The moon is full. The morning stars are Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus. The evening stars are Jupiter and Mars.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens, founder of the wave theory of light, in 1629; Anne Sullivan, the "miracle worker" who taught a blind and deaf Helen Keller, in 1866; English historian Arnold Toynbee in 1889; British actor John Gielgud in 1904; Haitian dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier in 1907; actors Rod Steiger in 1925 and Bradford Dillman in 1930 (age 84); country singer Loretta Lynn and writer Erich von Daniken in, both in 1935 (age 79); crusading New York police detective Frank Serpico in 1936 (age 78); actor Julie Christie and Pete Rose, former baseball star and manager, both in 1941 (age 73); and actors Robert Carlyle in 1961 (age 53), Anthony Michael Hall in 1968 (age 46), Adrien Brody in 1973 (age 41), Sarah Michelle Gellar in 1977 (age 37) and Abigail Breslin in 1997 (age 17).
On this date in history: In 1775, the first slavery abolition society in North America was founded by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
In 1828, Noah Webster published his "American Dictionary of the English Language." It was the first dictionary of American English to be published.
In 1861, the flag of the Confederacy was raised over Fort Sumter, S.C., as Union troops there surrendered in the early days of the Civil War.
In 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater in Washington. (Lincoln died the next morning. He was succeeded by Vice President Andrew Johnson.)
In 1927, the first Volvo was produced in Sweden.
In 1939, "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck was published.
In 1986, U.S. warplanes struck Libya in the biggest American airstrike since the Vietnam War. Libyan officials said 40 people were killed.
In 1994, in what was called a tragic mistake, two U.S. warplanes shot down two U.S. Army helicopters in northern Iraq's no-fly zone. All 26 people aboard were killed.
In 2003, U.S. military officials declared that the principal fighting in Iraq was over after Marines captured Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town.
In 2007, 32 people died when a bus carrying elementary schoolchildren collided with a truck on a highway in Turkey.
In 2008, Silvio Berlusconi swept back into power in a third term as prime minister of Italy in a new election that gave him control of both houses of Parliament.
In 2009, the United States lifted restrictions on Cuban-Americans visiting relatives in Cuba. Left intact were the trade embargo and travel restrictions for non-Cuban Americans.
In 2010, a devastating magnitude-7.1 earthquake staggered northwest China. (Officials reported the death toll eventually surpassed 2,600.)
In 2013, Nicolas Maduro was elected president of Venezuela.
A thought for the day: "If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance." -- Abraham Lincoln
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