Wikipedia:Picture of the day/September 2018

The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bee worldwide. It is believed to have originated in either Africa or Asia, and spread naturally through Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Following human introduction into the Americas and Oceania, the species is now found on every continent except Antarctica. Humans have been collecting honey from bees for thousands of years, with evidence in the form of rock art found in France and Spain, dating to around 7000 BC. Along with other insects, the honey bee is an important pollinator, with a large number of the crop species farmed worldwide depending on it.

Photograph: Martin Falbisoner

The

Johann Christian Bach (5 September 1735 – 1 January 1782) was a composer of the Classical era, the eighteenth child of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. Bach was taught by his father and then, after the latter's death, by his half-brother C. P. E. Bach. Bach moved to Italy in 1754, and then to London in 1762, where he became known as the "London Bach". Bach's compositions include eleven operas, as well as chamber music, orchestral music and compositions for keyboard music. In 1764 Bach met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was eight at the time, and spent five months teaching him composition. He had considerable influence on Mozart, and was later described by scholars as his "only, true teacher".

This portrait of Bach was painted in 1776 by

Painting: Thomas Gainsborough

The

The flugelhorn is a brass instrument which is usually pitched in B♭. It resembles a trumpet, with a tube of the same length but a wider, conical bore. A type of valved bugle, the flugelhorn was developed in Germany from a traditional English valveless bugle, with the first version sold by Heinrich Stölzel in Berlin in 1828.

Photograph: Yamaha Corporation

The

The Veil Nebula is a cloud of heated and ionized gas and dust in the constellation Cygnus. Together with various other nebulae, it makes up the visible portions of the Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant and strong emitter of radio waves and X-rays. The source supernova event occurred around 8,000 years ago when a star 20 times more massive than the Sun exploded. The remnants have since expanded to cover an area of the sky with a diameter roughly six times that of the full Moon. The distance to the Veil Nebula is not precisely known, but Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer data supports a distance of about 1,470 light-years. Analysis of the emissions from the nebula indicates the presence of oxygen, sulfur, and hydrogen.

Photographer: Ken Crawford

The

The Convair NB-36H (bottom) was a converted B-36 Peacemaker bomber, used to test the concept of nuclear-powered aircraft. Built as part of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program, the plane carried an operational 1-megawatt nuclear reactor, although this did not power the plane. The NB-36H flew 47 flights between 1955 and 1957, but the ANP program was ultimately canceled. In this flight, the NB-36H is shown shadowed by a Boeing B-50 Superfortress (top).

Photograph: United States Air Force

Mexico is a country in North America, bordered by the United States, Guatemala and Belize, and lying between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced civilizations before first contact with Europeans. From 1521 it was colonized by Spain, becoming an independent state three centuries later. September 16 is the country's independence day, commemorating the Cry of Dolores, a declaration which began the Mexican War of Independence in 1810.

Pictured is the

Illustration: Juan Gabino; vectorisation: Alex Covarrubias

A plough is a farm implement that turns over the upper layer of soil, bringing fresh nutrients to the surface as part of preparation for sowing seeds or planting. In early agriculture, soil was turned by hand using digging sticks and hoes. The first animal-drawn plough was the ard, with the earliest evidence of a ploughed field dating to the Indus Valley Civilisation site of Kalibangan from around 2800 B.C. Wheels were introduced by Celtic peoples during the Roman era, and the mouldboard plough, a major innovation in plough technology, was invented in the 18th century. Modern ploughs are usually reversible ploughs, mounted on a tractor.

This painting, Ploughing in the Nivernais, was completed by the French artist Rosa Bonheur in 1849 and is now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Painting: Rosa Bonheur

Cornelis Kruseman (25 September 1797 – 14 November 1857) was a Dutch painter. Born in Amsterdam, he studied art with Charles Howard Hodges and Jean Augustin Daiwaille before moving to Italy via Paris in 1821. He remained in Italy for four years, working with and learning from artists Jean-Victor Schnetz and Louis Léopold Robert, and then moved back to the Netherlands and settled in The Hague. He lived in Italy again from 1841 to 1848, leading him to be called the "Italian Kruseman", before returning once more to the Netherlands for the rest of his life. His works included portraits, biblical scenes, and depictions of Italian peasant life.

This picture is a self-portrait of Kruseman, which hangs in the Museum Van Loon in Amsterdam.

Painting: Cornelis Kruseman

Eristalinus taeniops, also known as the band-eyed drone fly, is a species of hoverfly found in parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Photograph: Joaquim Alves Gaspar

Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia, and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. It was founded as the Erebuni Fortress in 782 BC by King Argishti I of Urartu, who designed it as his capital. By the late ancient Armenian Kingdom, however, new capital cities were established and Yerevan declined in importance. It was revived in 1582 when it was taken over by the Ottoman Turks, who were in conflict with Iran. The city changed hands multiple times from 1604 to the 1720s, when Iran emerged victorious. In 1827 it was taken over by Russia. After a brief spell as capital of independent Armenia from 1920, it fell under Soviet rule, before emerging as capital of the modern republic in 1991. The city became an important industrial centre under Soviet rule, and is now Armenia's primary political and cultural hub.

This picture shows Yerevan with Mount Ararat, which dominates the skyline and is a national symbol.

Photograph: Serouj.