Daily Almanac: October 07, 2023

Sunrise/Sunset

RISE: 7:48 a.m.
SET: 7:22 p.m.

High/Low Temperatures:

HIGH: 57 °F
LOW: 42 °F

Today is…

• National Flower Day
• Shemini Atzeret
• You Matter To Me Day

What Happened On This Day:

• 2001 War in Afghanistan begins. American and British troops began air strikes against Al Qaeda and Taliban targets after the Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin-Laden, the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and other Al Qaeda operatives, to the United States. Nicknamed Operation Enduring Freedom, the military strikes were part of the so-called Global War on Terror.
• 1959 People on Earth Get the First Glimpse of the Dark Side of the Moon. Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 took pictures of the far side of the Moon. The images sent by the probe covered about 70% of the far side of Earth’s natural satellite and they were instrumental in helping astronomers make the first atlas of the dark side of the Moon. The far or dark side of the Moon is the side of the Moon that cannot be seen from Earth because of the way the Moon orbits around the Earth and rotate on its own axis. Due to lunar libration, people on Earth can see about 59% of the Moon over time.• 1944 Auschwitz-Birkenau Sonderkommando Revolt. The short-lived rebellion was staged by prisoners who worked at a crematorium after they learned that the Nazis planned to execute most of the squad. The revolt was quickly put down, and over 450 people were killed.

Births On This Day

• 1931 Desmond Tutu

South African archbishop, activist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1885 Niels Bohr

Danish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

Deaths On This Day

• 1849 Edgar Allan Poe

American author, poet
• 1792 George Mason

American politician