Stela depicting Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar as Egyptian Pharaoh discovered at Karnak Temple.

Archaeologists from the Egyptian-French Center for the Study of the Temples of Karnak have uncovered a stela (stone tablet) depicting the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar as the Egyptian Pharaoh while working on a restoration project, according to a press release issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on their Facebook Page. The stela, which is approximately 60 cm high, 40 cm wide, and 10 cm deep, is made out of sandstone and depicts the Emperor dressed as a Pharaoh and making an offering to the Egyptian gods Amun-Ra, Mut, and Khonsu. 

A stela discovered at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, depicting the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar dressed as Pharaoh of Egypt making offerings to the Egyptian gods Amun-Ra, Mut, and Khonsu. Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Amun-Ra, Mut, and Khonsu (known as the 'Thebian Triad') were a trinity of gods worshipped at Thebes, who became important throughout Egypt from the New Kingdom onwards. Amun-Ra was a fusion of the earlier gods, Amun, one of the eight deities the Old Kingdom held responsible for the creation of the universe, and the Sun God Ra. His consort, Mut (which translates as 'mother') was said to have given birth to the world, and everything in it. This originally appears to have been a separate creation myth, but over time she became associated with Amun-Ra, with the pair becoming a divine couple. The god Khonsu was seen as the son of this divine couple, and was also associated with the creation of the universe, as well as having responsibility for moving the Moon across the heavens. 

Paying tribute to this triad of gods was an important part of the duties of the Pharaoh, who was the head of the Egyptian religion as well as ruler of the country. The title of Pharaoh passed to the Roman Emperors when the state was brought into the Roman Empire by the first emperor, Augustus, in 27 BC, which meant such duties at least in theory passed to the Roman ruler. It is, however, unlikely that Tiberius (or any other emperor) travelled to Egypt to perform the role, it is likely that having a representative do this was acceptable to the Egyptians. Egypt had previously been part of the Achaemenid Empire, whose rulers were equally unlikely to travel to Egypt for local religious ceremonies, so it is likely that a procedure for this eventuality was available long before the Roman conquest.

On the Roman side, adopting local religions was a part of the strategy used in integrating new territories into their Empire, often by declaring that local gods were aspects of, or alternative names for, their own gods. This often involved investment in temples, shrines, and other religious infrastructure that local sects had not previously enjoyed, increasing the status of the local religion, and provided people travelling from the provinces with impressive temples to their own gods in Rome. In Egypt, the same approach had already been taken by the Ptolemaic Pharaohs, who had paired Egyptian gods with their Greek equivalents, providing a template for the Romans to follow. Thus Amun was seen as the equivalent of Jupiter, a respectable god for a Roman Emperor to be depicted worshipping.

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World Earth Day.

World Earth Day is celebrated on 22 April each year, and is marked by events to promote environmental awareness around the world. The day was first marked in the US in 1970, as a response to the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, in which an oil well 10 km off the coast of Santa Barbara blew out, resulting in the release of an estimated 11 million litres of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean, killing more than 10 000 Seabirds, Dolphins, Seals, and Sea Lions. Events have been held internationally since 1990, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change was signed on World Earth Day in 2016.

Events on World Earth Day are coordinated by the Earthday organisation, which describes its mission as 'to broaden, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide', and works with over 150 000 partner organisations in more than 192 countries around the world.

The theme of World Earth Day 2026 is 'Our Power, Our Planet ™', which has been chosen to reflect the 'Fundamental truth that transcends political cycles. Environmental stewardship has never depended on a single administration, institution, or election. It is sustained by the daily decisions of communities, educators, workers, innovators, and families who understand that protecting the places they live and work is both a responsibility and a long-term investment.'

The official Earth Day 2026 poster. Earthday.

The aim of Earth Day 2026 is to affirm that environmental progress is real, resilient, and ongoing despite policy uncertainty. Innovation, education, and community problem-solving remain durable. Local systems - cities, schools, Tribal nations - continue implementing solutions that strengthen energy reliability, conserve resources, and reduce risk because they’re grounded in economic sense and public safety. 

This aim is built upon two pillars.

Pillar One: Resilience and Institutional Continuity. 

• The work continues regardless of federal policy. 
• Environmental action is local and decentralised - policy shifts happen in your town, not just Washington. 
• Progress is already operational, not aspirational - solar programs, efficiency investments, ecosystem restoration exist and are working. 
• Economics, education, and conservation outlast political cycles - these don't disappear with an administration change. 

Pillar Two: Shared Interests and Interconnected Outcomes. 

• Environmental protection affects everyone, everywhere. 
• Human health - asthma, lead, climate-driven illness affect real families. 
• Economic security - farmers, fishers, firefighters all depend on a healthy environment. 
• Spiritual & moral values - stewardship of the Earth isn't political, it's biblical. 
• Global ecosystems - what happens over there affects what happens here. 
• Quality of life - can my kids fish in the local stream? Can they breathe clean air?

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The Lyrid Meteor Shower.

The Lyrid Meteor Shower is expected to be visible between Thursday 16 and Saturday 25 April this year (2022), and will be at peak visibility on Wednesday 22 April. With the First Quarter Moon not falling till the 24th this year,  there should be a good chance to see some meteors in cloudless areas. At its peak the Lyrid Meteor shower typically produces about 20 meteors per hour, though higher rates have been recorded. The Lyrid Meteors take their name from the constellation of Lyra, from which they appear to radiate, at a point close to the star Vega, which will be above the horizon for most of the night from most places in the Northern Hemisphere, while rising at about midnight in much of the Southern Hemisphere. Viewing is typically best in the hours before dawn, although peak meteor activity should occur at about 8.00 pm GMT.

The Radiant Point (i.e. point from which the meteors appear to radiate) of the Lyrid Meteors. Bruce McClure/Joni Hall/EarthSky/Wikimedia Commons.

Meteor streams are thought to come from dust shed by comets as they come close to the Sun and their icy surfaces begin to evaporate away. Although the dust is separated from the comet, it continues to orbit the Sun on roughly the same orbital path, creating a visible meteor shower when the Earth crosses that path, and flecks of dust burn in the upper atmosphere, due to friction with the atmosphere.

The Earth passing through a stream of comet dust, resulting in a meteor shower. Not to scale. Astro Bob.

The Lyrid Meteors are comprised of debris from the comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher (named after its discoverer, the astronomer A. E. Thatcher, not the politician). This is a long-period comet that spends most of its time in the Oort Cloud, only visiting the inner Solar System once every 415 years, the last occasion being in 1861. When the comet visits the inner Solar System it is heated by the Sun, melting the ices that make up its surface and releasing a trail of dust, which continues to follow the path of the comet. The Earth passes through this trail in April each year, creating a light show as the dust particles burn in the upper atmosphere.

How the passage of the Earth through a meteor shower creates a radiant point from which they can be observed. In The Sky.

Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher completes one orbit every 415 years on an eccentric orbit tilted at 79.8° to the plane of the Solar System, that takes it from 0.92 AU from the Sun (92% of the average distance at which the Earth orbits the Sun) to 106 AU from the Sun (110 times as far from the Sun as the Earth, and more than three times the distance at which the planet Neptune orbits the Sun). The comet last visited the Inner Solar System in 1891, and is expected to return again in 2306. As a comet with an orbital period of more than 200 years it is considered to be a Long Period Comet.

The orbit and current position of Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher. JPL Small Body Database.

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Magnitude 7.5 Earthquake off the coast of the Sanriku Coast of Japan.

The Japan Meteorological Agency recorded a Magnitude 7.5 Earthquake at a depth of about 10 km, about 100 km off the Sanriku Coast, which lies on the northeastern part of Honshū Island, slightly before 4.55 pm Japan Standard Time (slightly before 7.55 am GMT) on Monday 20 April 2026. 

A tsunami warning was issued in the immediate aftermath of the event, with about 170 000 advised to seek shelter, but in the event, no major tsunami occurred, with a wave 80 cm high being observed in places.  Rail services were temporarily suspended. A number of aftershocks have followed the initial event.

The approximate location of the 20 April 2026 Sanriku Coast Earthquake. USGS.

Japan has a complex tectonic situation, with parts of the country on four different tectonic plates. Aomori Prefecture lies on the convergent margin where the Okhotsk Plate is pushed against the Eurasian Plate, with the Pacific Plate being subducted beneath the Okhotsk Plate to the east. This is not a smooth process; the rocks of the two plates constantly stick together, only to break apart again as the pressure builds up, causing Earthquakes in the process.

The movement of the tectonic plates beneath Japan. University of Wisconsin Eau Claire.

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Comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) approaches perihelion.

Comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) will reach its perihelion (the closest point on its orbit to the Sun) on Sunday 19April 2026, when it will be approximately 0.50 AU from the Sun (i.e. half of the distance from the Sun to the planet Earth, which is about 74 649 000 km). At this time the comet will be 0.58 AU from the Earth, in the constellation of Pegasus, and may be naked eye visible in the east before dawn, although it will be best observed from the Southern Hemisphere, and will not be visible at all from northern parts of Europe, Asia, or North America.

The orbit and position of C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) and the planets of the Inner Solar System on 19 April 2026. JPL Small Body Database.

Should the comet survive this close encounter (which is likely, but not guaranteed), then it will reach perigee (the closest point on its orbit to the Earth) a week later, on 16 April 2026. At this point it will be 0.49 AU from us (i.e. 49% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun, or 73 303 000 km), in the constellation of Cetus but not visible. 

Comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) was discovered on 8 September 2025 by the 1.8 m Ritchey–Chrétien telescope of the PANSTARRS sky survey, located at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii. The name C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) implies that it is a Comet (C/), that it was the 3rd comet discovered in the first half of September 2025 (period 2025 R), and that it was discovered by the PANSTARRS sky survey.

Comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) imaged from eastern Crete on 8 April 2026. Dimitrios Katevainis/Wikimedia Commons.

Comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) is a Parabolic Comet, which is to say a comet that was disrupted from an orbit in the Oort Cloud, and is passing through the Inner Solar System on a parabolic orbit that will probably not bring it back again, and instead being ejected from the Solar System. This parabolic trajectory is tilted at an angle of 127.7° to the plain of the Solar System.

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