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

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

How much mass do flocculent spirals hide? The featured image of flocculent spiral galaxy NGC 4414 was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope to help answer this question. Flocculent spirals -- galaxies without well-defined spiral arms -- are a quite common form of galaxy, and NGC 4414 is one of the closest. Stars and gas near the visible edge of spiral galaxies orbit the center so fast that the gravity from a large amount of unseen dark matter must be present to hold them together. Understanding the matter and dark matter distribution of NGC 4414 helps humanity calibrate the rest of the galaxy and, by deduction, flocculent spirals in general. Further, calibrating the distance to NGC 4414 helps humanity calibrate the cosmological distance scale of the entire visible universe.

Portrait of Billie Holiday and Mister, taken by William Gottlieb at the Downbeat Club, New York, 1947. Today, 110 years ago, she was born in Philadelphia.

William P. Gottlieb, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

Booker T. Washington (1856 – 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. He was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite between 1890 and 1915, playing a dominant role in black politics, winning wide support in the black community of the South and among more liberal whites. Washington was born into slavery in Hale's Ford, Virginia. He was freed when U.S. troops reached the area during the Civil War. In 1881, he was named as the first leader of the new Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, an institute for black higher education. He expanded the college and enlisted students in construction of buildings. He attained national prominence for his Atlanta Exposition Address of 1895, which attracted the attention of politicians and the public. In 1901, Washington's published his autobiography, "Up from Slavery". Also in 1901, he became  the first black person publicly meeting the president on equal terms when he dined with Theodore Roosevelt at the White House. 

Quote source: Up from Slavery: An Autobiography

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Why are there so many moonquakes? Analyses of seismometers left on the moon during the Apollo moon landings reveal a surprising number of moonquakes occurring within 100 kilometers of the surface. In fact, 62 moonquakes were detected in data recorded between 1972 and 1977. Many of these moonquakes are not only strong enough to move furniture in a lunar apartment, but the stiff rock of the moon continues to vibrate for many minutes, significantly longer than the softer rock earthquakes on Earth. The cause of the moonquakes remains unknown, but a leading hypothesis include tidal gravity from -- and relative heating by -- our Earth. Regardless of the source, future moon dwellings need to be built to withstand the frequent shakings. Pictured here, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands beside a recently deployed lunar seismometer, looking back toward the lunar landing module. Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator

View towards Signal Hill at night, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.

Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.

"The public and experts are far apart in their enthusiasm and predictions for AI. But they share similar views in wanting more personal control and worrying regulation will fall short". More at Pew Research Center ➜

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

In dramatic silhouette against a cloudy daytime sky over Paris, France, gargoyles cast their monstrous gaze outward from the west facade of Notre Dame Cathedral. Taken on March 29, this telephoto snapshot also captures the dramatic silhouette of a New Moon against the bright solar disk in a partial solar eclipse. Happening high in Parisian skies, the partial eclipse was close to its maximum phase of about 23 percent. Occurring near the end of the first eclipse season of 2025, this partial solar eclipse followed the total eclipse of the Full Moon on March 13/14. The upcoming second eclipse season of 2025 will see a total lunar eclipse on September 7/8 and partial solar eclipse on September 21. The partial solar eclipse will be seen only from locations in planet Earth's southern hemisphere.

Photo by Bertrand Kulik

Male Chocó grasshopper (Opaon varicolor). A wingless short-horned grasshopper endemic to the Andes in Colombia.

Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.