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Today's featured list: The moons of Saturn are numerous and diverse, ranging from tiny moonlets less than 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) across to the enormous Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury. Saturn has sixty-two moons with confirmed orbits, fifty-three of which have names, and only thirteen of which have diameters larger than 50 kilometers (31 mi). Saturn has seven moons that are large enough to become spherical, and dense rings with complex orbital motions of their own.

Today's featured topic: The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of one titular award. Several new awards have been introduced, and as of 2008^[update], eight awards are presented, including the Team of the Year, Overseas Personality, Lifetime Achievement Award, Helen Rollason Award, the Coach Award, and the Newcomer Award.

Listen to
Spring, from The Four Seasons

Today's featured sound: The Four Seasons, a set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Composed in 1723,The Four Seasons is Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces of Baroque music. The texture of each concerto is varied, each resembling its respective season. Performed by John Harrison and the Wichita State University Chamber Players.

Did you know...

Royal Game of Ur board, c. 2500 BCE

... that scholars disagree on whether the earliest-known game boards (example pictured) date to the Neolithic or the Early Bronze Age?
... that the Estado Novo deprived Aurora Rodrigues of sleep for more than two weeks to induce hallucinations?
... that the Hogmanay special Live into 85 was so shambolic it ended a 32-year tradition?
... that Casey Washington made the game-winning score that ended a record nine-overtime college football game?
... that the distinctive coloration of the giant panda appears to serve as camouflage in both winter and summer?
... that Saparinah Sadli defended one of her former students when Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency challenged her gendered exploration of the New Order regime?
... that the 18th-century hymn "Alas! and Did My Saviour Bleed" has been criticised because its lyrics have singers call themselves a "worm"?
... that Elizabeth Yeampierre has called Puerto Rico the "poster child for climate injustice" due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria?
... that Boston's World's Museum was a theatre, an aquarium, a menagerie, and a freak show?

In the news
Aitana Bonmatí In association football, the UEFA Champions League concludes with Barcelona defeating Lyon in the women's final (player of the match Aitana Bonmatí pictured) and Real Madrid defeating Borussia Dortmund in the men's final. Former U.S. president Donald Trump is found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records. In Indy car racing, Josef Newgarden wins the Indianapolis 500. In cricket, the Kolkata Knight Riders defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad to win the Indian Premier League. Ongoing: Israel–Hamas war timeline Russian invasion of Ukraine timeline Sudanese civil war timeline Recent deaths: Carl Cain Rob Burrow Drew Gordon Lionel Dyck Marian Robinson Robert Pickton Nominate an article
On this day...
June 3: Martyrs Day in Uganda; King's Official Birthday in New Zealand (2024); Western Australia Day (2024) Silhouette of Jack Jouett 1781 – American Revolutionary War: Jack Jouett (pictured) rode 40 miles (64 km) to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of British cavalry who had been sent to capture them. 1892 – Liverpool F.C., one of England's most successful football clubs, was founded. 1937 – Half a year after abdicating the British throne, Edward, Duke of Windsor, married American socialite Wallis Simpson in a private ceremony in France. 1969 – During a SEATO exercise in the South China Sea, a collision between HMAS Melbourne and USS Frank E. Evans resulted in the latter vessel being cut in two and the deaths of 74 personnel. 1982 – A failed assassination attempt was made on Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, which event was later used as justification for the First Lebanon War. Garret Hobart (b. 1844) Eric A. Havelock (b. 1903) Franz Kafka (d. 1924) Pierre Poilievre (b. 1979) More anniversaries: June 2 June 3 June 4 Archive By email List of days of the year

Today's featured picture

Laothoe populi, the poplar hawk-moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species is found throughout the Palearctic realm and the Near East, and is one of the most common members of the family in the region. On first hatching, the larvae are pale green with small yellow tubercules and a cream-coloured tail horn, at which point they are known as hornworms. They later develop yellow diagonal stripes on the sides, and pink spiracles. This photograph, taken in Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont, France, shows a late instar of L. populi.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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