October 26
October 26 is the 300th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 66 days remain until the year's end. It falls in autumn (northern hemisphere) and under the astrological sign of Scorpio.
External references
Curated jump-off points to the major almanacs, encyclopaedias and primary sources for this date.
Astronomy
On October 26 the Sun's declination is approximately -13.8°. At this latitude the Sun is south of the celestial equator, giving the Northern Hemisphere shorter days than nights.
For specific rise/set times at your location, see the U.S. Naval Observatory, or the NASA APOD archive for any imagery published on a October 26.
Position in the year
Holidays & observances
- Accession Day (Jammu and Kashmir, India)
- Angam Day (Nauru)
- Armed Forces Day (Benin)
- Christian feast day: Alfred the Great (Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Christian feast day: Amandus of Strasbourg
Events
A selection of widely-documented historical events that took place on this date. Years marked BCE follow standard astronomical convention.
2015 — A 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes in the Hindu Kush mountain range in South Asia, killing 399 people and leaving 2,536 people injured. ↗(11 years ago)more
The October 2015 Hindu Kush earthquake was a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that struck South Asia on 26 October 2015, at 13:39 AFT with the epicenter 45 km north of Kuran wa Munjan, Afghanistan, at a depth of 231.0 km.
2012 — Microsoft made a public release of Windows 8 and made it available on new PCs. ↗(14 years ago)more
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. The company became influential in the rise of personal computers through software like Windows and has since expanded into areas such as Internet services, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, video gaming, and more.
2004 — Rockstar Games releases Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the PlayStation 2 in North America, which sold 12 million units for the PS2, becoming the console's best-selling video game. ↗(22 years ago)more
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive.
2003 — The Cedar Fire, the third-largest wildfire in California history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km2), and destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego. ↗(23 years ago)more
The Cedar Fire was a massive, highly-destructive wildfire, which burned 273,246 acres (1,106 km2) of land in San Diego County, California, during October and November 2003. The fire's rapid growth was driven by the Santa Ana winds, causing the fire to spread at a rate of 3,600 acres (15 km2) per hour.
2002 — Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian special forces troops storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before. ↗(24 years ago)more
The Moscow theater hostage crisis, also known as the 2002 Nord-Ost siege, was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater in Moscow by Chechen terrorists on 23 October 2002, resulting in the taking of 912 hostages. The attackers, led by Movsar Barayev, claimed allegiance to the rebel breakaway movement in Chechnya.
2001 — The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law. ↗(25 years ago)more
The USA PATRIOT Act is a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001, and the commonly used short name is a backronym that is embedded in the name set f...
2000 — A wave of protests forces Robert Guéï to step down as president after the Ivorian presidential election. ↗(26 years ago)more
Robert Guéï was an Ivorian politician who served as the third president of the Ivory Coast from 24 December 1999 to 26 October 2000. He succeeded President Henri Konan Bédié after the 1999 Ivorian coup d'état and lost to Laurent Gbagbo in the ensuing 2000 Ivorian presidential election.
1999 — The United Kingdom's House of Lords votes to end the right of most hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament. ↗(27 years ago)more
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in northwestern Europe, off the coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a population of over 69 million in 2024.
1995 — Mossad agents assassinate Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shaqaqi in his hotel in Malta. ↗(31 years ago)more
The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, popularly known as Mossad, is the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel. It is one of the main organizations in the Israeli intelligence community, along with Aman and Shin Bet.
1995 — An avalanche hits the Icelandic village of Flateyri, destroying 29 homes and burying 45 people, and killing 20. ↗(31 years ago)more
Flateyri is a village situated in Iceland's Westfjords. It is part of the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær and has a population of approximately 200, making it the largest settlement in Önundarfjörður.
1994 — Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty. ↗(32 years ago)more
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and both Israel and Palestine to the west.
1991 — Three months after the end of the Ten-Day War, the last soldier of the Yugoslav People's Army leaves the territory of the Republic of Slovenia. ↗(35 years ago)more
The Ten-Day War, or the Slovenian War of Independence, was a brief armed conflict that followed Slovenia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991. It was fought between the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Slovenian National Police Force on one side, and the Yugoslav People's Army on the other.
Notable births
2002 — Lee Eunsang, South Korean singer ↗(24 years ago)more
Lee Eun-sang, also known by the mononym Eunsang, is a South Korean singer and actor. He is currently a member of Younite. He is also a former member of X1 which debuted in 2019. He debuted as a solo artist on August 31, 2020, with his single album Beautiful Scar.
- 1997 — Rhenzy Feliz, American actor and singer ↗(29 years ago)
more
Rhenzy Feliz is an American actor, who is best known for playing Alex Wilder in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Runaways, voicing Camilo Madrigal in Disney's 2021 animated feature film Encanto, and playing Victor Aguilar in the HBO series The Penguin.
- 1996 — Rebecca Tunney, English gymnast ↗(30 years ago)
more
Rebecca Tunney is a retired British artistic gymnast who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
1995 — Yuta, Japanese singer ↗(31 years ago)more
Yuta Nakamoto , known professionally as Yuta, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, dancer and radio host based in South Korea. He is a member of the South Korean boy group NCT, debuting in the group's second fixed sub-unit NCT 127 in 2016 and in the group's first rotational sub-unit NCT U in 2020.
1994 — Waqa Blake, Fijian rugby league player ↗(32 years ago)more
Waqa Blake is a Fijian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a centre and wing for the Bradford Bulls in the Super League and Fiji at international level.
1994 — Allie DeBerry, American model and actress ↗(32 years ago)more
Alexandria Danielle DeBerry is an American actress and model. She is best known for her roles in A.N.T. Farm as Paisley Houndstooth, Shake It Up as Destiny, Lazer Team as Mindy and True Jackson, VP as Cammy.
Notable deaths
2025 — Bjorn Andresen, Swedish actor and musician (born 1955) ↗(1 years ago)more
Björn Johan Andrésen was a Swedish actor and musician. He was best known for having played the 14-year-old Tadzio in Luchino Visconti's 1971 film adaptation of the 1912 Thomas Mann novella Death in Venice.
2021 — Roh Tae-woo, South Korean general and politician, 6th President of South Korea (born 1932) ↗(5 years ago)more
Roh Tae-woo was a South Korean army general and politician who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. In 1987, he became the first president to be directly elected under the current democratic constitution, which was promulgated after a lengthy period of indirect elections under military governments following the advent of the Yus...
- 2017 — Ali Ashraf Darvishian, Iranian novelist, short story writer and academic. (born 1941) ↗(9 years ago)
more
Ali Ashraf Darvishian was an Iranian story writer and scholar of Kurdish descent. After finishing teacher-training college, he would teach at the poverty-stricken villages of Gilan-e-Gharb and Shah Abad. This atmosphere is featured in most of his stories.
2015 — Willis Carto, American activist and theorist (born 1926) ↗(11 years ago)more
Willis Allison Carto was an American far-right political activist. He described himself as a Jeffersonian and a populist, but was primarily known for his promotion of antisemitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial.
2015 — Leo Kadanoff, American physicist and academic (born 1937) ↗(11 years ago)more
Leo Philip Kadanoff was an American physicist. He was a professor of physics at the University of Chicago and a former president of the American Physical Society (APS). He contributed to the fields of statistical physics, chaos theory, and theoretical condensed matter physics.
Numerical & calendrical curiosities
| Day-of-year (300) | 2^2 × 3 × 5^2 · composite (no) |
|---|---|
| Days remaining (66) | 2 × 3 × 11 |
| Date code DDMMYYYY | 26102026 · no palindrome in next 200 years |
| Sun declination | -13.78° (Cooper approximation) |
| Distance from solstice | 55 days |