To this day, the vast universe still holds many mysteries that modern science has yet to fully explore. However, based on what we know about the universe, there are quite a few facts that leave us in awe. Below is a list of such facts.
15. The Sun Takes a Long Time to Complete One Orbit Around the Milky Way
Fact: The last time the Sun was in its current position was when dinosaurs still roamed our planet.
Earth takes 365 days to orbit the Sun, covering a distance of about 93 million miles! However, for the Sun to complete one orbit around the center of the Milky Way, it takes approximately 225 million years.
14. Mars Has a Mountain Larger than Everest
Fact: You might wonder just how tall this volcano is? The answer is that you could stack three Mount Everests on top of each other!
This volcano rises about 16 miles from the ground and is called Olympus Mons.
13. The Number of Newly Discovered Planets is Increasing Exponentially
Back in 1995, scientists discovered the first exoplanet orbiting the star 51 Pegasi, with an orbital period of 4 days. In recent years, the number of newly discovered planets has skyrocketed to 1,900, with 900 of those discovered in 2014 alone, and the number is expected to continue rising in 2015.
12. A Mars-Sized Planet Collided with Earth Billions of Years Ago
Scientists propose a hypothesis that today’s Moon formed after a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized planet approximately 4 billion years ago, about 100 million years after the formation of the Solar System.
To date, this hypothesis is the most reasonable explanation for the formation of the Moon. Another piece of evidence supporting this hypothesis is the fact that the material composition of the Moon and Earth is nearly identical.
11. The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is Three Times the Size of Earth
The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is a long-lasting anticyclonic storm located south of Jupiter’s equator. This storm is three times the size of Earth.
Such storms typically last around 150 years, but this particular storm is exceptional, having lasted for hundreds of years with no signs of stopping!
10. Saturn is Less Dense than Water
Fact: If we were to put Saturn in water, it would float.
Saturn’s density is so low that if we placed this planet in a gigantic hypothetical water tank, it would float. The density of Saturn is 0.687 g/cm3 while the density of water is precisely 0.998 g/cm3. Of course, this tank would have to be immense, as Saturn’s equatorial diameter is approximately 60,268 km.
9. We Are in Constant Motion
Fact: We are moving through space at a speed of 530 km/s.
Our galaxy, called the Milky Way, is rotating at a speed of 225 km/s and moving through space at a speed of 305 km/s. Thus, we are traveling through space at a speed of 530 km/s, meaning we have moved approximately 19,000 km away from our original position in just one minute. However, this is not particularly significant because, according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the speed of any object in space has no absolute meaning.
8. Earth is Moving Away from Its Companion – The Moon
Fact: The Moon is gradually “moving away” from Earth.
The Moon is drifting away from Earth at a rate of about 3.8 cm per year due to tidal effects. As a result, Earth is slowing its rotation by about 2 milliseconds per day over a century. Scientists are not fully clear on the Moon’s origins, but generally, we accept a hypothesis that a Mars-sized body collided with Earth, causing a portion of Earth to break away and form the Moon.
7. Sunlight
Fact: Sunlight has been reaching Earth for 30,000 years.
The energy in the sunlight we see today originated from the core of the Sun 30,000 years ago. Sunlight passes through the dense molecules in the Sun’s unique state and takes only 8 minutes to reach Earth. The temperature at the core of the Sun reaches about 13.6 million K. All the energy generated from the decay in this core must pass through many layers before reaching the Sun’s atmosphere, where it is emitted into space as light or kinetic energy of solar particles.
6. Solar Wind
Fact: The Sun loses up to 1 billion kg every second due to solar wind.
Solar wind is a stream of charged particles escaping from the upper surface of the Sun due to the extremely high temperature of the Sun’s corona, and they possess significant kinetic energy. The energy of such a particle could potentially kill a person from a distance of 160 km. However, the reason why these charged particles can accumulate such high kinetic energy remains a mystery to scientists.
5. The Big Dipper is Not a Constellation
Fact: The Big Dipper is actually a group of stars.
Many people believe that the Big Dipper is a constellation (also known as the Plough – highly significant for locating the North Star), but in reality, it is a group of stars. A group of stars refers to a set of stars in the sky that does not belong to the list of 88 official constellations, but they are made up of stars that are physically unrelated and are often very far apart. A group of stars can consist of stars from one or more different constellations. In the case of the Big Dipper, it is entirely made up of the 7 brightest stars of the Ursa Major constellation.
4. George’s Star
Fact: Uranus was originally named “George’s Star.”
When William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, he decided to name the planet Georgium Sidus (the star of King George) to honor King George III of Great Britain.
He explained his decision as follows: “In ancient times, the names Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were assigned to planets after legendary heroes and saints. At this point in time, we are living in an era of modern science and philosophy, so we should not continue using the old naming conventions. Should we still call new planets Juno, Pallas, or Minerva? The best approach for any historical event is to rely on its chronology. In the future, if there is a question about when the last planet of Earth was discovered, the best answer would be: during the reign of King George III.” However, the tradition of naming planets after deities prevailed, and the new planet was named Uranus, regarded as the king of all because it was the outermost planet known at that time.
Uranus was also the first planet discovered by humans using a telescope.
3. The Moons of Earth
Fact: Earth has at least four moons.
This is not entirely accurate. In 1986, Duncan Waldron discovered an asteroid with an elliptical orbit around the Sun, with an evolutionary age nearly similar to that of Earth and linked to our planet. This periodic asteroid was named Cruithne, after a group of ancient Scots. Due to this unusual relationship with Earth, this asteroid is sometimes referred to as Earth’s second moon, and it can only be observed with a 12.5-inch reflecting telescope. Since then, at least three similar asteroids have also been discovered. These objects have been found to have similar relationships with other planets in the solar system as Cruithne does with Earth.
2. The Sun’s Disc and Music
Fact: The activity of the Sun’s disc is the main reason behind the fame of Stradivarius.
Antonio Stradivari is regarded as the greatest violin maker. He lived in Italy during the 17th and 18th centuries. Scientists have been unable to explain what made his violins so incredibly exceptional, but they discovered that the type of wood Stradivari used, known as Stradivari wood, was a crucial factor. From the 1500s to the 1800s, Earth underwent a period with fewer frost events due to increased volcanic activity and decreased solar activity (known as the Maunder Minimum). As a result, the woods Stradivari used to craft his violins were extremely dense because they grew more slowly, contributing to the exceptional sound of the violins. It is possible that had he been born in a different era, his name would not be as famous as it is today.
1. Cold Welding in Space
Fact: If two pieces of metal collide in space, they will bond together permanently.
This may sound unbelievable, but it is indeed true. Two rough, uncoated metal pieces will form a single piece in space. However, this cannot occur on Earth because the atmosphere creates an oxidized layer that coats the metal pieces. Scientists discovered this unique phenomenon through an experiment that has so far been the only one to induce the reaction known as cold welding. Fortunately for us, this is not a significant issue on space stations because all metallic equipment is brought from Earth.
