› added 6 years ago

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TIL in 2012 an extreme solar storm missed Earth by 9 days that could have caused nearly $2.5 trillion dollars in damage and loss of power for years on end. There is a 12% chance of a solar storm with the same magnitude to hit us in the next decade.

Read more science.nasa.gov

via reddit.com

OGMyR TIL Astronomer Rudolf Wolf observed sunspots through a telescope for 46 years from 1847 and managed to reconstruct historical records back to 1610. His sunspot number monitoring work continued at the Zürich Observatory until 1979
Jx7B TIL Tesla runs an entire island on solar power. The island of Ta'u in American Samoa used to consume 300 gallons of diesel fuel daily to run generators, fuel that had to be bought and shipped, but Tesla’s solar panels and power packs provide 6 megawatt-hours of energy storage
v1k0x TIL in 1984, Johnny Carson placed a giant eye over his shoulder on the Tonight Show set to reference Big Brother. They removed it after a week because viewers were too creeped out.
AD8Qg TIL After the English takeover of New Amsterdam in 1664, Dutch continued to be spoken until 1962, when the last Dutch speaker in New Jersey died.
9YKDr TIL the different standard sizes of beds.