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Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxies originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work The Realm of the Nebulae and, as such, form part of the Hubble sequence. Most spiral galaxies consist of a flat, rotating disk containing stars, gas, and dust, and a central concentration of stars known as the bulge. These are often surrounded by a much fainter halo of stars, many of which reside in globular clusters.

Spiral galaxies are named by their spiral structures that extend from the center into the galactic disc. The spiral arms are sites of ongoing star formation and are brighter than the surrounding disc because of the young, hot OB stars that inhabit them.

Roughly two-thirds of all spirals are observed to have an additional component in the form of a bar-like structure, extending from the central bulge, at the ends of which the spiral arms begin. The proportion of barred spirals relative to barless spirals has likely changed over the history of the universe, with only about 10% containing bars about 8 billion years ago, to roughly a quarter 2.5 billion years ago, until present, where over two-thirds of the galaxies in the visible universe (Hubble volume) have bars.

The Milky Way is a barred spiral, although the bar itself is difficult to observe from Earth’s current position within the galactic disc. The most convincing evidence for the stars forming a bar in the galactic center comes from several recent surveys, including the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Together with irregular galaxies, spiral galaxies make up approximately 60% of galaxies in today’s universe. They are mostly found in low-density regions and are rare in the centers of galaxy clusters. Wikipedia

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An image of a Spiral Galaxy

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Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia and the fourth-largest city in Indonesia. Greater Bandung is the country’s second-largest metropolitan area with over 11 million inhabitants. Located 768 meters (2,520 feet) above sea level, the highest point in the North area with an altitude of 1,050 meters and the lowest in the South is 675 meters above sea level, approximately 140 kilometers (87 miles) southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler year-round temperatures than most other Indonesian cities. The city lies on a river basin surrounded by volcanic mountains that provides a natural defense system, which was the primary reason for the Dutch East Indies government’s plan to move the capital from Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) to Bandung.

The Dutch first established tea plantations around the mountains in the 18th century, and a road was constructed to connect the plantation area to the colonial capital Batavia (180 kilometers (112 miles) to the northwest). In the early 20th century the Dutch inhabitants of Bandung demanded the establishment of a municipality (gemeente), which was granted in 1906, and Bandung gradually developed into a resort city for plantation owners. Luxurious hotels, restaurants, cafés, and European boutiques were opened, leading the city to be nicknamed Parijs van Java (Dutch: “The Paris of Java”).

After Indonesia declared independence in 1945, the city has experienced ongoing development and urbanization, transforming from an idyllic town into a dense 16,500 people/km² (per square kilometer) metropolitan area with living space for over 8 million people. New skyscrapers, high-rise buildings, bridges, and gardens have been constructed. Natural resources have been heavily exploited, particularly by conversion of the protected upland area into highland villas and real estate. Although the city has encountered many problems (ranging from waste disposal and floods to a complicated traffic system resulting from a lack of road infrastructure), it still attracts large numbers of tourists, weekend sightseers, and migrants from other parts of Indonesia. In 2017 the city won a regional environmental sustainability award for having the cleanest air among major cities in ASEAN. The city is also known as a Smart City, leveraging technology to improve government services and social media, that alert residents to issues such as floods or traffic jams. Bandung is Indonesia’s major technology center. The city is part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, which it joined in 2015.

The first Asian-African Conference, the Bandung Conference, was hosted in Bandung by President Sukarno in 1955. Redevelopment of the existing Husein Sastranegara International Airport (BDO) was completed in 2016. To improve infrastructure, construction of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail was started in 2016 and is projected to be completed in 2021. This is to be complemented by an indigenous type of Automated People Mover (APM) and Light Rail Transit (LRT). The new larger second airport, Bandung Kertajati International Airport (KJT) opened in June 2018, just in time for the 2018 Asian Games. Wikipedia

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An image from Bandung, Bandung City, West Java, Indonesia

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Tijuca (Portuguese pronunciation: [tʃiˈʒukɐ]) (meaning marsh or swamp in the Tupi language, from ty (“water”) and îuk (“rotten”) is a neighborhood of the Northern Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It comprises the region of Saens Peña and Afonso Pena squares. According to the 2000 Census, the district has close to 150,000 inhabitants. It borders with Praça da Bandeira, Maracanã, Vila Isabel, Andaraí, Grajaú and Alto da Boa Vista neighbourhoods.

It is one of the most traditional districts of Rio de Janeiro and has the third-largest urban forest in the world, the Tijuca Forest, which is the result of reforestation from coffee fields that led to a lack of water at that time. Mainly a middle-class district, it has been historically inhabited by Portuguese immigrant families and the families of military officers.

Tijuca hosts Salgueiro, Império da Tijuca and Unidos da Tijuca, three of the main Rio de Janeiro Samba Schools, that together have won 13 titles.

Tijuca is also home to many favelas such as Salgueiro, Borel, Formiga, Turano and Casa Branca. Wikipedia

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An image from Tijuca Forest Brazil

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The Metropolitan City of Bari (Italian: Città Metropolitana di Bari) is a metropolitan city in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bari. It replaced the Province of Bari and includes the city of Bari and some forty other municipalities (comuni). It was first created by the reform of local authorities (Law 142/1990) and then established by Law 56/2014. It has been operative since January 1, 2015.

The Metropolitan City of Bari is headed by the Metropolitan Mayor (Sindaco metropolitano) and by the Metropolitan Council (Consiglio metropolitano). Since 1 January 2015 Antonio Decaro, as mayor of the capital city, has been the first mayor of the Metropolitan City.

It has an area of 3.825 km² (1.477 sq mi) and a total population of 1,261,152 (2014).

Overlooking the Adriatic Sea in south-eastern Italy, the Province of Bari is located in the central part of Apulia and is bordered on the west by the provinces of Matera and Potenza, to the north by the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, and to the south by the provinces of Taranto and Brindisi. The province of Bari was formerly a part of the region of Terra di Bari, which once included the towns of Fasano and Cisternino, now in the province of Brindisi.

The area is dominated by the Murgia hills in the inner part, a karst plateau which is the home of the Alta Murgia National Park, one of the newest national parks in Italy, established in 2004. Only the Bari hinterland and the coastal strip are flat. The north of the province, with Bari, Altamura, Bitonto, Corato, Gravina in Puglia, and Molfetta, is heavily populated. The south, on the contrary, is characterized by the absence of these large centers; the only municipality to be around 50,000 inhabitants is Monopoli. In the southern part of the province, on the border with that of Taranto, is the Itria Valley, between the towns of Alberobello, Locorotondo, Cisternino, and Martina Franca. The province is largely devoid of rivers and lakes, although underground rivers in the karst landscape has formed numerous caves, including those of Castellana and Putignano. Wikipedia

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An image from Bari, Metropolitan City of Bari, Italy

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Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is a landlocked autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China’s border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a small section of China’s border with Russia (Zabaykalsky Krai). Its capital is Hohhot; other major cities include Baotou, Chifeng, Tongliao, and Ordos.

The Autonomous Region was established in 1947, incorporating the areas of the former Republic of China provinces of Suiyuan, Chahar, Rehe, Liaobei, and Xing’an, along with the northern parts of Gansu and Ningxia.

Its area makes it the third-largest Chinese administrative subdivision, constituting approximately 1,200,000 km² (463,000 sq mi) and 12% of China’s total land area. Due to its long span from east to west, Inner Mongolia is geographically divided into eastern and western divisions. The eastern division is often included in Northeastern China (former Manchuria) with major cities including Tongliao, Chifeng, Hailaer, Ulanhot. The western division is included in Northwestern China, with major cities including Baotou, Hohhot. It recorded a population of 24,706,321 in the 2010 census, accounting for 1.84% of Mainland China’s total population. Inner Mongolia is the country’s 23rd most populous province-level division. The majority of the population in the region are Han Chinese, with a sizeable Mongol minority close to 5,000,000 (2019) which is the largest Mongolian population in the world (bigger than that in the country of Mongolia). Inner Mongolia is one of the most economically developed provinces in China with annual GDP per capita close to US$13,000 (2019), often ranked 5th in the nation. The official languages are Mandarin and Mongolian, the latter of which is written in the traditional Mongolian script, as opposed to the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet, which is used in the state of Mongolia (formerly often described as “Outer Mongolia”). Wikipedia

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An image from Inner Mongolia China

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Bangalore, is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than 8 million and a metropolitan population of around 11 million, making it the third-most populous city and fifth-most populous urban agglomeration in India. Located in southern India on the Deccan Plateau, at a height of over 900 m (3,000 ft) above sea level, Bangalore is known for its pleasant climate throughout the year. Its elevation is the highest among the major cities of India.

The city’s history dates back to around 890 CE, in a stone inscription found at the Nageshwara Temple in Begur, Bangalore. The Begur inscription is written in Halegannada (ancient Kannada), mentions ‘Bengaluru Kalaga’ (battle of Bengaluru). It was a significant turning point in the history of Bangalore as it bears the earliest reference to the name ‘Bengaluru’. In 1537 CE, Kempé Gowdā – a feudal ruler under the Vijayanagara Empire – established a mud fort considered to be the foundation of modern Bangalore and its oldest areas, or petes, which exist to the present day. After the fall of Vijayanagar empire in 16th century, the Mughals sold Bangalore to Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar (1673–1704), the then ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore for three lakh rupees. When Haider Ali seized control of the Kingdom of Mysore, the administration of Bangalore passed into his hands.

The city was captured by the British East India Company after victory in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799), who returned administrative control of the city to the Maharaja of Mysore. The old city developed in the dominions of the Maharaja of Mysore and was made capital of the Princely State of Mysore, which existed as a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj. In 1809, the British shifted their cantonment to Bangalore, outside the old city, and a town grew up around it, which was governed as part of British India. Following India’s independence in 1947, Bangalore became the capital of Mysore State and remained capital when the new Indian state of Karnataka was formed in 1956. The two urban settlements of Bangalore – city, and cantonment – which had developed as independent entities merged into a single urban center in 1949. The existing Kannada name, Bengalūru, was declared the official name of the city in 2006.

Bangalore is widely regarded as the “Silicon Valley of India” (or “IT capital of India”) because of its role as the nation’s leading information technology (IT) exporter. Indian technological organizations are headquartered in the city. A demographically diverse city, Bangalore is the second-fastest-growing major metropolis in India. Recent estimates of the metro economy of its urban area have ranked Bangalore as either the fourth- or fifth-most productive metro area of India. As of 2017, Bangalore was home to 7,700 millionaires and 8 billionaires with a total wealth of $320 billion. It is home to many educational and research institutions. Numerous state-owned aerospace and defense organizations are located in the city. The city also houses the Kannada film industry. It was ranked the most liveable Indian city with a population of over a million under the Ease of Living Index 2020. Wikipedia

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An image from Bangalore, karnataka, India

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Zion National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km²) park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to 2,640 ft (800 m) deep. The canyon walls are reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone eroded by the North Fork of the Virgin River. The lowest point in the park is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest peak is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has unique geography and a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bats), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park’s four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches.

Human habitation of the area started about 8,000 years ago with small family groups of Native Americans, one of which was the semi-nomadic Basketmaker Anasazi (c. 300 CE). Subsequently, the Virgin Anasazi culture (c. 500) and the Parowan Fremont group developed as the Basketmakers settled in permanent communities. Both groups moved away by 1300 and were replaced by the Parrusits and several other Southern Paiute subtribes. Mormons came into the area in 1858 and settled there in the early 1860s. In 1909, President William Howard Taft named the area Mukuntuweap National Monument in order to protect the canyon. In 1918, the acting director of the newly created National Park Service, Horace Albright, drafted a proposal to enlarge the existing monument and change the park’s name to Zion National Monument, Zion being a term used by the Mormons. According to historian Hal Rothman: “The name change played to a prevalent bias of the time. Many believed that Spanish and Indian names would deter visitors who, if they could not pronounce the name of a place, might not bother to visit it. The new name, Zion, had greater appeal to an ethnocentric audience.” On November 19, 1919, Congress redesignated the monument as Zion National Park, and the act was signed by President Woodrow Wilson. The Kolob section was proclaimed a separate Zion National Monument in 1937 but was incorporated into the national park in 1956.

The geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area includes nine formations that together represent 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation. At various periods in that time warm, shallow seas, streams, ponds and lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments covered the area. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateau lifted the region 10,000 feet (3,000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Wikipedia

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An image from Zion National Park

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Aarau is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss canton of Aargau. The town is also the capital of the district of Aarau. It is German-speaking and predominantly Protestant. Aarau is situated on the Swiss plateau, in the valley of the Aare, on the river’s right bank, and at the southern foot of the Jura Mountains, and is west of Zürich, 58 kilometers (36 mi) south of Basel and 65 kilometers (40 mi) northeast of Bern. The municipality borders directly on the canton of Solothurn to the west. It is the largest town in Aargau. At the beginning of 2010 Rohr became a district of Aarau.

The official language of Aarau is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.

The old city of Aarau is situated on a rocky outcrop at a narrowing of the Aare river valley, at the southern foot of the Jura mountains. Newer districts of the city lie to the south and east of the outcrop, as well as higher up the mountain, and in the valley on both sides of the Aare. The neighboring municipalities are Küttigen to the north and Buchs to the east, Suhr to the south-east, Unterentfelden to the south, and Eppenberg-Wöschnau and Erlinsbach to the west. Aarau and the nearby neighboring municipalities have grown together and now form an interconnected agglomeration. The only exception is Unterentfelden whose settlements are divided from Aarau by the extensive forests of Gönhard and Zelgli. Approximately nine-tenths of the city is south of the Aare, and one-tenth is to the north. It has an area, as of 2006, of 8.9 km² (3.4 sq mi). Of this area, 6.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 34% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 55.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (4.5%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). The lowest elevation, 365 meters (1,198 ft), is found at the banks of the Aar, and the highest elevation, at 471 meters (1,545 ft), is the Hungerberg on the border with Küttigen. Wikipedia

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An image from Aarau, Switzerland

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Pura Ulun Danu Beratan, or Pura Bratan, is a major Hindu Shaivite temple in Bali, Indonesia. The temple complex is on the shores of Lake Bratan in the mountains near Bedugul. The water from the lake serves the entire region in the outflow area; downstream there are many smaller water temples that are specific to each irrigation association (subak).

In Bali, Hindu temples are known as “pura”, being designed as open-air places of worship in walled compounds. The compound walls have a series of intricately decorated gates without doors for the devotee to enter. The design and plan of the holy pura follows a square layout. A typical temple is laid out according to ancient Lontar texts with three courtyards separated by low walls pierced by ornate gateways. The outer courtyard is for secular pursuits, with pavilions used for meetings, resting performers, and musicians at festivals. Food stalls are set up here during festivals. The middle courtyard is a transition zone between the human and divine sections; here offerings are prepared and temple paraphernalia are stored. The inner courtyard is the site of the shrines and religious ceremonies. The shrines are known as merus and are square structures with brick bases and multiple pagoda-style thatched roofs; the number of roofs reflects the status of the deity and is always an odd number. Pura Ulun Danu Beratan is one of the nine ‘Kahyangan Jagat’ temples on Bali. The temple complex consists of five various shrines dedicated to other Hindu gods as well.

Built in 1633, the temple is used for offerings and ceremonies dedicated to the Balinese water, lake, and river goddess Dewi Danu, due to the importance of Lake Bratan as a main source of irrigation in central Bali. The 11-story pelinggih meru in the complex is dedicated to Shiva and his consort Parvathi. Buddha’s statue is also enshrined in this temple. This temple is also called the “Bali temple on the Lake” because it looks as if it is floating when the Bratan River rises. Wikipedia

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An image of Pura Ulun Danu Bratan Temple Bali

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Aalen is a former Free Imperial City located in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, about 70 kilometers (43 mi) east of Stuttgart and 48 kilometers (30 mi) north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district and is its largest town. It is also the largest town in the Ostwürttemberg region. Since 1956, Aalen has had the status of Große Kreisstadt (major district town). It is noted for its many half-timbered houses constructed from the 16th century through the 18th century.

With an area of 146.63 km², Aalen is ranked 7th in Baden-Württemberg and 2nd within the Government Region of Stuttgart, after Stuttgart. With a population of about 66,000, Aalen is the 15th most-populated settlement in Baden-Württemberg.

Aalen is situated on the upper reaches of the river Kocher, at the foot of the Swabian Jura which lies to the south and south-east, and close to the hilly landscapes of the Ellwangen Hills to the north and the Welland to the north-west.

The west of Aalen’s territory is on the foreland of the eastern Swabian Jura, and the north and north-west is on the Swabian-Franconian Forest, both being part of the Swabian Keuper-Lias Plains. The south-west is part of the Albuch, the east is part of the Härtsfeld, these two both being parts of the Swabian Jura.

The Kocher enters the town’s territory from Oberkochen to the south, crosses the district of Unterkochen, then enters the town center, where the Aal flows into it. The Aal is a small river located only within the town’s territory. Next, the Kocher crosses the district of Wasseralfingen, then leaves the town for Hüttlingen. Rivers originating near Aalen are the Rems (near Essingen, west of Aalen) and the Jagst (near Unterschneidheim, east of Aalen), both being tributaries of the Neckar, just like the Kocher.

The elevation in the center of the market square is 430 m (1,410 ft) relative to Normalhöhennull. The territory’s lowest point is at the Lein river near Rodamsdörfle, the highest point is the Grünberg’s peak near Unterkochen at 733 m (2,405 ft). Wikipedia

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An image from Aalen, Germany

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