The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest massive galaxy to us. Credit score: Massimo Di Fusco
The universe is a weird place. It’s packed stuffed with mysterious alien planets, stars that dwarf the Solar, black holes of unfathomable energy, and plenty of different cosmic curiosities that appear to defy logic.
Beneath, we spotlight a small sampling of the numerous uncommon space details about our personal planet and the huge universe past.
- It could take 9 years to stroll to the moon.
2. Mars is known as the Purple Planet due to its purple coloring, which comes from the big quantity of iron oxide – recognized on Earth as rust – on the planet’s floor.
3. Mercury’s temperature varies from -280° F on its night time facet to 800° F throughout the day.
4. Should you can spot the Andromeda Galaxy along with your bare eyes, you possibly can see one thing 14.7 billion billion miles away.
5. The Solar is 400 occasions bigger than the Moon, but additionally 400 occasions as distant, making each objects seem like the identical measurement in our sky.
6. Jupiter is the biggest planet. It might comprise the opposite seven planets in simply 70 p.c of its quantity.
7. Stars don’t twinkle till their gentle passes by Earth’s environment.
8. If Earth had been the scale of a tennis ball, the Solar can be a sphere 24 toes throughout, roughly 0.5 mile away.
9. Of the 9,113 official options on the Moon, a mere 421 (4.6 p.c) usually are not craters.
10. Driving a automobile to the closest star at 70 mph would take greater than 356 billion years.
11. Neptune’s moon Triton is the coldest recognized object within the solar system with a median floor temperature of -391° F.
12. When the Moon is half-full (First and Final Quarter phases), it’s solely 10 p.c as vibrant because the Full Moon.
13. Scientists estimate that the earliest stars shaped some 200 million years after the Large Bang.
14. Jupiter’s Nice Purple Spot, which rotates as soon as roughly each six days, is an anti-cyclonic storm 22° south of the planet’s equator.
15. Should you drilled a tunnel by Earth and jumped in, you’d attain the opposite facet in 42 minutes and 12 seconds, and your prime pace can be 17,670 mph.
16. To flee Earth’s gravity, a spacecraft should journey greater than 25,008 mph, or close to Mach 33.
17. It takes 1 billion seconds for the sunshine from a star 31.7 light-years away to achieve Earth.
Credit score: Ralf Vandebergh
18. The Worldwide Area Station completes an orbit of Earth in about 90 minutes.
19. Venus’ clouds lure plenty of the Solar’s warmth, making its temperature the most well liked within the solar system: 863° F.
20. If the Milky Way had been the scale of a single tennis ball, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) would lie 5.6 toes away.
You may see extra space details here on NASA’s web site.
