Pajaholic

After Googling, I too thought that "design" was a better word. However, the OED defines "invent" thus: "Create or design (something that has not existed before); be the originator of." and so it's somewhat synonymous with "design"

DING! With a (compound) primary mirror of 6.5 metres, the James Webb telescope has over seven times the light-gathering capability of the Hubble telescope. Unlike the Hubble, there is currently no way to get astronauts out to fix it if they didn't get it right first time since it won't be in Earth orbit. For anyone who's interested, the unofficial national emblem of Catalonia is the Catalan Donkey -- you see these stuck to the backs of cars etc. all over Catalonia in place of the Catillian Bull seen in much of the rest of Spain. Over to me N u

I thought I'd set an easy question (I guess that they're all easy if you know the answer!) However, the lack of response suggests otherwise. I was going to authorise Googling, but I just tried and Google is of limited help if any. So I'll set an alternative question -- this time on astronomy. What is the name of the space telescope planned to launch in October next year to orbit the Sun at the second Earth/Sun Lagrange point?

Thanks. FWIW, we have friends who lived in Catalonia for a while -- which was where I (apparently incorrectly) heard that the King of Catalonia was one of the joint monarchs. Your hint that the role was about to change suggested the head of state of France as the other. For the next ding, what is the modern-day 'national' emblem of Catalonia?

In that case, I'll guess at Francoise Hollande (Premier of France), soon to be superseded by Emanuel Macron as I suspect that the Premier of France is a de-facto joint monarch of Andorra (it originally being the King of France until the French Revolution). IIRC the other monarch was the King of Catalonia and so is/was a monarch of both territories.

I suspected it might be the Queen (Elizabeth II) as monarch of the UK and (ceremonial?) head of state of a republic somewhere else (e.g. a former colony), with Jamaica being my best guess. However, a quick check revealed that Jamaica remains a monarchy (albeit independent from UK).

That'll get you the Ding! In the Northern hemisphere, it's just under Alnitak, which is the left-most of the three stars of Orion's belt. Over to Optimist on the run...

As it's more than a week since I posted my answer, I googled to confirm the above answers. Hopefully, the latest rule permits me (or anyone else for that) to jump in and post a new question to keep the thread moving. So, moving on to astronomy, a subject which I suspect interests some regulars on this thread: In which constellation is the Horsehead Nebula to be found?

Looking at this logically, I can discount any letter for which I can identify two cities. So the following are discounted: A (Aberdeen, Armargh), B (Bath, Bristol), C (Cardiff, Chester), D (Durham, Derby), E (Edinburgh, Exeter), G (Gloucester, Glasgow), L (Liverpool, Leicester), N (Norwich, Newcastle), P (Plymouth, Portsmouth), R (Reading, Ripon), S (Swansea, Southampton), W (Winchester, Wolverhampton) I can't think of any cities that start with F, I, J, Q, U, V, X and Z That leaves H (Hereford), K (Kingston-Upon-Hull), M (Manchester), O (Oxford), T (Truro), Y (York), which gives 6. I've lost two somewhere -- but hopefully I've given enough.

It depends on how you define "city". AFAICT, the most common definitions are "a conurbation that has a cathedral" and "a conurbation granted city status by royal charter". In either case, AFAICT, there are fewer than 100 cities in UK, so 8 is a significant proportion and hence the letter concerned must be a 'common' one. I couldn't think of 6 beginning with either A or B, so I'll try C and hope there are exactly two that I've missed: Cardiff, Chester, Coventry, Canterbury, Cambridge, Carlisle (I'm not sure of the last, but I could only think of those six!)

A very quick ding! Over to you.

Happy New Year to all on the thread. Thanks for the ding. For the next, which alcoholic drink is often referred to as, "La Fée Verte" (The Green Fairy) in literature?

Phonetically, sounds like whisky!

I just checked the Lunar 100 list and was surprised to see that whatever it is, it isn't listed as a significant Lunar feature for amateur astronomers to observe. That said, making this post gives me the chance to link the following image, which I captured a couple of weeks ago and of which I'm fairly pleased!

If my smattering of latin serves, "sub rosa" literally means "under the rose", so Roma sub rosa is "Rome under the rose". Going by our modern expression "through rose-coloured glasses", I suspect that "sub rosa" is a euphamism with similar meaning?

As I understand it, it's the highest point of the Andes range in South America. However, the name of the mountain is something I can neither spell nor pronounce! Hopefully, this will help someone with better lingistic skills and memory to get the ding!

As Gustav Holst was a 20th Century composer, I'll guess that he re-arranged the earlier Rosetti work?

That's enough to get the Ding. For completeness, the largest freshwater lake by volume is (as stated) Lake Baikal in Siberia, which holds approximately 1/5 of the World's fresh surface water. The largest by area is Lake Michigan-Huron (Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are a single body of water in hydrological terms) which, at approx 45,000 sq miles is larger than the 32,000 sq miles of Lake Superior. The largest lake within an island within a lake is Lake Manitou, which is within Manitoulin Island, which is in Lake Huron. Over to MartyBartfast ...

No correct answers so far. Although Wikipedia names Lake Superior as the largest, it is with the caveat that another is hydrologically the largest by area. Another lake in another continent is the largest by volume (containing about a fifth of the World's fresh water by volume). Coincidentally, the answer to Q1 is a lake in an island in an answer to Q2!

Thanks. Staying with lakes, this is a two-part question. You only need to answer one part correctly for the ding, but bonus points for getting both: What is the largest freshwater lake that is in an island that, in turn, is in a fresh water lake? What is the largest freshwater lake in the World?

I suspect that this is a question with no strictly correct answer. I suspect you're looking for "Lake Michigan". However, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are the same body of water (they're joined at the Northern end of Lake Michigan). As Lake Huron is partly in the US and partly in Canada, the entire lake isn't entirely inside the USA's border. That said, I'll still say "Lake Michigan"!

That's a DING for Optimist on the run. Just in case anyone's thinking that SA doesn't have a border with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), neither the ACT, the Northern Territories nor the Jervis Bay Territory are states. Over to Optomist on the run...

Nope! NSW doesn't have a border with Western Australia I can't believe this question is that difficult, but feel free to use a map (even an online map) to answer this one.

Thanks. Staying with geography: Which mainland Australian state has a border with every other mainland Australian state?

I suspect you meant "Gran Canaria" rather than "Gran Carnaria". The group of islands is the "Canary Islands", which are not named after birds but have the same root as "Canine" and hence are really the Islands of Dogs! That is, the island group is named after the dog.