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TIL The Vatican Observatory is one of the oldest active astronomical observatories in the world, with its roots going back to 1582 The Jesuit astronomers have contributed to discoveries in many fields from the origins of our solar system to the structure of galaxies.

Read more vaticanobservatory.org

via reddit.com

l7YE5 TIL about the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed an estimated 224,000 people. It is not even not even in the top 10 for deadliest natural disasters in history.
R7xgQ TIL there was a black samurai named Yasuke. He was owned by a Jesuit missionary who gave him to the Daimyo, Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga took an interest in him and made him a samurai, teaching him Japanese and giving him a home and a katana.
86wV TIL NASA intoxicated spiders with different drugs to see if they could still build an effective web. All of the drugs reduced web regularity except for small doses of LSD, which actually increased it.
1xrO TIL Pope Alexander VI ordered the destruction of all art depicting a Semitic Jesus and commissioned a number of paintings depicting a Caucasian Jesus. His son, Cesare Borgia, was the model for these paintings. Thus, the nastiest of all the Borgias, became the iconic Caucasian Jesus.
l15 TIL water is intrinsically blue.