Ever wondered what’s up there? Even if your answer is yes, you wouldn’t have known much about Astronomy. Knowing what’s above and beyond Earth gives context to understanding our own universe. I must tell you our universe is Huge and learning something new about anything is always fun, especially when there are unknown facts. Let’s dig in and here are some facts about Astronomy.
22 Amazing Facts about Astronomy
1. Space is entirely soundless
Because of no air in space, no one can hear you scream. Sound waves need a medium to travel through and they cannot travel it is vacuum.
2. There’s a planet made up of diamonds
How would it be to live on a planet made up of diamonds? Not cool! The planet is named as “55 cancri” aka “super earth”. You wouldn’t be able to survive on this planet as it is suggested to have carbon in large amounts. Well, the planet would be worth nearly 27 nonillion dollars.
3. The highest temperature in our solar system is on VENUS
Despite mercury Being closest to the sun, it is not the hottest planet as mercury has no atmosphere, which results in fluctuations. The hottest planet in our solar system is Venus and it is 450°C.
4. Pluto is known as a dwarf planet for its size
It is said that Pluto is smaller than the USA. The distance of Pluto is the same as the distance between London to Denver. The radius of Pluto is less than 2000km.
5. Few planets in space have no surface to land on
Those planets are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Those planets are nothing but just gases and liquids. And so they are also called gas giants as they are extremely huge and have no solid surface to land on.
6. Uranus spins differently from its orbit
It spins sideways. It is the only planet whose equator falls nearly on at a right angle to its orbit. This quirky tilt makes the Uranus spin sideways rotating around the sun like a rolling ball.
7. Mercury is getting smaller and Denser
The main origin of the mercury’s massive fault scarps is that they’re basically wrinkles that formed because the planet’s interior cooled over time. The cooling led Mercury to shrink 3.7cm every year. It is said that mercury is going to take 14000 years more to disappear.
8. Saturn is not the only planet to have a ring
Each planet in outer space has its own ring like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The difference is that Saturn’s amazing halo is made up of sparkly water Ice whereas the rings of other gas giants are made of rocky pieces and dust.
9. There’s a hypothetical planet called “Planet Nine”
Based on a calculation and simulation of the California Institute of Technology (CIT), there may be a giant planet 9 times bigger than Earth lying low far from Neptune. Scientists are in search of this hypothetical planet and it is suggested to have been located within decades.
10. Jupiter is extremely bigger than you think
All of us know the fact that Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. But how large? Its surface area is 61.42billion km². It is said that it can fit all other eight planets in just 70 percent of its volume.
11. One teaspoon of neutron star would weigh the same as an entire human population
Shocked? Yeah, that’s true. The density of the neutron star is breathtaking. The tiny piece of a star could weigh nearly a trillion kilograms which is far more than the weight of the entire human population.
12. Neptune has completed only one orbit around the sun
Neptune takes around 165 years to complete an orbit. Since Neptune was discovered in 1846, it has only taken just one orbit in 2011.
13. The Moon is moving farther away from Earth every year
The reason behind the moon getting away is due to interactions with Earth’s oceans. The moon applies gravitation force to our planet which causes the movement of tidal bulges.
14. One day on Venus is nearly the same as eight months on Earth
Orbit of Venus around the sun is extremely slow; it takes about 243 Earth days to complete a cycle. Moreover, the sun rises on every 117th earth day which means that the sun will rise only two times throughout the whole year.
15. There’s nothing like the universe’s center
Yes! You heard right. The earth is not the center of the earth nor our galaxy. Scientists have said that every galaxy is expanding from one another and there are more than 100 billion galaxies in the entire universe.
16. Saturn has a total of 82 moons
Jupiter used to have most moons then; but after 20 new moons were discovered in Hawaii by telescope, Saturn has the most moons of all planets in space bringing its total to 82.
17. The size of the sun is 400 times larger than the Moon
You must be wondering then why they both seem to be the same size. We got you covered. Here’s because the sun is 400 times farther than the moon which makes both appear similar when we look at the sky.
18. NASA spacecraft have been to every planet
The NASA spacecraft has visited every planet in the solar system and has managed to get astounding pictures of celestial objects. It is said that Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were sent four decades ago and are still transmitting data from space.
19. There’s a tremendous amount of trash in space
Not only on Earth but there’s a lot of trash in space orbiting around the Earth. Space trash is a real issue because even something as small as a paper clip could also create havoc out there.
20. The stars you are looking at right now, it’s maybe dead
The speed of light is nearly 1M miles per second. So the stars you are gazing at are only just a light which is coming to earth. stars may not actually be there.
21. 95% of the universe is not visible to us
Yes, you heard me right. All those planets, asteroids, and black holes you read about are only 5% of what NASA has discovered. It is said that the other part consists of dark energy which is causing expansion to the universe.
22. The black hole is three million times bigger than Earth
The material in black holes is mostly giant stars that have collapsed. A giant star has to be much bigger than the sun. Black holes are so huge that they contain the same amount of material as 100 million or more suns.
Those above facts are just the tip of the iceberg. The outer space is so vast that you can’t even think about it. The asteroids, eclipses, discoveries, aliens, and still much more to explore. Thanks to NASA for exploring and observing space from time to time for us to continue to evolve and give us information about what’s coming next. There would be no accurate weather reports and no important experiments could be done to save our lives and eventually, humans would go extinct.
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