
Rapid Response Team, NASA


December 22

Amethyst crystal

jewelry. The color is a result of irradiation which causes the iron ions present as impurities in quartz to rearrange themselves in the crystal lattice
. On exposure to heat, the irradiation effects can be partially cancelled and amethyst generally becomes yellow or even green.

Photo:

Noodle snacks


December 23

French marigold

The

anti-fungal
properties.

Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim


December 24

Aida poster

A poster for a 1908 American production of Aida, an opera by Giuseppe Verdi that premiered on December 24, 1871, to great acclaim at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo, Egypt. However, Verdi was most dissatisfied that the audience consisted of invited dignitaries and critics, but no members of the general public. He therefore considered the European premiere, held at La Scala, Milan, to be its real premiere.

Poster: Otis Lithograph Co; Restoration: Adam Cuerden


December 25

"Gloria in Excelsis Deo"

An

Gloria in Excelsis Deo. A tradition recorded in the Liber Pontificalis states that Pope Telesphorus used the hymn at the Mass of Christmas Day in the 2nd century A.D., and it is still recited in its entirety in the Byzantine Rite Orthros
service. The Gloria has been and still is sung to a wide variety of melodies, modern scholars having catalogued well over two hundred of them.

Image:

Dalziel Brothers
, after J. R. Clayton


December 26

Australian Magpie

The

Australian Magpie (Cracticus tibicen) is an omnivorous medium-sized passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. It has been introduced to New Zealand, where it is considered invasive, as well as to the Solomon Islands and Fiji, where it is not. Adults range from 37 to 43 cm (15 to 17 in) in length, with distinctive black and white plumage, red eyes and a solid wedge-shaped bluish-white and black bill. Described as one of Australia's most accomplished songbirds, the Australian Magpie has an array of complex vocalisations
.

Photo:

Noodle snacks


December 27

Zebra portrait

A portrait of a

Old Portuguese word zevra which means "wild ass
". Zebra stripes are typically vertical on the head, neck, forequarters, and main body, with horizontal stripes at the rear and on the legs of the animal. It was previously believed that zebras were white animals with black stripes. Embryological evidence, however, shows that the animal's background color is black and the white stripes are additions.

Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim


December 28

Face of a yellowjacket queen

The face of a southern yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa) queen. Yellowjacket is the common name in North America for some species of predatory wasps. They can be identified by their distinctive markings, usually black and yellow, small size (similar to a honey bee), their occurrence only in colonies, and a characteristic, rapid, side to side flight pattern prior to landing.

Photo: Thomas Shahan


December 29

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

alphabet song. As with many nursery rhymes, attempts have been made to find origins and meanings for the rhyme, but no theories have been definitively proven. Denslow's illustration accompanied a 1901 edition of Mother Goose
.

Restoration: Lise Broer


December 30

Creedite

A sample of orange-colored

hydroxyl halide mineral that forms from the oxidation of fluorite ore deposits. It occurs as colorless to white to purple monoclinic prismatic crystals
.

Photo:

Noodle snacks


December 31

Animation of the knight's tour

The knight's tour is a mathematical problem involving a knight on a chessboard. The knight is placed on the empty board and, moving according to the rules of chess, must visit each square exactly once. A knight's tour is called a closed tour if the knight ends on a square attacking the square from which it began (so that it may tour the board again immediately with the same path). Otherwise the tour is open. The depicted tour is an open tour, with shaded squares denoting where the knight has already visited.

Animation: Ilmari Karonen


Picture of the day archives and future dates

2004: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2005: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2006: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2007: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2008: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2009: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2010: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2011: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2012: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2013: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2014: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2015: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2016: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2017: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2018: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2019: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2020: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2021: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2022: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2023: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2024: January February March April May June July August September October November December
2025: January February March April May June July August September October November December