Some Amazing Space Facts

These are just a bunch of trivial Space facts that I’ve picked up over the years, and yes, this is a very off-topic post. However, it’s proof that I know about something other than computers .

Did you know that…

- The moon is slightly egg-shaped.

- It is possible for the solar winds to be powerful enough to fry transformers and knock out part of the power grid.

- If you were on the moon during the 1989 solar storm you would probably be dead (or glowing green)

- Each of Uranus’ four seasons last around 20 Earth years.

- Despite the name “Gas giants” it is very possible that the biggest planets in our solar system have a rocky core. Although that is just a suspicion, since we can’t really send a satellite in to test it.

- You age slower when you travel in space because you are traveling so fast. Thank you Einstein.

- Scientists have no clue about what makes up the Earth’s core, some scientists believe it is a solid chunk of iron and nickel (and some other metals) with a liquid outer part, while other scientists think the inner core is a void (nothing is there). Other planets may be the same.

- A comet’s tail always points away from the sun.

- In 2036 a 1,000-foot wide asteroid will have a 1 in 15,000 (or possibly a 1 in 10,000) chance of hitting Earth. If it were to hit us it could potentially cause hundreds of billions of dollars of damage. Its name is Apophis.

- Mars has a diameter of 6,786 km, which is roughly one half of Earth’s diameter.

- Saturn’s moon Titan has a kind of “water” on it which is made of liquid methane.

- There are several Kuiper belt objects which are larger than Pluto. This is why it is no longer considered a planet.

- Meteorites are constantly entering Earth’s atmosphere. The average mass of each object is a fraction of a gram.

- A meteorite is an actual space object; a meteor is the visible event that occurs when a meteorite enters the atmosphere.

- Meteorites are often confused with asteroids. Meteorites are much smaller than asteroids, but much larger than an atom. Asteroids are much larger, and can cause much more damage.

- Jupiter’s gravity can cause chunks of an asteroid to fall off the main body and hit the Earth as meteorites.

- Many scientists believe comets pose more danger to us than asteroids since we are still absolutely clueless about what makes up a comet.

- There is a massive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. Scientists suspect that its size is equal to the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

- It takes eight and a half minutes for sunlight to hit the earth.

- VY Canis Majoris is currently the largest star known. Its radius is roughly 1800-2100 solar radii, and it is 5,000 light years away. It should be noted that a debate is still on-going over the size of VY Canis Majoris, some believe its radius is only 500 solar radii, which would mean that VV Cephei is still the largest star. Regardless, if you were to compare its size to the Milky Way it would be a tiny spec.

- Many scientists believe the Milky Way is moving at over 51.84 million km per day, or more than 18.9 billion km per year. Wow, we are moving fast.

- Andromeda and the Milky Way will collide in 3 to 4 billion years.

- It was first discovered during a space mission that frogs can vomit up their entire stomach, clean it with their legs, then pop it back in. A lovely thought, eh?

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