› added 7 years ago

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TIL: There are 23,000 cataloged objects orbiting Earth in space, with the majority (14,950) produced by a Chinese anti-satellite test. A collision with even the tiniest of these fragments can be disastrous to any spacecraft.

Read more space.com

via ift.tt

x6PJ0 TIL loons have their feet so far back on their body for swimming efficiency that they can barely walk on land, having to push themselves along on their bellies; they also can only take off from large bodies of water
4ROw TIL in 1680, the Pueblo Indians of N.M., unified by leader Popé, drove off their Spanish oppressors for 12 years. Because of this, they were able to save their culture and beliefs, which still exist today. The Pueblo Revolt is considered the most successful Indian rebellion in American history.
0dwWj TIL that French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier discovered Bouvet Island in 1739 but then mislabelled the coordinates, causing it to be lost until it's rediscovery 8 decades later in 1808.
Lk81m TIL in 1992, a California middle school ordered teachers to cover up all "obscene" words in Fahrenheit 451 with black marker before issuing copies to students. The school stopped this practice after local newspapers commented on the irony of defacing a book that condemns censorship.
wy47 TIL Pluto is so far away, that not only has it still not completed a full orbit around the sun since its discovery in 1930, it’s barely completed a third of its orbit. It won’t complete its first full orbit until 2178.