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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

To some, this nebula looks like the head of a fish. However, this colorful cosmic portrait really features glowing gas and obscuring dust clouds in IC 1795, a star forming region in the northern constellation Cassiopeia. The nebula's colors were created by adopting the Hubble color palette for mapping narrowband emissions from oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur atoms to blue, green and red colors, and further blending the data with images of the region recorded through broadband filters. Not far on the sky from the famous Double Star Cluster in Perseus, IC 1795 is itself located next to IC 1805, the Heart Nebula, as part of a complex of star forming regions that lie at the edge of a large molecular cloud. Located just over 6,000 light-years away, the larger star forming complex sprawls along the Perseus spiral arm of our Milky Way Galaxy. At that distance, IC 1795 would span about 70 light-years across. Open Science: Browse 3,300+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library

Photo by Roberto Colombari & Mauro Narduzzi

May stands at the crossroads of exploration, conflict, and discovery. Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo flight across the Atlantic. Allied forces evacuate Dunkirk. Climbers reach the summit of Mount Everest for the first time. Earlier centuries bring the First Council of Nicaea, the founding of Jamestown, and Johannes Kepler’s third law of planetary motion.

Across centuries, events in May reflect periods of rapid change. New ideas emerge, conflicts reshape nations, and discoveries push human understanding forward. These moments span continents and eras, connecting ancient history with the modern world.

Explore the full collection of Today in History events that occurred in May, or jump directly to a specific day—from May 1 through May 31—to see what happened on this day in history.

Browse the timeline to research a specific date or explore the defining events that give May its place in history.

Here I sit,
alone again,
waiting for the
phone to ring,

of word from you
and how you miss me.
I won't hold my breathe,
so don't worry, I'll be fine.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

The star system GK Per is known to be associated with only two of the three nebulas pictured. At 1500 light years distant, Nova Persei 1901 (GK Persei) was the second closest nova yet recorded. At the very center is a white dwarf star, the surviving core of a former Sun-like star. It is surrounded by the circular Firework nebula, gas that was ejected by a thermonuclear explosion on the white dwarf's surface -- a nova -- as recorded in 1901. The red glowing gas surrounding the Firework nebula is the atmosphere that used to surround the central star. This gas was expelled before the nova and appears as a diffuse planetary nebula. The faint gray gas running across is interstellar cirrus that seems to be just passing through coincidently. In 1901, GK Per's nova became brighter than Betelgeuse. Similarly, star system T CrB is expected to erupt in a nova later this year, but we don't know exactly when nor how bright it will become.

Photo by Deep Sky Collective

What game is it,
we will play today,
which promotes friendship,
instead of running away?

Life is for living,
is what they say,
but who is they,
they will not stay,

to talk about
all the things we love,
but no longer do,
for they never move.

Pressed hard against,
a barren tree,
surprised by an,
evil adversary.

What type of evil,
must I fight,
to escape this foe,
in darkest night?

A Tiger's stripe,
with tail long,
would be replaced,
by a happy song.

Brain decline
has started now.
It's too bad, for I,
don't know how.

I have many words to write,
before I go,
to complete my list,
of what I know.

They're essential to,
what I write,
but sometimes may be,
just simply trite.

Expectations by others of how
we behave when interacting with others,
has influenced, in my mind, how we
think and stifles inquisitiveness.

Off the rail.
Off the wall.
Down the stairway,
Into the hall.

Echos, strange,
they are,
when heard up close,
or from afar.

A lonesome wind,
so cold, so hard,
blowing across,
the Courtyard.

With the Sun
and no more rain,
we will plant,
flowers again.

Flowers, with
colors bright,
ready for the,
first sunlight.