April 29 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 29

Portrait of NGC 3628

Image Credit & Copyright: Wilhelm Michael Kasakow, Olaf Guillaume

Explanation: Sharp telescopic views of NGC 3628 show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes. Of course, this portrait of the magnificent, edge-on spiral galaxy puts some astronomers in mind of its popular moniker, the Hamburger Galaxy. It also reveals a small galaxy nearby (below), likely a satellite of NGC 3628, and a very faint but extensive tidal tail. The drawn out tail stretches for about 300,000 light-years, even beyond the upper left edge of the frame. NGC 3628 shares its neighborhood in the local universe with two other large spirals M65 and M66 in a grouping otherwise known as the Leo Triplet. Gravitational interactions with its cosmic neighbors are likely responsible for creating the tidal tail, as well as the extended flare and warp of this spiral’s disk. The tantalizing island universe itself is about 100,000 light-years across and 35 million light-years away in the northern springtime constellation Leo.

April 29 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

1862 New Orleans falls to Union forces during US Civil War

1864 Battle of Gate Pa (Pukehinahina): 1,700 British troops suffer their worst defeat of the New Zealand Wars at the hands of 230 entrenched Maori warriors in Tauranga

1916 Irish republicans abandon the post office in Dublin and surrender unconditionally, marking the end of the Easter Rising

1945 US Army liberates 31,601 people from the Dachau Nazi concentration camp in Germany

1975 Vietnam War: US begins to evacuate its citizens from Saigon in Operation Frequent Wind in response to advancing North Vietnamese forces, bringing an end to US involvement in the war

1990 Wrecking cranes began tearing down the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate

1991 Cyclone strikes the Chittagong district in Bangladesh, killing 139,000 people and leaving 10 million homeless

1997 Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 comes into force, outlaws production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons among its signatories

Today’s Historical Events

1091 Battle at Monte Levunium: Byzantium Emperor Alexius I beats Petshegene force invading from the north

1429 Joan of Arc arrives at the siege of Orleans

1522 Emperor Charles V names Frans van Holly inquisitor-general of Netherlands

1540 Emperor Charles declares all privileges of Ghent ended

1550 Emperor Charles V gives inquisiters additional authority

1553 Flemish woman introduces practice of starching linen into England

1587 English naval officer Francis Drake sails into Cadiz, Spain and sinks the Spanish fleet, thereby “Singeing the King of Spain’s Beard” and delaying the Spanish invasion by a year

1623 11 Dutch ships depart for the conquest of Peru

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1912 Frank Wedekind‘s play “Tod und Teufel” premieres in Berlin

1932 1st broadcast of “One Man’s Family” on NBC radio, longest-running dramatic serial on US radio (ends 1959)

1940 1st radio broadcast of “Young Dr Malone” on CBS

1943 Noël Coward‘s comic play “Present Laughter” premieres in London

1945 Conscientious objector Desmond Doss saves approximately 75 wounded soldiers in the Battle of Okinawa at Hacksaw Ridge. Later depicted in the Oscar-winning film “Hacksaw Ridge”.

1953 The first U.S. experimental 3D-TV broadcast showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV

1953 6th Cannes Film Festival: “The Wages of Fear” directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film

1956 WLUC TV channel 6 in Marquette, MI (CBS/NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1784 Premiere of Mozart‘s Violin Sonata in B flat, K.454 at Kärntnerthor Theater in Vienna; violinist Regina Strinasacchi, and Wolfgang Mozart on piano

1967 Aretha Franklin releases her single “Respect” (written by Otis Redding); Billboard Song of the Year, 1967

1968 “Hair” opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 1750 performances

1969 “Trumpets of the Lord” opens at Brooks Atkinson NYC for 7 performances

1984 “Oliver!” opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 17 performances

1990 “Change in the Heir” opens at Edison Theater NYC for 16 performances

1991 “Our Country’s Good” opens at Nederlander Theater NYC for 48 performances

1991 “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” single released by Alan Jackson (ASCAP Award Country Song of the Year, 1992; Billboard Song of the Year, 1991)

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1751 The New York Gazette and Post Boy carries first public report of a cricket match played in America; New York XI v London XI on the site of what is today the Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan, NYC

1892 Charlie Reilly is baseball’s 1st pinch hitter

1901 27th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Winkfield on His Eminence wins in 2:07.75

1918 Tris Speaker ties career outfield record of 4 unassisted double plays

1922 1st official International Weightlifting Federation Champ in Tallinn, Estonia

1930 123 runs are scored in 7 major league games

1931 Cleveland Indians pitcher Wes Ferrell no-hits St Louis Browns, 9-0

1934 Pittsburgh is last major league city to play a home game on a Sunday

April 28 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 28

Lyrid of the Lake

Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN)

Explanation: In the early hours of April 24 this bright Lyrid meteor flashed along the central Milky Way. For a moment, it cast a bright reflection across Lake Nian, Yunnan province, China. The annual Lyrid meteor shower, one of the oldest known, is active in late April, as our fair planet plows through dust left along the orbit of long-period comet Thatcher. The trail of the bright fireball points back toward the shower’s radiant in the constellation Lyra high in the northern springtime sky and off the top of the frame. Just rising in that starry sky, light from a third quarter moon also cast a glow on the peaceful waters of the lake.

Some Witchcraft/Magickal Correspondence Digest for Wednesday

Mercury/Neptune/Air/North/West/Southwest/Female/Male/Gemini/Virgo

Magickal Intentions: Communication, Divination, Writing, Knowledge, Business Transactions, Debt, Fear, Loss, Travel, Money Matters

Color: black, light blue, brown, gray, green, magenta, orange, peach, purple, red, silver, turquoise, violet, white, yellow; orange is the primary color

Number: 3, 5

Metal: mercury

Charm: distaff, rod, runes, staff, iridescent garments

Stone: moss agate, amethyst, bloodstone, emerald, hematite, lapis lazuli, lodestone, pearl, ruby, sapphire, sodalite, all blue stones

Animal: bear, dog, fox, magpie, swan, weasel

Plant: almond, bayberry, chamomile, cherry, cinnamon, cinquefoil, clove, coltsfoot, ginger, hazel, hazelnut, jasmine, lavender, millet, oak, peppermint, periwinkle, rosemary, sage, St. John’s wort, sweet pea, tamarind, lemon verbena, violet

Incense: cassia, cedar, cinnamon, clove, frankincense, jasmine, lavender, mastic, mint, rosemary, sage, sandalwood, storax, dried and powdered citrus peel, and all incense made from aromatic bark, wood, and seeds

Goddess: Carmenta, Hecate (Queen of Crossroads), Hel, Ishtar, Ma’at, the Morrigan, Nike

God: Anubis, Bragi, Elath-Iahu. Enki, Garuda, Hermes, Maximon (Black Magician), Mercury, Nebo (Wise God of Wednesday), Odin, Shango, Ullr, Vishnu, Wayland, Woden

Evocation: Agrat Bat Mahalat, Michael, Miel, Raphael, Seraphiel, Tiriel

Courtesy of Moonlight Musings

April 27 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 27

Moon Shadow on Jupiter

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Processing & License: Thomas Thomopoulos

Explanation: What is that large dark spot on Jupiter? It’s the shadow of Ganymede, Jupiter‘s largest moon. When Jupiter’s moons cross between the Jovian giant and the Sun, they created shadows just like when the Earth’s moon crosses between the Earth and the Sun. Also like on Earth, if you were in a dark shadow on Jupiter, you would see a moon completely eclipse the Sun. Unlike on Earth, moon shadows occur most days on Jupiter — what’s more unusual is that a spacecraft was close enough to record one with a high-resolution image. That spacecraft, Juno, was passing so close to Jupiter in late February that nearby clouds and the dark eclipse shadow appear relatively large. Juno has made many discoveries about our Solar System‘s largest planet, including, recently, rapidly expanding circular auroras.

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator

April 26 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 26

Planet Parade over Sydney Opera House

Image Credit & Copyright: Prasun Agrawal

Explanation: The world is waking up to a picturesque planet parade. Just before dawn, the eastern skies over much of planet Earth are decorated by a notable line of familiar planets. In much of Earth’s northern hemisphere, this line of planets appears most nearly horizontal, but in much of Earth’s southern hemisphere, the line appears more nearly vertical. Pictured over the Sydney Opera House in southern Australia, the planet line was captured nearly vertical about five days ago. From top to bottom, the morning planets are Saturn, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter. As April ends, the angular distance between Venus and Jupiter will gradually pass below a degree as they switch places. Then, as May ends, Jupiter will pass near Mars as those two planets switch places. In June, the parade will briefly expand to include Mercury.

Notable Submissions to APOD: Morning Planet Parade 2022