Are we alone in the Universe? What exactly is dark matter? How did our solar system form initially? Endless unanswered questions about space; it is practically a wonderland of mystery.
Even the facts that we do know about space, and the questions that scientists have managed to answer, many of them are mind-blowing. We have compiled a list of the top ten astonishing space facts.
1. Constant Motion
We are moving through space at the speed of 530 km/s, and the Milky Way is spinning at a speed of 225 km/s; the entire galaxy is travelling through space at the speed of 305 km/s. This totals up to a travelling speed of 530 km/s; this means that, in one minute, you are about 19,000 kilometers away from where you were.
2. Counting Stars
There are more stars in space than all the grains of sand in all the beaches on Earth combined. The total number is roughly 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in space, or about 10 raised to the 21 power. However, that is not all; this number only accounts to the stars in observable universe—the universe containing objects whose light has reached us in the last 13.7 billion years. Beyond what we could see there could be much, much more stars, which makes counting stars practically impossible.
3. Farewell Moon
The Moon is drifting away from Earth, albeit slowly. Every year the Moon moves about 3.8 cm further away because of tidal effects. Consequently, the Earth is slowing in rotation by about 0.002 seconds per century.
4. Diamond in the Sky
In 2011, scientists discovered a distant planet that is literally a diamond. Of course, we do not mean “the surface is covered in diamonds”, but nearly the whole rock is one big sparkling gem. Dubbed 55 Cancri e, the rocky world is only twice the size of Earth, but has eight times its mass, classifying it as “Super–Earth”.
5. Grow Tall in Space
Astronauts in space can grow up to 3 percent taller during the time spent living in microgravity. That means that a 1.8 m tall person could gain as many as 5 cm while in orbit. Reasons for this growth remain unknown!
References
listverse.com
mashable.com
buzzfeed.com
thefactsite.com