Interesting Space Facts – Discover the Wonders of the Universe
Astronauts cannot burp in space because there is no gravity to separate gas from the stomach.
There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches of Earth.
The tallest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, is found on Mars and is three times the height of Mount Everest.
The temperature on the surface of the sun can reach about 15 million degrees Celsius (27 million degrees Fahrenheit).
The speed of light is about 299,792 kilometers per second (186,282 miles per second).
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and could fit over 1,300 Earths inside it.
Pluto, formerly considered the ninth planet, is now classified as a dwarf planet.
The Milky Way, our home galaxy, is estimated to be about 100,000 light-years in diameter.
A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus, as it takes 243 Earth days for Venus to complete one rotation on its axis.
The moon is moving away from the Earth at a rate of about 3.8 centimeters per year.
Saturn’s rings are made up of billions of pieces of ice, ranging in size from tiny grains to large chunks several meters across.
The Apollo 11 mission, which landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon, took only 8 days.
There may be as many as 100 billion galaxies in the universe.
The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is a giant storm that has been raging for over 300 years.
The weight of an object on Mars is only about 38% of its weight on Earth due to the weaker gravity.
Interesting Space Facts – Discover the Wonders of the Universe part 2
The Hubble Space Telescope can see objects over 13 billion light-years away.
The International Space Station orbits the Earth at a speed of about 28,000 kilometers per hour (17,500 miles per hour).
If you were to put Saturn in a huge bathtub, it would float because its density is less than water.
The first living creatures to travel into space were fruit flies, sent aboard a U.S. V-2 rocket in 1947.
The largest known star, UY Scuti, is estimated to be over 1,700 times the diameter of the sun.
The maximum speed achieved by any spacecraft leaving Earth is about 39,000 kilometers per hour (24,000 miles per hour).
The first woman to travel to space was Valentina Tereshkova from the Soviet Union in 1963.
A black hole is a region in space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.
The average temperature on the surface of Mercury can reach over 400 degrees Celsius (750 degrees Fahrenheit).
The Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977, has now entered interstellar space, becoming the farthest human-made object from Earth.
The Sun accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the solar system.
Astronauts have to exercise for about two hours every day in space to prevent muscle and bone loss.
Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, has geysers that shoot water vapor into space, indicating the possibility of an underground ocean.
In space, seeds can germinate and grow faster due to the absence of gravity.
The first man-made object to reach the moon was the Soviet Union’s Luna 2 spacecraft in 1959.
A teaspoonful of a neutron star would weigh about six billion tons.
The sun’s energy comes from nuclear fusion, where hydrogen atoms combine to form helium and release immense amounts of energy.
The largest impact crater on Earth is the Vredefort crater in South Africa, estimated to be about 300 kilometers (186 miles) in diameter.
The temperature in the shadow of the moon during a total solar eclipse can drop by about 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit).
The light we see from stars is often thousands or millions of years old, as it takes time for the light to travel through space to reach us.
Astronauts cannot cry in space because tears cannot flow without gravity.
The first American woman to walk in space was Kathryn D. Sullivan in 1984.
Uranus is the only planet in our solar system that rotates on its side, with its axis tilted at an angle of about 98 degrees.
The Andromeda galaxy, our closest galactic neighbor, is on a collision course with the Milky Way and will eventually merge with it in about 4 billion years.
The bright patches we see on the surface of the moon are known as highlands and are made up of rocky mountains and impact craters.
The outer layer of the sun is called the corona, and during a total solar eclipse, it is visible as a halo of light around the moon.
Astronauts experience space sickness in the first few days of being in space, similar to motion sickness on Earth.
The red color of Mars comes from iron oxide, also known as rust, covering its surface.
The dwarf planet Ceres, located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, has bright spots on its surface that scientists believe could be frozen water.
The James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in 2021, will be the most powerful space telescope ever built and will help scientists study the formation of the first galaxies in the universe.
