› added 6 years ago

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TIL the International Space Station (ISS) can orbit "straight through" an aurora event. When it happened on 23 February 2016 Timothy Peake, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut aboard the ISS, said it was "eerie but very beautiful."

Read more nasa.gov

via reddit.com

vm67 TIL that on 9/11, passengers of Delta 15 were forced to land in Gander, Canada, where they stayed for more than 2 days. In appreciation of the hospitality shown by the locals, passengers created a scholarship fund for students of Gander.
0wbQM TIL that Huey Lewis got a perfect 800 on his math SAT
KYBVw TIL that in 1916 the US bought the Danish West Indies from Denmark for $25,000,000 in gold to turn them into the United States Virgin Islands
e0oVJ TIL that standing in the background of the famous Beatles’ album “Abbey Road” is a man named Paul Cole, an American tourist. He was standing outside on the street waiting for his wife to finish exploring a museum when he accidentally photobombed one of the most famous pics in history.
OG4PL TIL That during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, a black bear and incorrect wiring sounded a claxon that caused nuclear armed F-106 fighters to scramble from a base in Wisconsin. It was found to be a false alarm as the planes were already rolling towards takeoff.