Almanac - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

TOP TEN LISTS

World's Most Dangerous Animals

Deadliest animals in the world ranked by estimated number of human fatalities per year

Best Selling Musicians

Top selling musicians of all time ranked by estimated number of albums sold

Best Selling Books of All-Time

Best selling novels worldwide ranked by estimated number of copies sold

Fastest Manned Aircraft in the World

Fastest manned aircraft (excluding spacecraft) ranked by top speed

World's Most Practiced Religions

Major religions of the world ranked by estimated number of followers

Worst Genocides of the Twentieth Century

The ten worst genocides of the 20th century listed by dictators responsible; ranked by number of deaths

World's Fastest Land Animals

The fastest land animals in the world ranked by maximum speed

Home Top Ten Lists Timelines

Today in History

Wednesday, 23 September 2026

2008

Kauhajoki school shooting: Matti Saari kills 10 people before committing suicide.

2004

Hurricane Jeanne: At least 1,070 in Haiti are reported to have been killed by floods.

2002

The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.

1999

NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.

Qantas Flight 1 overruns the runway in Bangkok during a storm. Although some passengers only receive minor injuries, it is still the worst crash in Qantas's history since 1960.

1992

A large Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb destroys forensic laboratories in Belfast.

1988

José Canseco of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first member of the 40-40 club.

1986

Jim Deshaies of the Houston Astros sets the major-league record by striking out the first eight batters of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

1983

Gulf Air Flight 771 is bombed, killing all 117 people on board.

Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations.

FACTOIDS

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime.

Blue Whale

The blue whale is the largest animal that has ever lived.

Gold

Every ton of seawater contains approximately 1 milligram of dissolved gold.

Mosquito

Studies show that mosquitoes prefer biting blondes to brunettes.

Timelines

People's Republic of China

Afghanistan