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From today's featured article

Tropical Storm Nicole was a short-lived and unusually asymmetric tropical cyclone that caused extensive flooding in Jamaica during the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the last of a record eight tropical storms to form in September. Originating from a broad monsoonal low, Nicole became a tropical depression over the northwestern Caribbean Sea on September 28. As it tracked northeastward, its wind circulation was poorly defined, and most of its strongest thundershowers were well removed from the center. In Jamaica, the storm triggered widespread power outages affecting more than 288,000 residences. Precipitation of up to 37.42 inches (950 mm) caused disastrous flooding in several parishes, severely damaging or destroying 528 houses. The island's farmland suffered from extensive water pollution. Nicole wrought an estimated US$245.4 million in damage throughout Jamaica, and there were sixteen fatalities. (Full article...)

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Bow Bridge

... that of the thirty-six ornamental spans in New York City's Central Park, only the Bow Bridge (pictured) was intended to stand out from the surrounding environment?
... that in 2008, ethnohistorian Jennifer S. H. Brown was the first woman from the University of Winnipeg to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada?
... that the Mongol invasion of 1258–1259 was likely the most devastating event for 13th-century Lithuania?
... that after Asman Jah represented the Nizam of Hyderabad at the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, he was promoted to prime minister of the state?
... that the hairy sea squirt is preyed on by the Oregon hairy triton?
... that the bass-baritone Hans Günter Nöcker appeared in several world premieres of operas in Berlin, Schwetzingen, and Munich, where he created a stirring portrayal of Gloucester in Reimann's Lear?
... that the inaugural MLS Cup was played in heavy rain in the aftermath of Hurricane Lili?
... that Theresa May described her leadership as "strong and stable" but her critics called it "weak and wobbly"?

In the news

Pedro Sánchez

In a snap general election, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (leader Pedro Sánchez pictured) wins the most seats in both houses of the Cortes Generales.
Flooding and winds from Cyclone Kenneth kill at least 45 people, injure more than 200 others, and cause serious damage in Mozambique and the Comoro Islands.
An earthquake in Luzon, the Philippines, kills at least 18 people.
Volodymyr Zelensky wins the Ukrainian presidential election.

On this day

May 4: Star Wars Day

Margaret Thatcher

1836 – The Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish Catholic fraternal organization, was founded in New York City.
1886 – During a peaceful labor rally in Chicago, an unknown assailant threw a bomb into a crowd of police, which resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four bystanders.
1979 – Margaret Thatcher (pictured) became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, following the defeat of James Callaghan's incumbent Labour government in the previous day's general election.
2015 – The Parliament of Malta moved from the Grandmaster's Palace to the purpose-built Parliament House.

Richard Graves (b. 1715) · Audrey Hepburn (b. 1929) · Lillian Estelle Fisher (d. 1988)

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Today's featured picture

Hydra is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere, commonly represented as a water snake. The largest of the 88 modern constellations, it stretches more than 100 degrees across the sky. Its southern end abuts Libra and Centaurus, while its northern end borders Cancer. It was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy. Despite its size, Hydra contains only one moderately bright star, Alphard, designated Alpha Hydrae, which is an orange giant of magnitude 2.0, 177 light-years from Earth. Other stars include Beta Hydrae, a blue-white star of magnitude 4.3, as well as Gamma Hydrae, a yellow giant of magnitude 3.0. Hydra contains three Messier objects: M83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, located on the border with Centaurus; M68, a globular cluster near M83; and M48, an open cluster at the western end of the constellation.

This illustration was produced around 1823 and comes from Urania's Mirror, a set of 32 astronomical star chart cards. Along with Hydra, the chart also depicts the constellations of Noctua (obsolete), Corvus, Crater, Sextans Uraniae (now Sextans), Felis (obsolete), Lupus, Centaurus, Antlia Pneumatica (now Antlia), Argo Navis (obsolete) and Pyxis Nautica (now Pyxis).

Lithograph credit: Sidney Hall; restored by Adam Cuerden

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