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Explore major historical events from today or any day on Kudos 365.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Do you know the names of some of the brightest stars? It's likely that you do, even though some bright stars have names so old they date back to near the beginning of written language. Many world cultures have their own names for the brightest stars, and it is culturally and historically important to remember them. In the interest of clear global communication, however, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has begun to designate standardized star names. Featured here in true color are the 25 brightest stars in the night sky, currently as seen by humans, coupled with their IAU-recognized names. Some star names have interesting meanings, including Sirius ("the scorcher" in Latin), Vega ("falling" in Arabic), and Antares ("rival to Mars" in Greek). You are likely even familiar with the name of at least one star too dim to make this list: Polaris. APOD Turns 30!: Free public lecture in Anchorage TONIGHT (Wednesday) at 7 pm

Photo by Tragoolchitr Jittasaiyapan

Silk painting of Heungseon Daewongun, now in the collection of the National Museum of Korea, created by an unknown artist circa 1869. It is designated a Treasure of Korea.

이한철(李漢喆, 1812～1893이후), 유숙(劉淑, 1827～1873)으로 추정됨, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Do oceans under the ice of Saturn's moon Enceladus contain life? A reason to think so involves long features -- some dubbed tiger stripes -- that are known to be spewing ice from the moon's icy interior into space. These surface cracks create clouds of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole and create Saturn's mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from the robot Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown in true color from a close flyby. The deep crevasses are partly shadowed. Why Enceladus is active remains a mystery, as the neighboring moon Mimas, approximately the same size, appears quite dead. A analysis of ejected ice grains has yielded evidence that complex organic molecules. These large carbon-rich molecules bolster -- but do not prove -- that oceans under Enceladus' surface could contain life. APOD Turns 30!: Free public lecture in Anchorage tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7 pm

Torii path with a hanging lantern at Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine Senbontorii, Kyoto, Japan.

Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Can you identify this celestial object? Likely not — because this is a discovery image. Massive stars forge heavy elements in their cores and, after a few million years, end their lives in powerful supernova explosions. These remnants cool relatively quickly and fade, making them difficult to detect. To uncover such faint, previously unknown supernova remnants, a dedicated group of amateur astrophotographers searched through sky surveys for possible supernova remnant candidates. The result: the first-ever image of supernova remnant G115.5+9.1 — named Scylla by its discoverers—glowing faintly in the constellation of the mythological King of Aethiopia: Cepheus. Emission from hydrogen atoms in the remnant is shown in red, and faint emission from oxygen is shown in hues of blue. Surprisingly, another discovery lurked to the upper right: a faint, previously unknown planetary nebula candidate. In keeping with mythological tradition, it was named Charybdis (Sai 2) — a nod to the ancient Greek expression "caught between Scylla and Charybdis" from Homer’s Odyssey.

Waterloopbos, detail of the monumental work of art Deltawerk // formerly Delta Flume. (artists RAAAF en Atelier de Lyon).

Agnes Monkelbaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Mary Ann Evans (1819 - 1880) Also known by her pen name George Eliot, was one of the leading English writers of the Victorian era .
Source: George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

From our vantage point in the Milky Way Galaxy, we see NGC 3344 face-on. Nearly 40,000 light-years across, the big, beautiful spiral galaxy is located just 20 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo Minor. This multi-color Hubble Space Telescope close-up of NGC 3344 includes remarkable details from near infrared to ultraviolet wavelengths. The frame extends some 15,000 light-years across the spiral's central regions. From the core outward, the galaxy's colors change from the yellowish light of old stars in the center to young blue star clusters and reddish star forming regions along the loose, fragmented spiral arms. Of course, the bright stars with a spiky appearance are in front of NGC 3344 and lie well within our own Milky Way. APOD Turns 30!: Free Public Lecture in Anchorage on Wednesday, June 11 at 7 pm