A historical day: Sunday marks first eight-digit palindrome of 21st century

Handler AJ Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil after he did not see his shadow predicting an early spring during the 133rd annual Groundhog Day festivities on February 2, 2019 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Handler AJ Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil after he did not see his shadow predicting an early spring during the 133rd annual Groundhog Day festivities on February 2, 2019 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Groundhog Day. The Big Game. Those are great, but they don't come close to the most interesting part of the day.

Sunday is a rare eight-digit palindrome when written out as 02/02/2020 – the only one of its kind this century.

What is a palindrome? It’s a sequence that reads the same forward as it does backward.

What makes Sunday's palindrome so special is that it reads the same whether you are in America, Europe, Asia or Africa because the month and day are the same number.

The last time something this rare happened was 11/11/1111 – 909 years ago.

After Sunday’s palindrome, we’ll have to wait 101 years for 12/12/2121 – and the next one isn’t until 03/03/3030.

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