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51 Interesting Facts about Space – Amazing Space Facts
Interesting Facts about Space Part 1
1. Did you know that the age of the Sun is 4.6 billion years old which is approximately a third of the age of the entire Universe?
2. Did you know that the planets Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune all have rings only they appear less obvious than that of Saturn?
3. Did you know that there is no wind on the Moon as it has no atmosphere?
4. Did you know that, due to gravitational influence, you would weigh approximately two-thirds less on Mars than you do on Earth?
5. Did you know that the four largest moons of Jupiter are Ganymede, Europa, Io and Callisto and that they are collectively named the Galilean Moons?
6. Did you know that the only planet that spins on its side is Uranus?
7. Did you know that an asteroid from outer space is thought to have rendered the dinosaurs extinct approximately 65 million years ago?
8. Did you know that the Universe is expanding at an ever greater rate constantly pushing its contents further and further apart?
9. Did you know that when we see a galaxy in the night sky it appears as it was, millions of years ago?
10. Did you know that fifty-nine days on Earth is equivalent to one day on Mercury?
11. Did you know that the astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus along with its two moons Titania and Oberon?
12. Did you know that a neutron star is so dense that a teaspoon of the star would weigh as much as a billion tonnes?
13. Did you know that there are such things as binary stars which are two stars that orbit around a centre of common gravity?
14. Did you know that Ceres is the name of the largest asteroid in the inner Solar System?
15. Did you know that the weightlessness experienced by astronauts actually helps them to expand several centimetres in length?
Most Interesting Space Facts Part 3
16. Did you know that the first animal in space was a Russian dog called Laika on board Sputnik 2 in 1957?
17. Did you know that the coldest moon in the Solar System is Neptune’s Triton at a chilly minus 240 degrees Celsius?
18. Did you also know that Solar flares from the Sun reach a whopping 10 million degrees Celsius?
19. Did you know that the Shoemaker-Levy comet crashed spectacularly into Jupiter in 1994?
20. Did you know that William Herschel, who discovered Uranus, originally wanted to call it George but had to settle on Uranus instead?
21. Did you know that Mars is red due to the oxidation of iron on the surface?
22. Did you know that stars make their energy through the production of hydrogen via nuclear fission?
23. Did you know that the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way is called Andromeda and that it will crash into the Milky Way in about 5 billion years time?
24. Did you know that a programme called SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) was developed to find radio waves that may have come from alien civilizations?
25. Did you know that our own Sun travels around the Milky Way only once every 200 million years?
26. Did you know that a Supernova can occur in one of two ways? Either through the gravitational collapse of the core of a huge star or through an abrupt reigniting of nuclear fusion in a degenerate star.
27. Did you know that a Supernova can occur in one of two ways? Either through the gravitational collapse of the core of a huge star or through an abrupt reigniting of nuclear fusion in a degenerate star.
28. Did you know that massive clouds of dust, gas and other materials form in space called nebulae? Eventually they will grow large enough to become stars.
29. Did you know that the ancient Greeks called space, ‘khora’, and was widely reflected on by philosophers such as Plato and Socrates?
30. Did you know that the matter we see only comprises 5% of what constitutes the Universe and that the other 95% is composed of unknown quantities such as dark matter and dark energy?
Interesting Space Facts that will Amaze You Part 2
31. Did you know that astronauts have described the smell of the Moon as being akin to that of gunpowder?
32. Did you know that in 2004, astronomers discovered the largest known diamond in the Universe with a core of 10 billion trillion trillion carats, known affectionately as “Lucy”, (technically known as BPM 37093).
33. Did you know that it takes the light from the Sun, 8.4 minutes to travel 93 million miles to Earth?
34. Did you know that the Moon is moving away from us a few centimetres every year and that eventually, it will escape Earth’s gravity and wander out into space?
35. Did you know that there are 88 constellations in the night sky?
36. Did you know that the brightest star in the night sky is called Sirius, nicknamed the ‘Dog Star’, in the constellation of Canis Major?
37. Did you know that there is no sound in space because there is no atmosphere for the sound to travel?
38. Did you know that an oxygen device pumps out oxygen into the visor of the spacesuit helmet to prevent it from misting?
39. Did you know that the mass of the Sun makes up 99% of the mass of the entire Solar System?
40. Did you know that there are hundreds of thousands of space debris orbiting Earth? This man-made “Space Junk” includes such things as old satellites, detached rocket boosters and collisions.
41. Did you know that there are hundreds of thousands of space debris orbiting Earth? This man-made “Space Junk” includes such things as old satellites, detached rocket boosters and collisions.
42. Did you know that in theory, if you placed the planet Saturn in sufficient water, it would float due to its low density?
43. Did you know that there is a giant reservoir of water floating out in space, 30 billion trillion miles away? Scientists believe it is 100,000 times bigger than our Sun.
44. Did you know that if you ever set foot on the moon, your footprint will last for all eternity?
45. Did you know that when 2 pieces of metal touch each other in outer space, they automatically bond together?
46. Did you know that, due to solar winds, the Sun actually loses approximately 1 billion kg per second?
47. Did you know that there could be more than 20 trillion galaxies in the Universe?
48. Did you know that Edmond Halley was the first person to correctly predict that a comet would arrive in 1758? We now know the comet as “Halley’s Comet.”
49. Did you know that Mars’s shield volcano, Olympus Mons, is almost 3 times the height of Mount Everest?
50. Did you know that it’s possible to see the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye, even though it’s over 2 million light years away?
51. Did you know that Neil Armstrong first set on the Moon with his left foot?
