◆ On this day

October 13

4 sourced moments from October 13 in history: Philip IV arrested the Templars on Friday 13 October 1307; The Whirlpool Galaxy: found in 1773, first spiral ever seen; Greenwich was voted the world's prime meridian (1884), plus 1 more.

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4 things happened on October 13

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2010 Society & Economy · Politics & Law

The 33 Trapped Chilean Miners Were Rescued

After 69 days half a mile underground, all 33 men rose one by one through a borehole barely wider than their shoulders.

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1884 Geography · Borders & Maps

Greenwich was voted the world's prime meridian

In 1884, delegates from 25 nations met in Washington and picked a brass line in London to anchor the entire planet's longitude.

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1773 Space · Stars & Galaxies

The Whirlpool Galaxy: found in 1773, first spiral ever seen

Charles Messier logged M51 as a 'very faint nebula' in 1773. It took Lord Rosse's giant telescope, 72 years later, to see it spiral.

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1307 History · Medieval

Philip IV arrested the Templars on Friday 13 October 1307

France's king seized hundreds of Templars in one dawn sweep. A 22-metre interrogation roll and a Vatican parchment show what happened next.

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