Learning about space is always interesting!
As technology has advanced over time, we have learned more about space in the last century than we ever have.
For the most fascinating space facts, including information about the planets in our solar system, moons, the Milky Way, and beyond, we have literally searched the entire cosmos! and handpicked some crazy and interesting facts:
1. The only two planets in the solar system without moons are Mercury and Venus.
There are 176 reported moons, some of which are larger than Mercury itself, that circle the planets in the solar system.
2. Olympus Mons, which is found on Mars, is the highest mountain ever discovered
Its peak is roughly three times as tall as Mount Everest at 16 miles (25 km) above sea level.
It is also 374,015 ft2 (114,000 m2) wide, which is an area the size of Arizona in addition to being tall.
3. The Milky Way galaxy has a width of 105,700 light-years.
To reach the galactic core, a contemporary spacecraft would need to travel for 450,000,000 years!
4. The Sun weighs around 330,000 times more than earth.
The sun is so big—it is around 109 times the diameter of Earth—that Earth could fit inside it 1,300,000 times!
In fact, the sun is so enormous that it holds 99.85% of the solar system’s total mass.
5. Jupiter has 79 known moons in its orbit.
Jupiter has the most moons of any planet in our solar system, and it also has the largest moon.
Its name is Ganymede, and it is bigger than Mercury at 33,279 miles (5,262 kilometers) in diameter. You can see it with simply a pair of binoculars!
6. The only planet that isn’t named after a god is Earth.
Nobody is aware of how the word “Earth” came to be employed. all that is known is that it is a combination of the Old English & Old Germanic meanings for “ground.”
7. We have tides because of the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon.
This is because the Earth’s ocean bulges out on the side nearest to the Moon due to the tidal pull of the Moon.
The world’s high tides are brought on by these bulges.
8. The size of Pluto is less than that of the US.
It would take the same amount of time to walk from London to Denver as it would take to circle Pluto’s equator (give or take 56 miles).
9. White holes are theoretically feasible, but we haven’t yet discovered any.
A white hole is a hypothetical area of space-time where matter and light cannot enter from the outside but can exit from the inside.
In essence, it is the opposite of a black hole.
10. Venus, a planet in the solar system, has the most number of volcanoes.
On the surface of Venus, there are more than 1,600 significant volcanoes, including Maat Mons, a 5 miles (8 km) tall volcano.
Yet none of these volcanoes is now known to be erupting, and most of them are likely long extinct.
11. Any fluid that is moving freely in space will condense into a sphere.
The imbalance of inter-molecular- molecular attractive forces known as surface tension is to blame for this.
12. Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are also called “Inner Planets”
Because of their tight orbits to the Sun, they are known as the Inner Planets.
A planet that is situated inside the asteroid belt is referred to as an inner planet.
13. More than our oceans, we know about Mars & the Moon.
In contrast to the ocean floor, which has only been partially mapped (about 5%), we have completely mapped the surfaces of Mars and the Earth’s Moon.
14. From Earth, only about 5% of the cosmos is visible.
Dark energy makes up 68% of the cosmos and dark matter 27%. We can only view 5% of the cosmos since both of these are invisible, even with a telescope.
15. Outer Space is just 62 miles away!
The Kármán line, which is 62 miles above sea level and is typically used as the beginning of outer space in space treaties or for the keeping of aeronautical records, exists despite the fact that there is no established concrete limit for where space begins.
16. No matter where we are on Earth, we will always see the same side of the Moon.
This is due to the fact that the Moon revolves on its axis at the same speed as the Earth. It’s called synchronous.
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