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Looking through these three windows on history reminds us that while the tools of civilization evolve, the human story continues to be driven by many of the same hopes, challenges, and ambitions that have shaped every generation. Continue reading

Little street musicians, Paris. Image captured between 1910 and 1929.

Jules Séeberger, Louis Séeberger and Henri Séeberger, Licence Ouverte, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

"Girona’s old town overflows with colourful displays during the “Temps de Flors” event each spring. The streets of Girona fill with colour and scent as the city hosts its annual flower festival in the medieval quarter".

By Biel Morro on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Why is the Cigar Galaxy billowing red smoke? M82, as this starburst galaxy is also known, was stirred up by a recent pass near large spiral galaxy M81. This doesn't fully explain the source of the red-glowing outwardly expanding gas and dust, however. Evidence indicates that this gas and dust is being driven out by the combined emerging particle winds of many stars, together creating a galactic superwind. The dust particles are thought to originate in M82's interstellar medium and are actually similar in size to particles in cigar smoke. The featured photographic mosaic combines images taken in visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope and images taken in infrared light from James Webb Space Telescope. It shows the light-colored central galaxy nearly edge on across the image center with tremendous orange and red colored filaments of gas and dust extending both up and down. The filaments extend for over 10,000 light years. The 12-million light-year distant Cigar Galaxy is the brightest galaxy in the sky in infrared light and can be seen in visible light with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Great Bear (Ursa Major).

A 1981 Ribbon schematic of the 3D structure of the protein triose phosphate isomerase by Jane Richardson. Today is voice actress Tajja Isen's birthday. She voiced Betty Barrett aka the titular hero in the 2004 Canadian animated series Atomic Betty.

Jane Richardson, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

By Luca Bravo on Unsplash

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Right now, one of the largest sunspot groups in recent history is crossing the Sun. Active Region 4478 is not only big -- it's violent, showing tangled magnetic fields capable of throwing off huge clouds of particles into the Solar System. Some of these CMEs might impact the Earth. At the extreme, these solar storms could cause some Earth-orbiting satellites to malfunction, the Earth's atmosphere to slightly distort, and electrical power grids to surge. When impacting Earth's upper atmosphere, these particles can produce beautiful auroras. Pictured here, AR 4478 and its dark sunspots were captured in visible light a few days ago from Barcelona, Spain. Almost as large as AR 3664 was in 2024, the AR 4478 sunspot group is so big that it is visible just with glasses specially designed to view solar eclipses. This week, skygazing enthusiasts all over the globe will not only be tracking AR 4478 during the day -- but keenly watching night skies for its corresponding bright auroras. Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (after 1995)

Photo by Alfredo Vidal Pérez

Singer-songwriter Max Giesinger at 5th Zeltfestival Rhein-Neckar, Mannheim, Germany.

Original: Sven Mandel Derivative work: Radomianin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.