Space has now become quite an interest for all human beings. And this curiosity has made us visit the place and find out new things about it. Ever since our first visit, we have been making an effort to find life in space. This continuous effort has opened several doors of wide information to us. Let’s peep through these and get some wisdom.
20 Fascinating Facts about Space
1. Multiple black holes
The data collected by Astrophysicists states that there is one black hole for every thousand stars that exist. Taking into account the average number of stars in the galaxy and the approx number of galaxies in the observable universe, that makes a total of 10 quadrillion black holes in the entire universe.
2. The Sun fits 1 million planet earth inside of it
The celestial body is so gigantic that it makes 99.8% of our entire solar system’s mass and even holds everything within it together because of its gravity, right from the smallest particles to the biggest planets. In spite of having such a huge mass, it’s just a ball of hot gas which is impossible to stand on.
3. Glass rains in Exoplanet
As pretty as the Exoplanet HD 189733 B’s looks from the outside the more deadly it is from the inside. The atmosphere consists of silicate particles which cause it to rain molten glass and with the wind speed of 8,700 kph the glass rains sideways.
4. 79 moons for Jupiter
Jupiter is not only the largest planet of our solar system but also has the most number of moons in its orbit. Till date the Scientist has found 79 moons, including the largest one in the solar system- Gaymede which has a diameter of 5,268 km.
5. Saturn floats
Hypothetically it’s true. The density of Saturn is less than water which means if we put it in a very large bowl of water, it would float. On the other hand Saturn is a gaseous planet, so placing it in water would probably just dissolve all the gases and its small Rocky center would sink to the bottom of the bowl.
6. Silence in space
As there is no atmosphere in space, it leads to no medium for the sound to travel or a way for it to be heard.
7. Same metal pieces permanently merge in space
The term cold welding means when two pieces of the same metal material collide in space they will be pulled together to form one object. On the contrary the metal has an oxide coating layer that would first have to be removed for the pieces to merge into one.
8. Planets with no surface
Jupiter, Saturn, Uran and Neptune are four such gas giants in our solar system, where it’s highly impossible to land on. Even though they are different in composition, these are made out of hydrogen and helium and have a small Rocky center.
9. Footprints last for million years on moon
The moon has no weather, wind or water to disturb the footprints because of which it remains the same for millions of years. You will be amazed to know that it’s been over 500 years since Neil Armstrong stepped with his left foot onto the surface of the moon, and still his footprints remain the same.
10. One day on Venus is longer than a year
As compared to Earth the planet is really slow. It has a slow axis rotation which takes a total of 243 Earth days to complete its single day.
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11. Planet of Diamonds
There is a planet made of diamonds which is twice the size of Earth called the “super earth”. It is most likely covered in graphite and diamonds. A single visit to the planet would make you filthy rich.
12. No moon
The two planets Mercury and Venus are the only ones in the solar system that don’t have any moons at all. But our solar system has a total of 176 confirmed moons which orbit the planets in our solar system, the size of a few are found to be bigger than the mercury itself.
13. Venus – the hottest
It’s quite obvious for us to think that Mercury would be the hottest as it’s the closest to the sun. But actually it’s Venus due to all the gases present in its atmosphere which creates a ‘greenhouse effect’ which leads to a 864° fahrenheit temperature all across.
14.Olympus – highest mountain
The mountain is located on Mars, the height of which is 16 miles (25 km), which is 3 times higher than mount Everest. Its width is 114,000 m square, which is the size of Arizona in totality.
15. Weight of the sun
The sun is quite heavier in size than the earth which is about 330,000 times more. The diameter of the sun is 109 times more than the earth. And it’s so huge that the earth could fit in 1,300,000 times over in the sun.
16. Earth – not named after a god
We haven’t figured out how earth got its name but all we know is that it originates from an amalgamation of the old English and old Germanic word that means ‘ground’.
17. Pluto is the smallest
The area of Pluto is smaller than the United states. If someone walks around the equator of Plato it would be the same distance as walking from London to Denver that is about only 56 miles.
18. Numerous volcanoes
There are about 1,600 volcanoes on the surface of Venus, Maat mons is a volcano that is 8km high. Also most of these are not erupting anymore and a few are extinct.
19. Blue Uranus
Hydrogen, helium and methane are some gases present in the Uranus atmosphere. The red light coming from the sun is filtered by the methane in Uranus and the sun’s blue light is reflected back into space. Making the planet appear blue.
20. Biggest black hole
The picture of the hole was released in April 2019, it shows a halo of dust and gas that is 310 million trillion miles from earth. This picture was captured by the event horizon telescope.
The space is quite a massive place and so are the facts about it too. We are constantly making an effort to find out ways to live beyond the planet Earth. Due to the ever increasing population, the pressure on Earth to satisfy the needs of mankind is unbearable and hence finding life on another planet is of utmost importance.
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