3 Comments TIL 24 year old Clyde Tombaugh won a scholarship at University of Kansas to study astronomy after discovering Pluto. He also discovered several galactic star clusters, hundreds of asteroids, a comet, a cluster of 1,800 galaxies and other observations by whatilearned August 22, 2022, 2:33 am 9 Points Upvote Downvote
TIL That Halley’s Comet was first depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry (The tapestry chronicling the Norman conquest of England) in 1066 by whatilearned June 16, 2022, 3:32 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
5 Comments TIL that the planet Mercury has a tail, much like a comet, thanks to sodium atoms blasted off its surface and atmosphere by solar winds by whatilearned April 29, 2022, 3:31 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
1 Comment TIL about the Younger Dryas Impact Theory, the idea that 12,800 years ago, the resulting impacts from a comet breaking up over earth’s atmosphere would have struck glaciers and ice caps across the globe could have caused the great flood present in many ancient culture’s stories/myths by whatilearned February 28, 2022, 6:37 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
1 Comment TIL the worlds first commercial jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet, suffered numerous fatal crashes in the 50’s because the windows were square, among other things. Pressure is concentrated on right angles, which causes metal fatigue. by whatilearned January 14, 2022, 12:58 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
6 Comments TIL that the first time the concept of Human Extinction was explored in literature, was in 1816, “the Year Without a Summer”. Lord Byron wrote ‘Darkness’ about an apocalyptic end of the world. In 1824 he envisaged humanity being threatened by a comet impact, employing a missile system for defense. by whatilearned November 2, 2021, 6:33 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
1 Comment TIL that the Sun is 99.86% of all mass in our solar system. Every other planet, asteroid, and comet only adds up to 7/50th of a single percent. by whatilearned September 5, 2021, 4:51 am 12 Points Upvote Downvote
TIL that comet tails don’t always trail the comet, but rather always face away from the sun. This is because the particles that make up comet tails interact with and are pushed away by sunlight and solar wind, meaning that a comet’s tail will actually lead the comet itself during half of its orbit. by whatilearned September 2, 2021, 6:43 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
1 Comment TIL Comet tails always point away from the sun, because they’re created by solar winds by whatilearned July 29, 2021, 5:40 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
1 Comment TIL That the movie Apollo 13 was shot in zero gravity on the “Vomit Comet” plane, they made almost 600 dives to get the footage, more than some real astronauts get when training by whatilearned July 22, 2021, 1:05 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
5 Comments TIL that the Hale–Bopp Comet was discovered independently in 1995 and is credited to both Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp – Hale emailed his coordinates of the location of the comet to authorities three times, while Bopp sent a telegram by whatilearned May 24, 2021, 12:44 pm 12 Points Upvote Downvote
Comet tails always face away from the Sun by Cool Facts Guy April 12, 2019, 2:23 am 0 Points Upvote Downvote
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