Magazine Posts

Welcome to Kudos365 Weekly History Challenge. Test your history  knowledge and see how many of the history questions you can answer correctly. A new updated History Challenge is released every Saturday.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

In 185 AD, Chinese astronomers recorded the appearance of a new star in the Nanmen asterism. That part of the sky is identified with part of the southern constellation Centaurus on modern star charts. In fact, the new star was reported to be visible to the naked-eye for months before it faded from view, and is now thought to be the earliest recorded supernova. In this 21st century telescopic image, the wispy outlines of a faint emission nebula recognized as the remnant of that historical stellar explosion can be traced against a starry background. The ragged but roughly circular extent of the nebula, cataloged as RCW 86, represents interstellar gas ionized by the supernova's still expanding shock wave. Space-based images indicate an abundance of the element iron in RCW 86 and the absence of a neutron star or pulsar within the remnant, suggesting that the original supernova was Type Ia. Unlike the core collapse supernova explosion of a massive star, a Type Ia supernova is a thermonuclear detonation on a white dwarf star that has accreted material from its companion in a binary star system. Near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy and larger than the full moon on the sky this supernova remnant is too faint to be seen by eye though. RCW 86 is some 8,000 light-years distant and around 100 light-years across.

Photo by Chinese astronomers

Photograph of Machu Picchu taken in 1912 by Hiram Bingham during the Yale Peruvian Expedition. The site, an important Inca citadel in the Andes of Peru, had been visited earlier by local people such as Agustín Lizárraga in 1902, and was later brought to international attention through Bingham’s expeditions of 1911 and 1912. Today marks the anniversary of Bingham’s 1911 visit, which contributed to its worldwide recognition.

Hiram Bingham III, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Have you ever seen another galaxy with your own eyes? The featured image shows the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of the closest neighbors of our Milky Way. If you are anywhere south of latitude 20° N (but the further south, the better), you can see it with the unaided eye if you go to a dark sky location, away from big cities and light polution. It is a dwarf irregular galaxy about 163,000 light-years away, and a member of our Local Group of galaxies. Despite being small, with a total mass approximately equivalent to 10% - 20% of the mass of the Milky Way, the LMC is very actively forming stars. This is likely due in part to the gravitational push and pull of tides caused by the Milky Way on the LMC. Some astronomers have predicted that it will collide with the Milky Way in in about 2 billion years.

Photo by Monica Mesa Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)

"College professors face an emerging challenge.... We know students are no longer reading entire books"... More at The Conversation➜

Male Green kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana) in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Giles Laurent, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

A light, serene, ethereal glory rests
Its beams effulgent on each crestling wave;
The silver touches of the moonlight wave
The deep bare bosom that the breeze molests;
While lingering whispers deepen as the wavy crests
Roll with weird rhythm, now gay, now gently grave;
And floods of lambent light appear the sea to pave—
All cast a spell that heeds not time’s behests.

Not always such the scene; the din of fight
Has swelled the murmur of the peaceful air;
Here East and West have oft displayed their might;
Dark battle clouds have dimmed this scene so fair;
Here bold Olympia, one historic night,
Presaging freedom, claimed a people’s care.

Fernando Mamuri Maramág (1893 - 1936) was a Filipino poet, journalist, editor and teacher. Son of wealthy landowners, he studied  at the Philippine Normal School (now Philippine Normal University) and later transferred to the University of the Philippines where he wrote for the school paper and soon became the editor-in-chief. Maramag married Constancia Ablaza and they had six children. He worked as an editor for various publications including The Manila Tribune, Rising Philippines, The Philippines Herald, He had a rich style and deep understanding of human nature – qualities which made his poetry appealing to readers. He was one of the earliest Filipino writers to publish poetry in English. 

This poem is in the public domain.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The Southern Crown (Corona Australis) dazzles with young and ancient celestial jewels. The Corona Australis Cloud is a collage of reflection and emission nebulae on the left of today’s image. At 430 light years away, this cloud is one of the closest star-forming regions to Earth. It contains gas cool enough (-260 Celsius or -440 Fahrenheit) to collapse into protostars. Recently formed stars paint blue hues across the cloud as their light reflects off surrounding material. The waltz of the R Coronae Australis binary system stirs up the nebula NGC 6729. The younger of the pair ionizes nearby gas with its ultraviolet light, causing it to glow. The Chandelier Cluster (NGC 6723) dangles from the top right, but is actually tens of thousands of light years farther away than its apparent star-forming neighbor. While NGC 6723 experienced multiple periods of star formation creating slightly younger stars, the chandelier twinkles with stars almost as old as the universe.