Fun Facts about Outer Space
Outer space holds a deep fascination for many of us, offering a vast expanse filled with wonders beyond our wildest imaginations. Here are some fun facts to fuel your curiosity on the cosmos.
Silent Symphony
Did you know that space is completely silent? Sound waves need a medium, like air or water, to travel, and because space is a vacuum, there is no medium for the sound waves to travel through.
Galactic Rain
In the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, there’s a chance of alcohol floating. Giant clouds of molecular space dust contain a form of alcohol, making up a cosmic cocktail amidst the stars!
Stellar Speeding
Our solar system cruises through space at an average velocity of 828,000 km/h. Even at this speed, we’d take about 230 million years to make one orbit around the Milky Way.
Dense Neutron Stars
A sugar-cube-sized piece of a neutron star would weigh about a billion tonnes on Earth—that’s as heavy as Mount Everest!
The Footprint that Lasts
There is no atmosphere on the Moon, which means no wind to erode the surface and no water to wash the footprints away. This means the Apollo astronauts’ footprints would likely remain for millions of years!
The Scorching-Yet-Icy Venus
Venus is a planet of extremes: it’s scorching hot at around 465 degrees Celsius, but it also has snow. However, the snow isn’t like what we have on Earth – it’s made of metal.
A Mountain Three Times Everest
Olympus Mons on Mars is the tallest planetary mountain in our solar system. It’s about 21 kilometres high, nearly three times the height of Mount Everest.
Shapeshifting Suns
Many people think of the Sun as a perfectly round ball, but it’s more like a squished ball. Our Sun is an oblate spheroid since its equatorial diameter is larger than the polar diameter due to its rotation.
Chasing the Sun
Even though Mercury is closest to the Sun, Venus experiences the highest temperatures of any planet—it’s shrouded in an opaque layer of highly reflective clouds of sulfuric acid, preventing heat from escaping back into space.
Cosmic Year
A “cosmic year” or “galactic year” is the time it takes the Solar System to orbit the centre of the Milky Way and it’s about 225-250 million terrestrial years!
These astonishing facts about space reveal just how spectacular and unique our universe is. Share these with others, and maybe you’ll inspire a new generation of curious minds eager to unlock the mysteries beyond our atmosphere.
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