First photo taken of the Moon (probably)

Louis Daguerre, a French artist and chemist who was one of photography‘s earliest pioneers, is thought to have taken the first photograph of the Moon on this day in 1839. It was destroyed when his studio burned down soon afterwards. 1839.

NASA’s spacecraft Stardust collected dust grains from the comet Wild 2. The cometary material was later revealed to contain the amino acid glycine, an essential building block of life. 2004.

Russian forces surrendered Port Arthur (later Lüshun, China) to the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War. 1905. 

Ferdinand II and Isabella I, the first monarchs of unified Spain, captured Granada, ending a centuries-long series of military campaigns waged by Christian states against Muslim rulers in Spain and Portugal. 1492.