Luxembourg - Société Européenne des Satellites (SES)

Control Centre of the European Satellite Company Ltd. in Betzdorf (Grand Duchy of Luxembourg).

Sent by Steve from Luxembourg.

SES S.A. is a Luxembourgish communications satellite operator supplying video and data connectivity worldwide to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions.

SES owns and operate over 70 satellites in two different orbits: geostationary orbit (GEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO). These include European Astra TV satellites, the O3b and O3b mPOWER data satellites and others with names including AMC, Ciel, NSS, Quetzsat, YahSat and SES.

In April 2024, SES announced the acquisition of satellite services provider, Intelsat to create a more competitive multi-orbit satellite operator. The acquisition was cleared by the UK Competition and Markets Authority in May 2025, and by the European Commission in June 2025. The merger cleared the final regulatory hurdle when the US Federal Communications Commission granted its approval of the deal in July 2025. The acquisition of Intelsat was completed on 17 July 2025 after receiving the required international regulatory approvals.

Based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg, and founded in 1985 as Société Européenne des Satellites, the company was renamed SES Global in 2001 and has been simply "SES" since 2006. The company's stock is listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and Euronext Paris with the ticker symbol SESG and is a component of the LuxX, CAC Next 20 and Euronext 100 stock market indexes (read more).

Postcrossing Meetup - Aurora Borealis Meetup, Seattle, Wahington, USA (11 January 2026)

11 January 2026 |  Seattle, Washington.

Aurora Borealis Meetup.

Sent by Sarah from Washington, USA.

Bulgaria - Magura Cave

Magura Cave in Rabisha, Bulgaria.

Sent by Eugen of Bucharest, Romania.

The Magura Cave (Bulgarian "пещера Магура") is located in north-western Bulgaria close to the village of Rabisha, 25 km (16 mi) from the town of Belogradchik in Vidin Province.

The prehistoric wall paintings of Magura have great resemblance with those of the Grotta dei Cervi in Italy, which are of exceptional expression and artistic depth and are considered the most significant works of art of the European Post-Paleolithic era.

Guided visits are conducted by the staff of Belogradchik municipality, to which the management of the cave was transferred in 2012 by the Bulgarian Council of Ministers.

In 1984, the site was inducted into UNESCO's tentative list of World Heritage (read more).

USA - Illinois - Prairie State

Facts of Illinois, state in USA, nicknamed The Prairie State.

Sent by Matt from Carol Stream in Illinois, USA.

The North American prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems on earth. The grasslands of North America began to form about 20 million years ago, but in some areas up to 99 percent of the prairie has been destroyed (in just the last 125-150 years).

Illinois also designates an official state prairie grass. Wildflowers are the jewels of public lands; tread lightly, take only photos and memories - do not pick flowers or dig up native grasses or other plants (read more).

USA - Kansas - State Capitol Building (2)

The Kansas State Capitol is 304 fet high. The architecture is French Renaissance, constructed of naive limestone from Greary and Chase Counties. Kansas became the 34th State in 1861. Topeka is located in Shawnww County.

Sent by Ashley from Wichita in Kansas, USA.

The Kansas State Capitol recently completed a 13 year, top to bottom restoration of the building that restored the original architect's vision by uncovering beautiful murals, preserving original features, renovating aging limestone and expanding work space.

The Capitol's distinctive copper dome with Ad Astra statue is a prominent feature of the Topeka skyline, but the view inside the dome is just as spectacular. From the first floor, gaze upward to appreciate the beautiful murals, glass panels and bright copper and brass railings of the dramatic dome.

A unique way to experience the Kansas State Capitol is through a breathtaking dome tour. Climb 296 steps to the top of the dome. The elaborate architecture is highlighted with close up views of the inner and outer domes. The summit offers an unrivaled perspective of the city of Topeka.

The Capitol Store on the building's ground floor has a wide selection of Topeka and Kansas-made gifts, souvenirs and merchandise. The Visitor Center and Information Desk is on the first floor. Tours are free at the Kansas State Capitol and take place several times a day Monday - Saturday (read more).

Germany - Saxony/Brandnburg - Upper Lusatia

Sent by Stephanie from Saxony, Germany.

Upper Lusatia (German: Oberlausitz, pronounced [ˈoːbɐˌlaʊzɪts]; Polish: Łużyce Górne or Milsko; Upper Sorbian: Hornja Łužica, pronounced [ˈhɔʁnʲa ˈwuʒitsa]; Lower Sorbian: Górna Łužyca; Czech: Horní Lužice) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the north, it makes up the region of Lusatia, named after the Slavic Lusici tribe. Both parts of Lusatia are home to the West Slavic minority group of the Sorbs.

The major part of Upper Lusatia is part of the German federal state of Saxony, roughly comprising Bautzen district and Görlitz district. The northwestern extremity, around Ruhland and Tettau, is incorporated into the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district of the state of Brandenburg. The eastern part of Upper Lusatia is in Poland, east of the Neisse (Nysa) river, in Lower Silesian Voivodeship. A small strip of land in the north around Łęknica is incorporated into Lubusz Voivodeship, along with the Polish part of Lower Lusatia.

The historic capital of Upper Lusatia is Bautzen/Budyšin, while the largest city in the region is Görlitz/Zgorzelec, halved between Germany and Poland since 1945. The name Lusatia superior was first recorded in a 1474 deed, derived from the adjacent Lower Lusatian lands in the north, which originally were just called the March of Lusatia. The Upper Lusatian territory was previously referred to as Milsko in contemporary chronicles, named after the local West Slavic Milceni tribe, later also called Land Budissin (read more).

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Republika Srpska - Višegrad

Višegrad, a town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The sites shown are primarily associated with the town's rich history. Featured attractions include Andrićgrad (Stone Town), and Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge.

Sent by Biljana from Višegrad in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Višegrad (Serbian Cyrillic: Вишеград, pronounced [ʋǐʃeɡraːd]) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It rests at the confluence of the Drina and the Rzav river. As of 2013, the municipality has a population of 10,668 inhabitants, while the town of Višegrad has a population of 5,869 inhabitants.

The town includes the Ottoman-era Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge, a UNESCO world heritage site which was popularized by Ivo Andrić in his novel The Bridge on the Drina. A tourist site called Andrićgrad (Andrić Town), dedicated to Andrić, is located near the bridge.

Višegrad is a South Slavic toponym meaning "the upper town/castle/fort".

Višegrad is located at the confluence of the Drina river and the Rzav river in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the road from Goražde and Ustiprača towards Užice, Serbia, which is part of the geographical region of Podrinje. It is also part of the historical region of Stari Vlah; the immediate area surrounding the town was historically called "Višegradski Stari Vlah", noted as an ethnographic region in which the population was closer to Užice, located on the Serbian side of the River Drina, than to the surrounding areas (read more).

Malaysia - Perak - Ipoh Railway Station

IPOH RAILWAY STATION

Sent by KKKhor from Ipoh, the state capital of Perak, Malaysia.

The Ipoh railway station is a Malaysian train station located in the heart of and named after Ipoh, the capital city of the state of Perak. It serves as the main railway terminal for the state. Owned and operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), the station is served by several KTM ETS services, as well as being the southern terminus of KTM Komuter Northern Sector's Butterworth-Ipoh Line. The station also handles freight trains. Although there are nine tracks, only four are electrified and three of the electrified tracks are used for the ETS and Komuter services. The remaining six other tracks are used for freight trains.

Designed by Arthur Benison Hubback, the current station was officially opened in 1917. Affectionately known as the Taj Mahal of Ipoh by its locals, the building also houses a station hotel called the Majestic Hotel.

The station is located on Jalan Panglima Bukit Gantang Wahab. Along the road, there is also the Ipoh Main Post Office, Ipoh Court Complex and the Ipoh Town Hall. Other places like the Birch Memorial Clock Tower, Padang Ipoh, Tun Razak Library and State Mosque are also nearby.

This station generally serves the Ipoh city area with passengers coming from many parts of the city, except southwestern parts of the city like Lahat and Pengkalan which are closer to Batu Gajah station instead. Accessibility and service factors also influence passengers from some other towns nearby to alight at this station, even coming from as far as Sungai Siput despite having its own dedicated station at Sungai Siput (read more).

USA - Nevada - Silver State

Facts about the state of Nevada, which is known as the "Silver State".

Sent by Stacey from Sparks in Nevada, USA.

A 1794 silver dollar believed to be one of the first-ever minted is going up for auction by the owner in Las Vegas.  

Known as the "Flowing Hair" silver dollar, it’s expected to fetch almost as much as the current owner paid for it in 2013 – $10 million dollars. 

If the buyer is another Nevadan, that might not surprise UNLV history professor Michael Green because Nevada has a storied history with a strong connection to silver. 

“The simplest way to put it is silver put us on the map,” Green said.

When people started pouring into California during the gold rush, Green explained, they also started looking for gold on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, thinking if there is gold on the west side there might be gold on the eastern side.

Some gold was found, but they also found a blue-gray gunk that most people thought was trash. In reality, it was silver.

In 1859, two miners Peter O'Riley and Patrick McLaughlin made the big discovery of the silver in Six-Mile Canyon near Virginia City.

“They found the big silver lode that became known as the Comstock Lode," Green said, "It was the largest silver discovery in the United States and I believe it still is. It was the first major silver discovery in the U.S. This inspired migration into the region."

An estimated 20,000 people poured into Nevada to strike it rich on the silver (read more).  

USA - Washington - Lumen Field

Lumen Field Stadium in Seattle, Washington. The stadium is the home field for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.

Sent by Kristine from Seattle, USA.

Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), and Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It has a seating capacity of 68,740 spectators for NFL games and 37,722 for most MLS matches. The complex also includes the Event Center, which is home to the Washington Music Theater (WaMu Theater), a parking garage, and a public plaza. Located within a mile (1.6 km) of Downtown Seattle, the stadium is accessible by multiple freeways and forms of mass transit.

The stadium was built between 2000 and 2002 on the site of the Kingdome after voters approved funding for the construction in a statewide election held in June 1997. This vote created the Washington State Public Stadium Authority to oversee public ownership of the venue. The owner of the Seahawks, Paul Allen, formed First & Goal Inc. to develop and operate the new facilities. Allen was closely involved in the design process and emphasized the importance of an open-air venue with an intimate atmosphere. Originally called Seahawks Stadium, it was renamed Qwest Field in 2004 when telecommunications carrier Qwest acquired the naming rights. The stadium became known as CenturyLink Field following Qwest's June 2011 acquisition by CenturyLink and was nicknamed "The Clink" as a result; it received its current name in November 2020 with CenturyLink's rebrand to Lumen Technologies (read more).

South Korea - Gyeongju Historic Areas

The Gyeongju Historic Areas contain a remarkable concentration of outstanding examples of Korean Buddhist art, in the form of sculptures, reliefs, pagodas, and the remains of temples and palaces from the flowering, in particular between the 7th and 10th centuries, of this form of unique artistic expression.

Sent by Miyoung from Incheon, South Korea.

The Gyeongju Historic Areas contain a remarkable concentration of outstanding examples of Korean Buddhist art, in the form of sculptures, reliefs, pagodas, and the remains of temples and palaces from the flowering culture of Silla dynasty, in particular between the 7th and 10th century. The Korean peninsula was ruled for almost 1,000 years (57 BCE – 935 CE) by the Silla dynasty, and the sites and monuments in and around Gyeongju bear outstanding testimony to its cultural achievements. These monuments are of exceptional significance in the development of Buddhist and secular architecture in Korea.

The property comprises five distinct areas situated in the centre of Gyeongju and in its suburbs.

The Mount Namsan Belt lies to the north of the city and covers 2,650 ha. The Buddhist monuments that have been excavated at the time of inscription include the ruins of 122 temples, 53 stone statues, 64 pagodas and 16 stone lanterns. Excavations have also revealed the remains of the pre-Buddhist natural and animistic cults of the region. 36 individual monuments, including rock-cut reliefs or engravings, stone images and heads, pagodas, royal tombs and tomb groups, wells, a group of stone banner poles, the Namsan Mountain Fortress, the Poseokjeong Pavilion site and the Seochulji Pond, exist within this area (read more).

United Kingdom - England - Coventry Corporation Transport Buses in 1920

A Maudslay single-decker or covered-top double-decker buses operated by Coventry Corporation Transport in the 1920s.

Sent by Amelia from Coventry, England.

The Maudslay Motor Company was a British vehicle maker based in Coventry. It was founded in 1901 and continued until 1948 when it was taken over by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and along with Crossley Motors the new group was renamed Associated Commercial Vehicles (ACV) Ltd.

The Maudslay Motor Company was founded in 1901 by Walter Henry Maudslay, grandson of the eminent engineer Henry Maudslay to make marine internal combustion engines at a factory in Parkside, Coventry. He was joined by his son Cyril Charles Maudslay and his nephew Reginald Walter Maudslay, who left in 1903 to found the Standard Motor Company

The marine engines did not sell very well, and in 1902 they made their first engine intended for a car which was fitted to chain-drive chassis. The three-cylinder engine, designed by Alexander Craig, was an advanced unit with a single overhead camshaft and pressure lubrication. Also In 1902, Maudslay Motors made a petrol railway locomotive for the City of London Corporation to draw trucks from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway to the Corporation meat market at Deptford, this requiring 50 tons to be drawn up a gradient of 1 in 36. It was fitted with a three-cylinder engine developing 85 bhp at 450 rpm, with cylinders of 9inch bore and stroke. Transmission was via a 2-speed change gear. The locomotive weighed 12 tons, and was provided with an 8 hp auxiliary engine which was used to start the main engine. This was the first commercially successful petrol locomotive in the world (read more).

USA - California - Los Angeles Philharmonic At The Hollywood Bowl

Vintage-style illustration of the Hollywood Bowl, an iconic outdoor music venue in Los Angeles, California.

Sent by Scott from Los Angeles, USA.

The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre and public park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States by Rolling Stone magazine in 2018 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distinctive bandshell, originally a set of concentric arches that graced the site from 1929 through 2003, before being replaced with a larger one to begin the 2004 season. The shell is set against the backdrop of the Hollywood Hills and the Hollywood Sign to the northeast.

The "bowl" refers to the shape of the concave meadow or dell, originally called Daisy Dell, into which the amphitheatre is carved. The Bowl is owned by the County of Los Angeles and is the home of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the host venue for hundreds of musical events each year.

Located on North Highland Avenue, it is north of Hollywood Boulevard and approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Hollywood/Highland Metro Rail station. It is adjacent to U.S. Route 10 1 (read more).

Shchuka-Class Submarine

Depiction of a "Shchuka"-class submarine, a series of attack submarine from the Soviet Navy that were particularly prominent during World War II.

Sent by Tanya from Minsk Oblast, Belarus.

The Shchuka-class submarines (Russian: Щука), also referred to as Sh or Shch-class submarines, were a medium-sized class of Soviet submarines, built in large numbers and used during World War II. "Shchuka" is Russian for pike. Of this class, only two submarines (411 and 412) entered service after 1945, although they were launched before the war.

On 23 January 1930, the USSR Revolutionary Military Council (Revvoensoviet) adapted a proposed submarine concept that were to "execute positioning service on closed theatres". Plans were made to construct up to 200 submarines in three main versions, the later ones would be larger and with longer range than the previous versions. However, due to the outbreak of World War II, only 88 submarines were commissioned. It was still to be the second most numerous submarine class of the Soviet Navy (only the M class were more numerous with 111 built). Seven ship construction yards were involved in the program - No. 189, 190, 194 in Leningrad, No. 112 in Gorky, No. 200 in Nikolaev and No. 202 in Vladivostok (read more).

Russia - Krasnodar Krai - Malaya Zemlya

MONUMENT "MALAYA ZEMLYA" - THE FIRST PART OF THE "RUBEL MEMORIAL" COMPLEX

The monument was erected in September 1982. The monument is a raised-noe of a landing hip. Its base is hidden under water and its top rises high above the ground. Sailors and soldiers running to battle, depicted in bas-reliif on the outer side of the monument's rib. Inside the architectural structure, symbolizing the landing craft, there is a Gallery of Battle Glory. The memorial in Tsemes Bay is a new word in the creation of memorable architectural and scuptural ensembles armed along the border of the defense of hero cities.

Sculptor V. Tsigal, architects Y. Belopolskyi, R. Kanin, V. Khavin.

Sent by Marit from Minsk, Belarus.

Malaya Zemlya (Russian: Малая Земля, lit. "Small Land") was a Soviet uphill outpost on Cape Myskhako (Russian: Мысхако), situated westward from Tsemes Bay on the Black Sea, that was recaptured after battles with the Germans during the Battle of the Caucasus on the night of 4 February 1943. The episode paved way for a Soviet attack on German forces in Novorossiysk.

Cape Myskhako is associated with a stand made by the 800-strong contingent of the Soviet Naval Infantry against the Germans during the Second World War. The special forces were dropped during winter high storms by the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, after the unsuccessful landing attempt at Malajia Ozereevka. The landing at Malaya Zemlya had aimed to be a decoy, but after a second landing at Bolshaia Ozereevka was lost in an ambush, the offensive plan was reworked and the landing site at Malaya Zemlya was made the main landing location. Upon landing to secure the beachhead, they came under a German counter-offensive with air support (read more).