A Thought for Today

I am back to posting after 4 days that seemed to last for more than 24 hours. I took last evening to clear myself of the negativity I brought to myself with all the stuff I went through with PayPal to get money back and safeguard my account. I will be putting the donate button back up today now that I know when someone makes a donation, pays for a course fee, or readings and clearings I do that your sensitive information will be safe.

Not all the regular posts were done today. The reason for that is I want to get the tomorrow posts for both hemispheres done.

Thank you for sticking with me and for the support and kind words that helped me make it through that awful huge problem. I could not have kept my cool when talking online with PayPal customer service works who did nothing to help my situation if not for all of you. When I called PayPal a wonderful lady not only helped me get a refund for the unauthorized transactions but told me what to do to make my account safe from all hackers hopefully.

Wishing you a sensational Saturday dear Sisters, Brothers, and Honored Guests!

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 October 25

Jupiter Rotates as Moons Orbit

Video Credit & Copyright: Makrem Larnaout

Explanation: Jupiter and its moons move like our Sun and its planets. Similarly, Jupiter spins while its moons circle around. Jupiter’s rotation can be observed by tracking circulating dark belts and light zones. The Great Red Spot, the largest storm known, rotates to become visible after about 15 seconds in the 48-second time lapse video. The video is a compilation of shorts taken over several nights last month and combined into a digital recreation of how 24-continuous hours would appear. Jupiter’s brightest moons always orbit in the plane of the planet’s rotation, even as Earth’s spin makes the whole system appear to tilt. The moons EuropaGanymede, and Io are all visible, with Europa’s shadow appearing as the icy Galilean moon crosses Jupiter’s disk. Jupiter remains near opposition this month, meaning that it is unusually bright, near to its closest to the Earth, and visible nearly all night long.

 

Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator

October 25 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

1415 Battle of Agincourt: Henry V‘s forces defeat larger French army and the longbow defeats the armoured knight

1854 The infamous “Charge of the Light Brigade” during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War results in over 100 killed

1962 US Ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson demands USSR UN rep Valerian Zorin answer regarding Cuban missile bases saying “I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over”

1971 United Nations votes to expel the Chinese Nationalist ruled Taiwan and admit the Communist People’s Republic of China

2017 Chinese Premier Xi Jinping unveils his new ruling council in the Great Hall of the People, none of the five are young enough to succeed him

Today’s Historical Events

625 Boniface V ends his reign as Catholic Pope

1131 Crowning of Louis VII the Young, King of France

1147 King Afonso I of Portugal occupiers Lisbon

1147 Seljuk Turks defeat German crusaders under Conrad III at the Battle of Dorylaeum

1241 Goffredo Castiglioni elected as Pope Coelestinus IV (-Nov 10 1241)

1315 Adam Banastre, Henry de Lea and William Bradshaw, led an attack on Liverpool Castle

1415 Battle of Agincourt: Henry V‘s forces defeat larger French army and the longbow defeats the armoured knight

1415 John IV van Bourgondy becomes Duke of Brabant and Limburg

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1953 KIEM TV channel 3 in Eureka, CA (NBC/CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting

1964 The Rolling Stones make their 1st appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show”; they perform a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Around & Around,” and their own hit “Time Is On My Side” [1]

1978 “Halloween”, directed by John Carpenter, starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut, is released

1980 Barbra Streisand‘s “Guilty” album goes #1 for 3 weeks & her single “Woman In Love,” goes #1 for 3 weeks

1988 ABC News reports on potbellied pygmy pigs’ popularity as pets

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1577 Pope Gregory XIII asks renewal of ecclesiastical hymns

1875 The first performance of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is given in Boston, Massachusetts with Hans von Bülow as soloist

1885 Johannes Brahms conducts the premiere of his 4th Symphony in e, Op. 98, in Meiningen, Germany

1938 American Archbishop of Dubuque (Iowa), Francis J. L. Beckman, denounces Swing music as “a degenerated musical system… turned loose to gnaw away at the moral fiber of young people”, warning that it leads down a “primrose path to hell”.

1940 Vernon Duke and John Latouche’s musical “Cabin In The Sky” opens at the Martin Beck Theatre, NYC; runs for 156 performances

1947 Manning Sherwin and Harold Purcell’s musical “Under the Counter” closes at Shubert Theater, NYC, after 27 performances

1953 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 10th Symphony

1963 The Beatles begin their 1st full foreign tour in Karlstad, Sweden, performing twice at a secondary school auditorium

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1621 Governor Bradford head of the colony of American Plymouth disallows sport on Christmas Day

1884 1st “World Championship” Baseball Series, Polo Grounds, NYC: Providence Grays (NL) beat NY Mets (American Association), 12-2 in 6 innings for 3 game sweep; game abandoned because of bitter cold

1905 1st College Football Crab Bowl Classic: Navy beats Maryland 17-0 in Annapolis

1909 Australasian Championships Men’s Tennis, Perth: Anthony Wilding of New Zealand wins his 2nd Australasian title; beats Ernie Parker of Australia 6–1, 7–5, 6–2

1925 Lester Patrick takes over NY Rangers

1926 Lester Patrick becomes 1st coach & gm of NY Rangers

1937 Casey Stengel signs to manage Boston Bees

1947 Bradman scores 156 for South Australia v India, 152 mins, 22 fours

October 24, 2022 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 October 24

Clouds Around Galaxy Andromeda

Image Credit & Copyright: Andrew Fryhover

Explanation: What are those red clouds surrounding the Andromeda galaxy? This galaxy, M31, is often imaged by planet Earth-based astronomers. As the nearest large spiral galaxy, it is a familiar sight with dark dust lanes, bright yellowish core, and spiral arms traced by clouds of bright blue stars. A mosaic of well-exposed broad and narrow-band image data, this deep portrait of our neighboring island universe offers strikingly unfamiliar features though, faint reddish clouds of glowing ionized hydrogen gas in the same wide field of view. Most of the ionized hydrogen clouds surely lie in the foreground of the scene, well within our Milky Way Galaxy. They are likely associated with the pervasive, dusty interstellar cirrus clouds scattered hundreds of light-years above our own galactic plane. Some of the clouds, however, occur right in the Andromeda galaxy itself, and some in M110, the small galaxy just below.

October 24 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

1260 Qutuz, Mamluk Sultans of Egypt (1259-60), is assassinated by Baibars, a fellow Mamluk leader, who seizes power for himself

1648 Treaty of Westphalia ends The Thirty Years’ War in the Holy Roman Empire; Switzerland’s independence recognized

1929 “Black Thursday”, start of stock market crash, Dow Jones down 12.8%

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet ships approach but stop short of the US blockade of Cuba

2008 “Bloody Friday” saw many of the world’s stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.

Today’s Historical Events

79 Mt. Vesuvius erupts, burying the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae and killing thousands. New research in 2018 suggests the eruption occurred at about this date, not the previously used 24 August. [1] [2]

1260 Qutuz, Mamluk Sultans of Egypt (1259-60), is assassinated by Baibars, a fellow Mamluk leader, who seizes power for himself

1260 The spectacular Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France; now a UNESCO World Heritage Site

1360 The Treaty of Brétigny is ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years’ War

1492 24 Jews are burned at the stake in Mecklenburg, Germany

1531 Bavaria joins Schmalkaldic League

1593 Alleged teleportation of Spanish soldier Gil Perez from the Philippines to Mexico

1596 -26] Battle at Kerestes: Ottoman beat Austria-Hungary & Germany

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1926 Harry Houdini‘s last performance, at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan

1929 Rudy Vallee’s “The Fleishmann’s Yeast Hour” begins broadcasting on NBC radio

1948 WJBK TV channel 2 in Detroit, MI (CBS) begins broadcasting

1953 KOOL (now KTSP) TV channel 10 in Phoenix, AZ (CBS) begins broadcasting

1962 “The Manchurian Candidate”, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey, is released

1976 1st Toronto International Film Festival opens

1987 NBC technicians accept pact, end 118 day strike

2002 Wuxia film “Hero” directed by Zhang Yimou, starring Jet Li released in China (US release 2004)

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1818 Felix Mendelssohn, aged 9, performs his first public concert in Berlin

1885 Johann Strauss’ operetta “Zigeunerbaron (Gypsy Baron)” premieres in Vienna

1939 Benny Goodman records “Let’s Dance”

1948 Francis Poulenc’s “Sinfonietta” premieres

1959 US premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich‘s 1st Cello concert

1961 “Evening with Yves Montand” opens at John Golden Theatre, NYC for 55 performances

1963 “110 in the Shade” opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 330 performances

1964 “Cambridge Circus” closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 23 performances

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1857 Recognised by FIFA as oldest existing club still playing football in the world, Sheffield FC is founded in Yorkshire, England; now based in Dronfield, Derbyshire

1885 “World Championship” Baseball Series, Cincinnati Base Ball Grounds: St. Louis Browns beat Chicago White Stockings, 13–4 in Game 7; disputed series tied at 3-3-1

1889 Softball rules adopted by Mid Winter Indoor Baseball League

1892 “World Championship” Baseball Series, South End Grounds, Boston: Boston Beaneaters beat Cleveland Spiders, 8-3 for a 5-0-1 championship victory; last of the pre-modern-era World Series

1913 Joe Tinker fired as Cincinnati Reds manager

1939 Joe DiMaggio wins AL MVP, Jimmie Foxx is runner-up

1940 Japan eliminates US terms (strike, play ball) from baseball

1954 Britain’s Mike Hawthorne wins season ending Spanish Grand Prix at Pedralbes; Argentine Maserati driver Juan Manuel Fangio takes second Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by 17 points from countryman José Froilán González

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 October 23

Milky Way and Zodiacal Light over Australian Pinnacles

Image Credit & Copyright: Jingyi Zhang

Explanation: What strange world is this? Earth. In the foreground of the featured image are the Pinnacles, unusual rock spires in Nambung National Park in Western Australia. Made of ancient sea shells (limestone), how these human-sized picturesque spires formed remains a topic of research. The picturesque panorama was taken in 2017 September. A ray of zodiacal light, sunlight reflected by dust grains orbiting between the planets in the Solar System, rises from the horizon near the image center. Arching across the top is the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. The planets Jupiter and Saturn, as well as several famous stars are also visible in the background night sky.

October 23 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

42 BC Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi – Brutus‘s army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. Brutus commits suicide.

1911 1st aerial reconnaissance mission is flown by an Italian pilot over Turkish lines during the Italo-Turkish War

1942 During WWII, Britain launches major offensive at El Alamein, Egypt

1977 Paleontologist Elso Barghoorn announces discovery of a 3.4-billion year old one-celled fossil, one of the earliest life forms on Earth

1981 US national debt hits $1 trillion

2001 The Provisional Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland commences disarmament after peace talks

Today’s Historical Events

42 BC Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi – Brutus‘s army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. Brutus commits suicide.

425 Valentinian III is elevated to Roman Emperor, at the age of 6

502 The Synodus Palmaris, called by Gothic king Theodoric the Great, discharges Pope Symmachus of all charges, thus ending the schism of Antipope Laurentius.

585 Burgundy king Guntram opens synod of Mâcon (Mastico)

787 Byzantine empress Irene recovers Iconoclastic cult at Nicaea

1086 Battle of az-Zallaqah: Almoravid army of Yusuf ibn Tashfin defeats the forces of Castilian King Alfonso VI

1091 Tornado (possible T8/F4) strikes the heart of London killing two and demolishing the wooden London Bridge (OS 17 Oct)

1157 The Battle of Grathe Heath ends the civil war in Denmark. King Sweyn III is killed and Valdemar I restores the country.

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1932 “Fred Allen Show” premieres on radio

1941 Walt Disney‘s animated film “Dumbo” released

1952 Charlie Chaplin‘s “Limelight”, starring himself and Claire Bloom, with an appearance by Buster Keaton, premieres in New York City; Not released in Los Angeles until 1972, winning Chaplin his only competitive Academy Award for original score

1953 WTRF TV channel 7 in Wheeling-Steubenville, WV (CBS) 1st broadcast

1954 WSAU TV channel 7 in Wausau, WI (CBS) begins broadcasting

1956 First video recording on magnetic tape televised coast-to-coast

1958 The Smurfs first appear in the story “Johan and Pirlouit” by Belgium cartoonist Peyo

1962 WCIV TV channel 4 in Charleston, South Carolina (NBC) begins broadcasting

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1919 Orchestra Hall, designed by C. Howard Crane opens in Detroit, Michigan; home of the Detroit Symphony, 1919-39 and 1989 to present, also known as The Paradise Theater, featuring top jazz performers and films, 1941-51

1919 Romberg & Atteridge’s musical “Passing Show” premieres in NYC

1921 Leos Janacek’s opera “Kat’a Kabanova” premieres in Brno

1942 All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner killed when it is struck by a U.S. Army Air Forces bomber near Palm Springs, California. Amongst the victims is composer Ralph Rainger (“Thanks for the Memory”)

1961 “Kwamina” opens at 54th St Theater NYC for 32 performances

1967 “Henry, Sweet Henry” opens at Palace Theater NYC for 80 performances

1968 “Maggie Flynn” opens at ANTA Theater NYC for 82 performances

1969 “Jimmy” opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 84 performances

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1871 Replacement yacht Sappho (US) beats Livonia (UK) by 25:27 in race 5 to win 3rd America’s Cup off Newport, RI 4-1; original defender Columbia damaged so misses races 4 & 5

1886 “World Championship” Baseball Series, Sportsman’s Park, St. Louis: St.L Browns edge Chicago White Stockings, 4-3 in 10 innings in Game 6 to take series, 4-2

1903 8th Iron Bowl: Alabama beats Auburn 18-6 in Montgomery

1910 World Series Baseball: Philadelphia A’s beat Chicago Cubs, 7-2 at West Side Park, Chicago to win their first Championship, 4-1

1920 Chicago grand jury indicts Abe Attell, Hal Chase, & Bill Burns as go-betweens in “Black Sox” 1919 World Series Baseball scandal

1921 Green Bay Packers play 1st APFA (forerunner to NFL) game; beat Minneapolis Marines, 7-6 at Hagemeister Park, Green Bay, WI

1923 Legendary Yankees slugger Babe Ruth makes a postseason exhibition appearance in a rival Giants uniform as NY beats Baltimore Orioles, 9-0 in a benefit game for former Giants owner John Day

1945 American baseball player Jackie Robinson signs contract with Montreal Royals, minor league farm team of Brooklyn Dodgers

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 October 22

NGC 1499: The California Nebula

Image Credit & CopyrightStephen Kennedy

Explanation: Drifting through the Orion Arm of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, this cosmic cloud by chance echoes the outline of California on the west coast of the United States. Our own Sun also lies within the Milky Way’s Orion Arm, only about 1,500 light-years from the California Nebula. Also known as NGC 1499, the classic emission nebula is around 100 light-years long. The California Nebula shines with the telltale reddish glow characteristic of hydrogen atoms recombining with long lost electrons. The electrons have been stripped away, ionized by energetic starlight. Most likely providing the energetic starlight that ionizes much of the nebular gas is the bright, hot star Xi Persei just to the right of the nebula. A popular target for astrophotographers, this deep image reveals the glowing nebula, obscuring dust, and stars across a 3 degree wide field of view. The California nebula lies toward the constellation Perseus, not far from the Pleiades.

October 22 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

1633 Battle of Liaoluo Bay: Dutch East India Company defeated by Chinese Ming naval forces in southern Fujian sea

1721 Tsar Peter the Great becomes “All-Russian Imperator”

1879 Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton filament light bulb

1884 International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. adopts Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) worldwide, creating 24 international time zones with longitude zero at the Greenwich meridian

1907 Panic of 1907: A run on Knickerbocker Trust Company stock leads to US wide run on banks

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: US President John F. Kennedy addresses TV about Russian missile bases in Cuba and imposes a naval blockade on Cuba, beginning the missile crisis

Today’s Historical Events

 

362 The temple of Apollo at Daphne, outside of Antioch, is destroyed in a mysterious fire

794 Emperor Kanmu relocates Japanese capital to Heiankyo (now Kyoto).

1335 Ex-emperor Hanazono (95th Emperor of Japan) became a Zen priest

1383 The 1383-85 Crisis in Portugal: A period of civil war and disorder begins after King Fernando dies without a male heir to the Portuguese throne

1575 Foundation of Aguascalientes (one of 32 Federal Entities of Mexico)

1633 Battle of Liaoluo Bay: Dutch East India Company defeated by Chinese Ming naval forces in southern Fujian sea

1707 Scilly Naval Disaster: shipwreck of four Royal navy warships and loss of 1400 men during a storm off the Scilly Isles – will prompt 1714 British Act of Parliament competition to find longitude at sea

1708 Great Alliance occupies Rijsel

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1926 J. Gordon Whitehead sucker punches magician Harry Houdini in the stomach in Montreal

1930 1st concert of BBC Symphony Orchestra, at Queen’s Hall, under Adrian Boult

1932 Film “Red Dust” directed by Victor Fleming, starring Clark GableJean Harlow and Mary Astor premieres

1939 NBC becomes first network to televise a pro football game; Brooklyn Dodgers beat Philadelphia Eagles, 23-14 at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field

1942 “Now, Voyager” film directed by Irving Rapper, and starring Bette DavisPaul Henreid and Claude Rains, premieres in New York; wins 3 Academy Awards

1955 WWNY TV channel 7 in Carthage-Watertown, NY (CBS) begins broadcasting

1957 KJAC TV channel 4 in Port Arthur-Beaumont, TX (NBC) 1st broadcast

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1868 Jacques Offenbach’s opera “Genevieve de Brabant” premieres in NYC

1881 Boston Symphony Orchestra gives its first concert

1883 New York’s original Metropolitan Opera House has its grand opening with a performance of Charles Gounod’s opera “Faust”

1922 Parsifal Place laid out in Bronx, NY, named after a knight in Wagner’s opera

1959 Bob Merrill‘s musical “Take Me Along” opens at Shubert Theater, NYC; runs for 448 performances

1964 EMI rejects audition by “High Numbers”; they go on to become “The Who”

1969 Paul McCartney denies greatly exaggerated rumors of his death

1975 “Me & Bessie” opens at Ambassador Theater. NYC; runs for 453 performances

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1878 The first rugby match under floodlights takes place in Salford, between Broughton and Swinton.

1884 Sporting Life announces that both pennant winners will meet in 3 game series Oct 23-25 at Polo Grounds NYC to determine baseball champion

1885 John Ward & several teammates secretly form Brotherhood of Prof Base Ball Players, 1st baseball union

1930 SC Genemuiden soccer team forms

1933 Italian boxer Primo Carnera beats Spanish challenger Paulino Uzcudun on points in Rome, Italy to retain the IBU heavyweight title

1935 PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Twin Hills CC: Johnny Revolta wins his only major title, defeating Tommy Armour, 5 & 4

1939 NBC becomes first network to televise a pro football game; Brooklyn Dodgers beat Philadelphia Eagles, 23-14 at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field

1950 LA Rams beat Baltimore Colts 70-27

October 21 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 October 21

Andromeda in Southern Skies

Image Credit & CopyrightIan Griffin (Otago Museum)

Explanation: Looking north from southern New Zealand, the Andromeda Galaxy never gets more than about five degrees above the horizon. As spring comes to the southern hemisphere, in late September Andromeda is highest in the sky around midnight though. In a single 30 second exposure this telephoto image tracked the stars to capture the closest large spiral galaxy from Mount John Observatory as it climbed just over the rugged peaks of the south island’s Southern Alps. In the foreground, stars are reflected in the still waters of Lake Alexandrina. Also known as M31, the Andromeda Galaxy is one of the brightest objects in the Messier catalog, usually visible to the unaided eye as a small, faint, fuzzy patch. But this clear, dark sky and long exposure reveal the galaxy’s greater extent in planet Earth’s night, spanning nearly 6 full moons.

October 21 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

1805 Battle of Trafalgar: British Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats combined French and Spanish fleet. Nelson shot and killed during battle.

1854 Florence Nightingale with a staff of 38 nurses is sent to the Crimean War

1944 World War II: US troops capture Aachen, 1st large German city to fall

1948 UN rejects Russian proposal to destroy atomic weapons

1950 Chinese forces occupy Tibet

1993 Failed military coup in Burundi, led by ex-President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, includes assassination President Ndadaye; 525,000 Hutus flee

Today’s Historical Events

310 St Eusebius ends his reign as Catholic Pope

335 Roman Emperor Constantine the Great rules that Jews are not allowed to purchase and circumcise Christian slaves

686 Conon begins his reign as Catholic Pope

1096 Sultan Kilidj Arslan of Nicea defeats The People’s Crusade at the Battle of Civetot, only about 3,000 out of 20,000 Crusaders survive

1187 Alberto de Morra elected as Pope Gregorius VIII (12/17/1187)

1512 Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.

1520 Explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his fleet reach Cape Virgenes and become the first Europeans to sail into the Pacific Ocean

1555 Emperor Charles V makes Erard of Pallandt earl of Culemborg

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1921 “The Sheik”, a silent film starring Rudolph Valentino, premieres in Los Angeles

1961 Barbra Streisand opens in “Another Evening with Harry Stones”

1964 Film version of “My Fair Lady” directed by George Cukor and starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn premieres in New York (Academy Awards Best Picture 1965)

1965 KTWU TV channel 11 in Topeka, KS (PBS) begins broadcasting

1975 Elton John is given a star in Hollywood

1988 Bat*21, an American war film, is released

2005 52nd National Film Awards (India): “Page 3” wins the Golden Lotus

2009 55th National Film Awards (India): “Kanchivaram” wins the Golden Lotus

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1858 Jacques Offenbach’s operetta ” Orpheus in the Underworld” (Orphée aux Enfers) premieres in Paris, includes “Infernal Galop” (can-can tune)

1944 Walter Piston‘s “Fugue for a Victory Tune” premieres in NYC

1971 “To Live Another Summer” opens at Helen Hayes NYC for 173 performances

1972 “Dude” closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 16 performances

1972 “Man of La Mancha” closes at Beaumont Theater NYC after 140 performances

1972 “Pacific Paradise” closes at Palace Theater NYC after 5 performances

1975 “Treemonisha” opens at Uris Theater NYC for 64 performances

1980 “Banjo Dancing” opens at Century Theater NYC for 38 performances

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1905 In early promotion of soccer in America, England Pilgrim Association XI beats All New York XI, 7-1 at the Polo Grounds, NY

1911 Manitoba, Saskatchewan & Alberta Unions form Western Canada Rugby Football Union

1964 Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia runs a world record 2:12:11.2 to beat Briton Basil Heatley by more than 4 minutes and win the men’s marathon at the Tokyo Olympics; first athlete to win Olympic marathon twice

1964 American men’s 4×400m relay team beats Great Britain by 0.9s to set world record 3:00.7 and win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics; Ollan Cassell, Mike Larrabee, Ulis Williams & Henry Carr

1964 Braves ask NL to allow them to leave Milwaukee for Atlanta

1964 New Zealand athlete Peter Snell wins the 1,500m at the Tokyo Olympics; his second gold medal of the Games (800m); 3rd career gold

1964 Polish 4×100m women’s relay team runs a world record 43.6 to beat the US by 0.3s and win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics; Teresa Ciepły, Irena Kirszenstein, Halina Górecka & Ewa Kłobukowska

1964 US 4 x 100m men’s relay team of Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, Richard Stebbins & Bob Hayes run world record 39.0s to beat Poland by 0.3s and win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics

October 20 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 October 20

Pillars of Creation

Image Credit: Science – NASAESACSASTScINIRCam
Processing – Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Explanation: A now famous picture from the Hubble Space Telescope featured these star forming columns of cold gas and dust light-years long inside M16, the Eagle Nebula, dubbed the Pillars of Creation. This James Webb Space Telescope NIRCam image expands Hubble’s exploration of that region in greater detail and depth inside the iconic stellar nursery. Particularly stunning in Webb’s near infrared view is the telltale reddish emission from knots of material undergoing gravitational collapse to form stars within the natal clouds. The Eagle Nebula is some 6,500 light-years distant. The larger bright emission nebula is itself an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes. M16 lies along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy in a nebula rich part of the sky, toward the split constellation Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake).

October 20 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

1097 1st Crusaders arrive in Antioch during the First Crusade

1603 Chinese uprising in the Philippines fails after 23,000 killed

1803 US Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase

1917 US suffragette Alice Paul begins a 7 month jail sentence for peacefully picketing in support of the women’s Suffrage (right to vote) Amendment at the White House in Washington, D.C.

1935 Communist forces end their Long March at Yan’an, in Shaanxi, China, bringing Mao Zedong to prominence

1944 US forces under General Douglas MacArthur return to the Philippines with the landing of the US 6th army on Leyte

2020 US Justice Department sues Google for illegal monopoly over search and search advertising

Today’s Historical Events

1097 1st Crusaders arrive in Antioch during the First Crusade

1528 Treaty of Gorinchem signed between Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Duke Charles of Guelders

1536 King Christian III of Denmark & Norway leads reform in Catholic possessions

1576 Spanish troops occupy & plunder Maastricht

1587 Battle at Coultras: Henri van Navarra beats Catholic League

1600 Battle of Sekigahara sets Tokugawa clan as Japan’s rulers (shoguns)

1603 Chinese uprising in the Philippines fails after 23,000 killed

1634 British King Charles I disbands new “Ship Money” tax

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1911 Helen Hayes Theater (Folies Bergere) opens at 210W 46th St, NYC

1930 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, premieres on NBC radio

1932 Journalist Robert Trout joins CBS

1947 HUAC opens hearings into alleged Communist influence in Hollywood

1953 WRAU (now WHOI) TV channel 19 in Peoria, IL (ABC) begins broadcasting

1954 Leigh, Charlap, Styne, Comden and Green’s musical “Peter Pan”, starring Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard, opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC; runs for 152 performances

1955 “No Time for Sergeants” opens on Broadway, starring Andy Griffith

1955 Publication of “The Return of the King”, the 3rd and final volume of “The Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien by George Allen and Unwin in London

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1877 Franz Schubert‘s 2nd Symphony in B premieres

1934 Richard Strauss completes his opera “Die Schweigsame Frau”

1939 “All the Things You Are” recorded by Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

1955 Harry Belafonte records “Day-O” (Banana Boat Song)

1962 Musical “Mr President” opens at St James Theater New York for 265 performances

1962 Peter, Paul and Mary‘s debut folk album “Peter, Paul and Mary” reaches No. 1 on US album charts

1964 “Golden Boy” opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 569 performances

1964 Riot at Rolling Stones show in Paris leads to 150 arrests

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1888 Chicago and All America baseball teams play exhibition in Auckland, New Zealand

1899 American yacht Columbia beats the Shamrock challenge from Royal Ulster Yacht Club in 11th America’s Cup

1910 1st appearance of cork centered baseball in World Series

1910 Soccer team KFC forms in Alkmaar

1912 Hannes Kolehmainen runs world record marathon (2:29:39.2)

1924 1st Negro League World Series: KC Monarchs shuts out Hilldales, 5-0

1934 MLB All-Star team led by Connie Mack and including Babe RuthJimmie Foxx and Lou Gehrig sails to Japan for 18-game series against Big-Six University League

1935 Detroit Tigers future Baseball Hall of Fame first baseman Hank Greenberg is named AL MVP by the BWAA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Wes Ferrell is runner-up

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 October 19

A Galaxy Beyond Stars, Gas, Dust

Image Credit & Copyright: Howard Trottier; Text: Emily Rice

Explanation: Do we dare believe our eyes? When we look at images of space, we often wonder whether they are “real”, and just as often the best answer varies. In this case, the scene appears much as our eyes would see it, because it was obtained using RGB (Red, Green, Blue) filters like the cone cells in our eyes, except collecting light for 19 hours, not a fraction of a second. The featured image was captured over six nights, using a 24-inch diameter telescope in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in CaliforniaUSA. The bright spiral galaxy at the center (NGC 7497) looks like it is being grasped by an eerie tendril of a space ghost, and therein lies the trick. The galaxy is actually 59 million light years away, while the nebulosity is MBM 54, less than one thousand light years away, making it one of the nearest cool clouds of gas and dust — galactic cirrus — within our own Milky Way Galaxy. Both are in the constellation of Pegasus, which can be seen high overhead from northern latitudes in the autumn.

October 19, 2022 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

Historical Events

202 BC Battle of Zama: Hannibal Barca and the Carthaginian army are defeated by Roman legions under Scipio Africanus, ending 2nd Punic War

1781 British forces under General Charles Cornwallis sign terms of surrender to George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown at 2 pm, ending the US Revolutionary War

1926 Russian Politburo throws out Leon Trotsky and his followers

1943 Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University in Pistcaway, New Jersey

1987 Black Monday: Stock markets around the world crash, including the Dow Jones stock index, which falls 508.32 points (22%), 4½ times the previous daily record

2015 US scientists from University of California find evidence life on earth may have begun 4.1 billion years ago, 300 million earlier than previously thought

Today’s Historical Events

202 BC Battle of Zama: Hannibal Barca and the Carthaginian army are defeated by Roman legions under Scipio Africanus, ending 2nd Punic War

439 The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa

615 Pope Deusdedit [Adeodatus I] elected to succeed Boniface IV as Catholic Pope

1031 Abbot Humbertus van Echternach opens grave of Saint Willibrord

1216 King John of England dies at Newark-on-Trent and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry III

1298 Rindfleisch-140 Jews of Heilbron Germany are murdered

1330 17-year-old English King Edward III captures his mother’s lover and the country’s de facto ruler Roger Mortimer at Nottingham Castle (later has him hanged)

1453 French retake Bordeaux following the Battle of Castillon

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1943 Theater Guild presentation of Shakespeare’s “Othello”, starring Paul Robeson, opens at the Shubert Theater, NYC; runs for 296 performances

1953 Singer Julius LaRosa is fired on TV by Arthur Godfrey

1954 KAKE TV channel 10 in Wichita, KS (ABC) begins broadcasting

1960 KWCS (now KOOG) TV channel 30 in Ogden, UT (IND) begins broadcasting

1973 Ringo Starr releases music single “Photograph” in the UK

1988 US Senate passes bill curbing ads during children’s TV shows

1990 “Dances with Wolves” directed by Kevin Costner and starring Kevin Costner and Mary McDonnell premieres in Washington, D.C. (Academy Awards Best Picture 1991)

2018 “Halloween” film reboot starring Jamie Curtis makes a record $77m for a horror film with a female lead, biggest debut any film with female lead over 55 in US

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1845 Richard Wagner‘s opera “Tannhäuser” premieres in Dresden

1901 Edward Elgar‘s “Pomp & Circumstance March” premieres in Liverpool, England

1948 “My Romance” opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 95 performances

1957 “Damn Yankees” closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 1,022 performances

1969 Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s musical “The Rothschilds”, starring Halden, Jill Clayburgh, and Robby Benson opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, NYC; runs for 505 performances, winning 2 Tony Awards

1972 “Mother Earth” opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 12 performances

1975 “A Chorus Line”, held record longest-running Broadway show (6,137 performances), premieres on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in New York

1986 Joe Raposa’s musical “Raggedy Ann: The Musical Adventure”, starring Ivy Austin, closes at Nederlander Theater, NYC, after 5 performances

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1923 Ban Johnson persuades AL owners to prohibit boxing in their parks

1932 Jimmie Foxx wins AL MVP and Chuck Klein wins NL MVP

1933 Berlin Olympic Committee vote to introduce basketball in 1936

1941 1st woman jockey in North America, Anna Lee Wiley in Mexico

1943 New York Yankee 2nd baseman Joe Gordon announces his retirement

1949 A’s trade 2nd baseman Nellie Fox to White Sox for Joe Tipton

1957 Montreal Canadien Maurice “Rocket” Richard, becomes the 1st NHLer to score 500 goals

1958 Stirling Moss wins season ending Moroccan Grand Prix at Ain-Diab but fellow Brit Mike Hawthorn takes World Drivers Championship from Moss by just 1 point by finishing second; first British world champion

October 18 Today in History

Today’s Important Historical Events

1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock

1685 French King Louis XIV revokes Edict of Nantes cancelling rights of French Protestants

1867 Alaska Purchase: US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia, having paid $7.2 million

1931 American gangster Al Capone convicted of tax evasion

1962 James Watson (US), Francis Crick (UK) and Maurice Wilkins (UK) win the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work in determining the structure of DNA [1]

Today’s Historical Events

707 John VII ends his reign as Catholic Pope

1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock

1016 Danes defeat Saxons at Battle of Assandun (Ashingdon)

1081 Battle of Dyrrhachium: Southern Italian Normans under Robert Guiscard defeat Byzantine army under Alexios I Komnenos (modern Durrës, Albania)

1240 Ukrainian city of Chernigov surrenders, despite this still sacked and pillaged by Mongolian army of Batu

1267 Battle at Marienholz: Henry III, Otto II van Gelre beat Keuls archbishop Engelbert III

1356 Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys Basel in Switzerland.

1386 Opening of the University of Heidelberg

Today’s Historical Events in Film and TV

1922 British Broadcasting Company (BBC) founded, later called British Broadcasting Corporation

1953 WLJT TV channel 11 in Lexington, TN (PBS) begins broadcasting

1953 WTVK TV channel 26 in Knoxville, TN (NBC) begins broadcasting

1954 WBTW TV channel 13 in Florence, SC (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting

1954 WNBC radio changes call letters to WRCA (NYC)

1961 Film adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical “West Side Story“, directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, and starring Natalie Wood, debuts (Academy Award – Best Picture, 1962)

1966 “Persona”, Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann, is released

1967 Walt Disney’s animated musical adaptation of Rudyard Kipling‘s “The Jungle Book” film is released; cast featured Phil Harris, Louis Prima, Sterling Holloway, and Sebastian Cabot

Today’s Historical Events in Music

1752 Premiere of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s opera “Le Devin du Village” (The Village Soothsayer), before the royal court at Fontainebleau, France

1855 Franz Liszt‘s symphonic poem “Prometheus” premieres

1904 Gustav Mahler’s 5th symphony premieres in Cologne, Germany

1939 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart‘s musical “Too Many Girls” premieres in NYC

1945 Paul Robeson wins Spingarn Medal for singing & acting achievements

1946 Aaron Copland‘s 3rd Symphony premieres

1952 “Buttrio Square” closes at New Century Theater NYC after 7 performances

1962 Tony Sheridan & Beat Brothers record “Let’s Dance”

Today’s Historical Events in Sports

1889 First all-NYC “World Championship” Baseball Series; New York Giants (NL) play Brooklyn Bridegrooms (AA); Giants go on to win series, 6-3

1902 7th Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 23-0 in Birmingham

1912 Black boxer Jack Johnson arrested for violating the Mann Act for “transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes” due to his relationship with white woman Lucille Cameron, allegedly a prostitute. Later convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to a year in prison.

1918 NHL’s Quebec Bulldogs sold to a Toronto businessman P. J. Quinn

1924 Harold “Red” Grange, finest collegiate football game (4 long TD runs)

1925 Salt Lake City (PCL) Tony Lazzeri hits his 60th HR of the season

1930 Joseph Sylvester becomes 1st jockey to win 7 races in 1 day

1953 Willie Thrower becomes 1st black NFL quarterback in modern times

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 October 18

Milky Way Auroral Flower

Image Credit & Copyright: Göran Strand

Explanation: Could the stem of our Milky Way bloom into an auroral flower? No, not really, even though it may appear that way in today’s featured all-sky image. On the left, the central plane of our home galaxy extends from the horizon past the middle of the sky. On the right, an auroral oval also extends from the sky’s center — but is dominated by bright green-glowing oxygen. The two are not physically connected, because the aurora is relatively nearby, with the higher red parts occurring in Earth’s atmosphere only about 1000 kilometers high. In contrast, an average distance to the stars and nebulas we see in the Milky Way more like 1000 light-years away – 10 trillion times further. The featured image composite was taken in early October across a small lake in Abisko, northern Sweden. As our Sun’s magnetic field evolves into the active part of its 11-year cycle, auroras near both of Earth’s poles are sure to become more frequent.

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 October 13

Dust Shells around WR 140 from Webb

Image Credit: NASAESACSAJWSTMIRIERS Program 1349; Processing: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: What are those strange rings? Rich in dust, the rings are likely 3D shells — but how they were created remains a topic of researchWhere they were created is well known: in a binary star system that lies about 6,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus) — a system dominated by the Wolf-Rayet star WR 140Wolf-Rayet stars are massive, bright, and known for their tumultuous winds. They are also known for creating and dispersing heavy elements such as carbon which is a building block of interstellar dust. The other star in the binary is also bright and massive — but not as active. The two great stars joust in an oblong orbit as they approach each other about every eight years. When at closest approach, the X-ray emission from the system increases, as, apparently, does the dust expelled into space — creating another shell. The featured infrared image by the new Webb Space Telescope resolves greater details and more dust shells than ever before.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2022 October 12

Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula

Image Credit & CopyrightTommy Lease

Explanation: A mysterious squid-like cosmic cloud, this nebula is very faint, but also very large in planet Earth’s sky. In the image, composed with 30 hours of narrowband image data, it spans nearly three full moons toward the royal constellation Cepheus. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula’s bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue-green emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Though apparently surrounded by the reddish hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and nature of the Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, a more recent investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, the cosmic squid would represent a spectacular outflow of material driven by a triple system of hot, massive stars, cataloged as HR8119, seen near the center of the nebula. If so, this truly giant squid nebula would physically be over 50 light-years across.

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 October 11

Stars, Dust, Pillars, and Jets in the Pelican Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: Adriano Almeida

Explanation: What dark structures arise within the Pelican Nebula? On the whole, the nebula appears like a bird (a pelican) and is seen toward the constellation of a different bird: Cygnus, a Swan. But inside, the Pelican Nebula is a place lit up by new stars and befouled by dark dust. Smoke-sized dust grains start as simple carbon compounds formed in the cool atmospheres of young stars but are dispersed by stellar winds and explosions. Two impressive Herbig-Haro jets are seen emitted by the star HH 555 on the right, and these jets are helping to destroy the light year-long dust pillar that contains it. Other pillars and jets are also visible. The featured image was scientifically-colored to emphasize light emitted by small amounts of heavy elements in a nebula made predominantly of the light elements hydrogen and helium. The Pelican Nebula (IC 5067 and IC 5070) is about 2,000 light-years away and can be found with a small telescope to the northeast of the bright star Deneb.

 

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