› added 5 years ago

589

TIL Two touching stars were expected to fully merge in 2022. The resulting explosion ("a Red Nova)" would have been visible to the naked eye. Unfortunately, a small typo in old data threw the prediction off. Fortunately, the science behind the forecast is still sound, so we may soon predict another.

Read more astronomy.com

via reddit.com

BrGmd TIL that while evaluating security at a Fortune 5 company, a penetration tester was suspicious that the small-town restaurant across the street served black duck eggs, a rare Chinese delicacy. The restaurant was reported to the FBI and was revealed to be a front for a Chinese espionage operation.
XEAkP TIL The United States still has 8 nuclear weapons unaccounted for as a result of "broken arrow" incidents typically involving the aircraft carrying it crashing or in one case a crew member accidentally grabbing the emergency release pin.
kJvK1 TIL the earliest description of the heliocentric model dates back to Ancient Greece. Aristarchus of Samos (c.310–c.230 BC) described the Earth spinning on its axis once per day and orbiting a fixed Sun. He also thought that stars were other suns much further away.
W7dj8 TIL that the 1986 Christmas special of Only Fools and Horses only completed editing on the day of broadcast (Xmas Day). There was a contingency plan to broadcast the final scene live.
DQvAp TIL that the vehicles in Disneyland's Indiana Jones ride can't reverse. The final boulder escape scene is achieved by tilting the vehicle's motion base backwards and accelerating the walls past the riders.