On Oct. 27, 1973, a 1.4 kg chondrite-type meteorite crashed through a garage roof in Canon City, Colorado. It tore a six-inch hole in the roof and left a two-inch gash in the cement floor. It weighed 1.4 kg at the time of impact and was classified as a chondrite, a stony meteorite that is the most common type to hit Earth. According to scientist Glenn Huss, who was director of the American Meteorological Laboratory at the time, the Canon City meteorite originated 60 million miles away, in an asteroid belt.
At the time, it was only the third meteorite in Colorado to be discovered shortly after landfall. Upon impact, the meteorite broke into four large pieces and more than 50 fragments. A 2001 report named the Canon City meteorite as only one of 35 meteorites to hit a man-made structure in the United States.
On October 27, 312, on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the pagan Constantine had a vision assuring him of victory in the name of the Christian God. The subsequent victory by his badly outnumbered forces was a defining moment in the history of Christianity, as our article explains.
On October 27, 1782, Niccolò Paganini was born. He is considered to be one of the greatest violin virtuosos of all time.
In our Innovations series, we discuss the invention of the pocket calculator in the 1960s. It excited students then even more than the iPod does today.
Our NatGeo Photo of the Day is of the 80-foot tall Baobab trees in Madagascar.
Interview of the Day is with Marian Wright Edelman with Harvard's Charles Ogletree at the Aspen Institute in 2009. Edelman makes the shocking assertion that education of many minority students is worse today than it was during the days of segregation: "We always were taught that we could change the world, and we had these role models everywhere. That’s missing today for so many of our children.”
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