April 18 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 April 18

Stars and Planets over Portugal

Image Credit & Copyright: Miguel Claro (TWAN, Dark Sky Alqueva)

Explanation: The mission was to document night-flying birds — but it ended up also documenting a beautiful sky. The featured wide-angle mosaic was taken over the steppe golden fields in Mértola, Portugal in 2020. From such a dark location, an immediately-evident breathtaking glow arched over the night sky: the central band of our Milky Way galaxy. But this sky had much more. Thin clouds crossed the sky like golden ribbons. The planet Mars appeared on the far left, while the planets Saturn and Jupiter were also simultaneously visible — but on the opposite side of the sky, here seen on the far right. Near the top of the image the bright star Vega can be found, while the far-distant and faint Andromeda Galaxy can be seen toward the left, just below Milky Way’s arch. As the current month progresses, several planets are lining up in the pre-dawn sky: Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Saturn.

Did you know? Many APODs have links for adventure & humor

April 18 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

1025 Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland

1506 The cornerstone of the current St. Peter’s Basilica is laid in the Vatican by Pope Julius II

1775 Paul Revere and William Dawes ride from Charlestown to Lexington warning the “regulars are coming!”

1783 American Revolution: George Washington issues General Order announcing the end of hostilities with Britain, giving thanks to the Almighty, and offering congratulations and authorizing an extra ration of alcohol to the troops to celebrate [1]

1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire kills nearly 4,000 while destroying 75% of the city

1954 Egyptian Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power and appoints himself Prime Minister

Today’s Historical Events

310 St Eusebius begins his reign as Catholic Pope

387 Bishop Ambrosius of Milan baptizes Augustinus

1025 Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland

1506 The cornerstone of the current St. Peter’s Basilica is laid in the Vatican by Pope Julius II

1518 Bona Sforza is crowned queen consort of Poland

1521 Diet of Worms: Cardinal Alexander questions Martin Luther

1552 Mauritius of Saksen occupies Linz

1663 Osman declares war on Austria

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1930 BBC news announcer announces “there is no news” at 20:45 news bulletin, plays music instead

1944 Leonard Bernstein & Jerome Robbins‘ ballet “Fancy Free” premieres in NYC

1969 Greek actress and activist Melina Mercouri establishes Greek Aid Fund

1979 “Real People” premieres on NBC TV

1988 Barbra Streisand records “Warm All Over”

1994 Arsenio Hall announces he will end his show in May 1994

1998 51st British Film and Television Awards (BAFTAS): “The Full Monty” Best Film, Baz Luhrmann Best Director

2004 50th British Academy Television Awards: “Little Britain” Best Comedy, “Buried” Best Drama

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1946 Rome, Auerbach and Horwitt’s musical “Call Me Mister” opens at National Theater NYC for 734 performances

1951 “Make a Wish” opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 102 performances

1953 “Pal Joey” closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 542 performances

1955 “Ankles Aweigh” opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 176 performances

1964 Albert Hague and Marty Brill’s musical “Cafe Crown”, starring Theodore Bikel, closes at Martin Beck Theater NYC after 3 performances

1964 “Foxy” closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 72 performances

1972 “Lost in the Stars” based on the novel “Cry the Beloved Country” by Alan Paton opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 39 performances

1977 Musical revue “Side by Side by Sondheim” opens at Music Box, NYC for 390 performances

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1809 First run of 2,000 guineas horse race at Newmarket, England

1869 1st international cricket match, held in San Francisco, won by California

1898 2nd Boston Marathon won by Canadian Ron McDonald in race record 2:42:00

1904 8th Boston Marathon won by Michael Spring in 2:38:04.4

1908 Canadian champion Tommy Burns KOs Jewey Smith of England in 5th round at Neuilly Bowling Palace, Paris to retain his world heavyweight boxing title

1910 14th Boston Marathon won by Canadian Fred Cameron in 2:28:52.4

1918 Cleveland center fielder Tris Speaker turns an unassisted double play

1921 25th Boston Marathon won by Frank Zuna in race record 2:18:57.6

April 17 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 April 17

Shuttle Over Earth

Image Credit: NASA, Expedition 22 Crew

Explanation: What’s that approaching? Astronauts on board the International Space Station in 2010 first saw it far in the distance. Soon it enlarged to become a dark silhouette. As it came even closer, the silhouette appeared to be a spaceship. Finally, the object revealed itself to be the Space Shuttle Endeavour, and it soon docked as expected with the Earth-orbiting space station. Pictured here, Endeavour was imaged near Earth’s horizon as it approached, where several layers of the Earth’s atmosphere were visible. Directly behind the shuttle is the mesosphere, which appears blue. The atmospheric layer that appears white is the stratosphere, while the orange layer is Earth’s Troposphere. Together, these thin layers of air — collectively spanning less than 2 percent of Earth‘s radius — sustain us all in many ways, including providing oxygen to breath and a barrier to dangerous radiations from space.

A Thought for Today

Hoping you have a wonderful Saturday

Blessed be dear sisters, brothers, and honored guests.

April 16 Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 April 16

{“SLSFrameType”:”Composite”,”Description”:”Made from 43 light frames. Algorithm: Min Horizon Noise”}

Orion Pines

Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado (Starry Earth, TWAN)

Explanation: Taken with a camera fixed to a tripod, many short exposures were aligned with the stars to unveil this beautiful, dark night sky. Captured near the rural village of Albany`a at the northeastern corner of Spain, the three stars of Orion’s belt stretch across top center in the starry frame. Alnitak, the easternmost (left) of the belt stars is seen next to the more diffuse glow of the Flame Nebula and the dark notch of the famous Horsehead. Easily visible to the naked-eye The Great Nebula of Orion is below the belt stars. A mere 1,500 light-years distant, it is the closest large stellar nursery to our fair planet. Best seen in photographs, the broad and faint arc of Barnard’s Loop seems to embrace Orion’s brighter stars and nebulae though. In the northern spring the familiar northern winter constellation is setting. Near the western horizon toward lower right Orion’s apparently bright blue supergiant Rigel just touches the branches of a pine tree.