THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― NOVEMBER 8

November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 53 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56).

NATIONAL HARVEY WALLBANGER DAY 

380 – The Edict of Thessalonica, also known as Cunctos populos, was issued in 380 AD. It ordered all subjects of the Roman Empire to profess the faith of the bishops of Romeand Alexandria, making Nicene Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. The Edict of Thessalonica was jointly issued by Theodosius I, Gratian, and Valentinian II.

1576 – The Pacification of Ghent, signed on 8 November 1576, was an alliance of the provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands for the purpose of driving mutinying Spanish mercenary troops from the country and promoting a peace treaty with the rebelling provinces Holland and Zeeland during the 80-years war (1568-1648).

1602 – The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is opened. The Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library with over 11 million items. Known to Oxford scholars as "Bodley" or simply "the Bod", under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 it is one of six legal deposit libraries for works published in the United Kingdom and under Irish Law it is entitled to request a copy of each book published in the Republic of Ireland. The Bodleian operates principally as a reference library and in general documents may not be removed from the reading rooms.


1658 – The Battle of the Sound: Swedish fleet beats Dutch during 2nd Northern War. The naval Battle of the Sound took place near the Sound or Oresund, just north of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Sweden had defeated Denmark and an army underCharles X of Sweden had Copenhagen itself under siege. The Dutch fleet was sent to prevent Sweden from gaining control of both sides of the Sound and thereby controlling access to the Baltic Sea as well as of its trade.

1789 – Bourbon whiskey is first distilled by Elijah Craig (1738/1743 – May 18, 1808. He was a Baptist preacher in Virginia, who became an educator and capitalist entrepreneur in the area of Virginia that later became the state of Kentucky. He has sometimes, although rather dubiously, been credited with the invention of bourbon whiskey.

1837 – Mount Holyoke Seminary in Massachusetts was founded, the first American college for women. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others. Mount Holyoke is part of the Pioneer Valley's Five College Consortium, along with Amherst College, Smith College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.


1864 – Abraham Lincoln (R) is elected to his second term as President in the middle of the Civil War. The United States presidential election of 1864 was the 20th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1864. Abraham Lincoln ran as the Republican (National Union Party) nominee against Democratic candidate George B. McClellan, who ran as the "peace candidate" without personally believing in his party's platform.


1887 – On this day, Doc Holliday―gunslinger, gambler, and occasional dentist―dies from tuberculosis. Though he was perhaps most famous for his participation in the shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, John Henry "Doc" Holliday earned his bad reputation well before that famous feud. Born in Georgia, Holliday was raised in the tradition of the southern gentleman. He earned his nickname when he graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1872. 


1917 – On November 8, 1917, one day after an armed uprising led by his radical socialist Bolsheviks toppled the provisional Russian government, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyannov (Lenin) rises before the newly formed All-Russian Congress of Soviets to call for an immediate armistice with the Central Powers in World War I.

1942 – On this day in 1942, just as the Allies were preparing an invasion of North Africa during World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt broadcasts a message directed at Vichy France and its leader Marshal Petain. Petain, who chose to collaborate with the Germans in 1940 rather than fight them, was nominally the leader of France but the country was far from free. (Exiled French General Charles De Gaulle was considered the leader of the "Free French.")

1960 – John F. Kennedy becomes the youngest man ever to be elected president of the United States, narrowly beating Republican Vice President Richard Nixon. He was also the first Catholic to become president.

1974 – Salt Lake City, Utah, resident Carol DaRonch narrowly escapes being abducted by serial killer Ted Bundy. DaRonch had been shopping at a mall when a man claiming to be a police detective told her that there was an attempted theft of her car and she needed to file a police report. Despite her misgivings, DaRonch accompanied the man to his Volkswagen and got into the car. Once inside, he placed a handcuff on her and attempted to hit her with a crowbar, but DaRonch fought back and jumped out of the car to safety.

1983 – Martha Layne Collins (D) elected the first female governor of Kentucky. Prior to her election as governor, she was the 48thLieutenant Governor of Kentucky, under John Y. Brown, Jr. As of 2014, she is the only woman to have been a governor of Kentucky. Her election made her the highest-ranking Democratic woman in the U.S. She was considered as a possible running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election, but Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro instead.

2011 – The potentially hazardous asteroid 2005 YU55 passed within 0.85 lunar distances from Earth (about 201,700 miles), the closest known approach by an asteroid of its brightness since 2010 XC15 in 1976. It was discovered on 28 December 2005 by Robert S. McMillan at Steward Observatory, Kitt Peak. On 8 November 2011 it passed 0.85 lunar distances (201,900 miles) from Earth. This is the closest known approach by an asteroid with anabsolute magnitude this bright since 2010 XC15 (H = 21.4) approached within 0.5 lunar distances in 1976.

In February 2010, 2005 YU55 was rated 1 on the Torino Scale for a potential pass near Earth on November 10, 2103, that posed no unusual level of danger. On 19 April 2010, radar ranging by the Arecibo radio telescope reduced uncertainties about the orbit by 50%. This improvement eliminated any possibility of an impact with Earth within the next 100 years. It was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on 22 April 2010 and as such it now has a rating of 0 on the Torino Scale. It is now known that on 10 November 2103 2005 YU55 will be roughly 2 AU from Earth.

On 8 November 2011 at 23:28 UT the asteroid passed 0.8453 LD (201,900 mi) from Earth. On 9 November 2011 at 07:13 UT the asteroid passed 0.6231 LD (148,800 mi) from the Moon. During the close approach the asteroid reached about apparent magnitude 11, and would have been visible to experienced observers using high-end binoculars with an objective lens of 80+ mm if it were not for bright moonlight preventing a true dark sky. Since the gibbous moon did interfere with the viewing, observers trying to visually locate the asteroid required a telescope with an aperture of 6 inches (15 centimeters) or larger.

The next time a known asteroid this large will come this close to Earth will be in 2028 when (153814) 2001 WN5 passes 0.00166 AU (154,000 mi) from Earth.

According to Jay Melosh, if an asteroid the size of 2005 YU55 were to hit land, it would create a crater 3.9 mi across, 1,699 ft deep and generate a seven-magnitude-equivalent-earthquake. The chances of an actual collision with an asteroid like 2005 YU55 is about 1 percent in the next thousand years.


TODAY'S BIRTHS


1656 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematiciar, discovered Halley's Comet (d. 1742)

1710 – Sarah Fielding, English author (d. 1768)

1847 – Bram Stoker, Anglo-Irish author and critic, created Count Dracula (d. 1912)

1923 – Jack Kilby, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)

From Wikipedia and Google, except as noted.