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10 Fascinating Facts About SPACE

Fact One

Earth is the only planet in the Solar System to have water in its three states of matter: as a solid (ice), a liquid (sea, rain, etc.) and as a gas (clouds). Water is, of course, the most important liquid for life.

Fact Two

Earth is almost five billion years old, although life (resembling life as we know it) has only existed on the planet for the last 150 million to 200 million years. This means that life has only been present on Earth for only 5%-10% of its lifetime.

Fact Three

Earth and Mercury are the two most dense planets in the Solar System. This means that particles inside the planet are most closely packed together.

Fact Four

The length of time it takes for Earth to orbit the Sun is 365 and a quarter days. To make up this extra quarter which isn’t counted at the end of a year, we have an extra day every four years on 29th February. The next Leap Year will be in 2016. Note: a leap year is completely divisible by 4

Fact Five

Earth is gradually slowing down. Every few years, an extra second is added to make up for lost time. Millions of years ago, a day on Earth will have been 20 hours long. It is believed that, in millions of years time, a day on Earth will be 27 hours long.

Fact Six

The centre of the Earth, its core, is molten. This means that it is liquid rock which sometimes erupts onto the surface through volcanic eruptions. This core is 7,500°c, hotter than the surface of the Sun!

Fact Seven

Earth is the only planet in the Solar System not to be named after a mythical God.

Fact Eight

Despite being called Earth, only 29% of the surface is actually ‘earth.’ The rest of the planet’s surface (71%) is made up of water.

Fact Nine

From a distance, Earth would be the brightest of the planets. This is because sunlight is reflected off the planet’s water.

Fact Ten

Earth is the only planet in the Solar System known to be geologically active, with Earthquakes and volcanoes forming the landscape, replenishing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and erasing impact craters from meteors.

7 thoughts on “10 Fascinating Facts About SPACE”

  1. FACTS CONTINUE:
    (1)EARTH:
    The Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing:
    This deceleration is happening almost
    imperceptibly, at approximately 17
    milliseconds per hundred years, although the
    rate at which it occurs is not perfectly
    uniform. This has the effect of lengthening
    our days, but it happens so slowly that it
    could be as much as 140 million years before
    the length of a day will have increased to 25
    hours.
    The Earth was once believed to be the
    centre of the universe:
    Due to the apparent movements of the Sun
    and planets in relation to their viewpoint,
    ancient scientists insisted that the Earth
    remained static, whilst other celestial bodies
    travelled in circular orbits around it.
    Eventually, the view that the Sun was at the
    centre of the universe was postulated by
    Copernicus, though this is also not the case.
    Earth has a powerful magnetic field:
    This phenomenon is caused by the nickel-
    iron core of the planet, coupled with its rapid
    rotation. This field protects the Earth from the
    effects of solar wind.
    There is only one natural satellite of the
    planet Earth:
    As a percentage of the size of the body it
    orbits, the Moon is the largest satellite of any
    planet in our solar system. In real terms,
    however, it is only the fifth largest natural
    satellite.
    Earth is the only planet not named after a
    god:
    The other seven planets in our solar system
    are all named after Roman gods or
    goddesses. Although only Mercury , Venus ,
    Mars , Jupiter and Saturn were named during
    ancient times, because they were visible to
    the naked eye, the Roman method of naming
    planets was retained after the discovery of
    Uranus and Neptune .
    Of all the planets in our solar system, the
    Earth has the greatest density:
    This varies according to the part of the
    planet; for example, the metallic core is
    denser than the crust. The average density of
    the Earth is approximately 5.52 grams per
    cubic centimetre.

    (2)SUN: One million Earths could fit inside the
    Sun:
    If a hollow Sun was filled up with spherical
    Earths then around 960,000 would fit inside.
    On the other hand if these Earths were
    squished inside with no wasted space then
    around 1,300,000 would fit inside. The Sun’s
    surface area is 11,990 times that of the
    Earth’s.
    Eventually, the Sun will consume the
    Earth:
    When all the Hydrogen has been burned, the
    Sun will continue for about 130 million more
    years, burning Helium, during which time it
    will expand to the point that it will engulf
    Mercury and Venus and the Earth. At this
    stage it will have become a red giant
    The Sun will one day be about the size of
    Earth:
    After its red giant phase, the Sun will
    collapse, retaining its enormous mass, but
    containing the approximate volume of our
    planet. When this happens, it will be called a
    white dwarf.
    The Sun contains 99.86% of the mass in
    the Solar System:
    The mass of the Sun is approximately
    330,000 times greater than that of Earth. It is
    almost three quarters Hydrogen, whilst most
    of the remaining mass is Helium.
    The Sun is an almost perfect sphere:
    There is only a 10 kilometre difference in its
    polar diameter compared to its equatorial
    diameter. Considering the vast expanse of
    the Sun, this means it is the closest thing to
    a perfect sphere that has been observed in
    nature.
    Light from the Sun takes eight minutes to
    reach Earth:
    With a mean average distance of 150 million
    kilometres from Earth and with light
    travelling at 300,000 kilometres per second,
    dividing one by the other gives us an
    approximate time of 500 seconds, or eight
    minutes and 20 seconds. Although this
    energy reaches Earth in a few minutes, it will
    already have taken millions of years to travel
    from the Sun’s core to its surface.
    The Sun travels at 220 kilometres per
    second:
    The Sun is 24,000-26,000 light years from
    the galactic centre and it takes the Sun
    225-250 million years to complete an orbit
    of the centre of the Milky Way.
    The distance from the Sun to Earth
    changes throughout the year:
    Because the Earth travels on an elliptical
    orbit around the Sun, the distance between
    the two bodies varies from 147 to 152 million
    kilometres. The distance between the Earth
    and the Sun is called an Astronomical Unit
    (AU).
    The Sun is middle-aged:
    At around 4.5 billion years old, the Sun has
    already burned off about half of its store of
    Hydrogen. It has enough left to continue to
    burn Hydrogen for approximately another 5
    billion years. The Sun is currently a type of
    star known as a Yellow Dwarf
    The Sun has a very strong magnetic
    field:
    Solar flares occur when magnetic energy is
    released by the Sun during magnetic storms,
    which we see as sunspots. In sunspots, the
    magnetic lines are twisted and they spin,
    much like a tornado would on Earth.
    The temperature inside the Sun can
    reach 15 million degrees Celsius:
    At the Sun’s core, energy is generated by
    nuclear fusion, as Hydrogen converts to
    Helium. Because hot objects generally
    expand, the Sun would explode like a giant
    bomb if it weren’t for its enormous
    gravitational force.
    The Sun generates solar wind:
    This is a stream of charged particles, which
    travels through the Solar System at
    approximately 450 kilometres per second.
    Solar wind occurs where the magnetic field of
    the Sun extends into space instead of
    following its surface.

    (3)MOON: The dark side of the moon is a myth:
    In reality both sides of the Moon see the
    same amount of sunlight however only one
    face of the Moon is ever seen from Earth this
    is because the Moon rotates around on its
    own axis in exactly the same time it takes to
    orbit the Earth, meaning the same side is
    always facing the Earth. The side we see is lit
    by reflected sunlight, while the side facing
    away from Earth lies in darkness and has
    only been seen by the human eye from a
    spacecraft.
    The rise and fall of the tides on Earth is
    caused by the Moon:
    There are two bulges in the Earth due to the
    gravitational pull that the Moon exerts; one
    on the side facing the Moon, and the other on
    the opposite side that faces away from the
    Moon, The bulges move around the oceans
    as the Earth rotates, causing high and low
    tides around the globe.
    The Moon is drifting away from the Earth:
    The Moon is moving approximately 3.8 cm
    away from our planet every year. It is
    estimated that it will continue to do so for
    around 50 billion years. By the time that
    happens, the Moon will be taking around 47
    days to orbit the Earth instead of the current
    27.3 days.
    A person would weigh much less on the
    Moon:
    The Moon has much weaker gravity than
    Earth, due to its smaller mass, so you would
    weigh about one sixth (16.5%) of your weight
    on Earth. This is why the lunar astronauts
    could leap and bound so high in the air.
    The Moon has only been walked on by 12
    people; all American males:
    The first man to set foot on the Moon in
    1969 was Neil Armstrong on the Apollo 11
    mission, while the last man to walk on the
    Moon in 1972 was Gene Cernan on the Apollo
    17 mission. Since then the Moon has only be
    visited by unmanned vehicles.
    The Moon has no atmosphere:
    This means that the surface of the Moon is
    unprotected from cosmic rays, meteorites
    and solar winds, and has huge temperature
    variations. The lack of atmosphere means no
    sound can be heard on the Moon, and the sky
    always appears black.
    The Moon has quakes:
    These are caused by the gravitational pull of
    the Earth. Lunar astronauts used
    seismographs on their visits to the Moon,
    and found that small moonquakes occurred
    several kilometres beneath the surface,
    causing ruptures and cracks. Scientists think
    the Moon has a molten core, just like Earth.
    The first spacecraft to reach the Moon
    was Luna 1 in 1959:
    This was a Soviet craft, which was launched
    from the USSR. It passed within 5995 km of
    the surface of the Moon before going into
    orbit around the Sun .
    The Moon is the fifth largest natural
    satellite in the Solar System:
    At 3,475 km in diameter, the Moon is much
    smaller than the major moons of Jupiter and
    Saturn . Earth is about 80 times the volume
    than the Moon, but both are about the same
    age. A prevailing theory is that the Moon was
    once part of the Earth, and was formed from
    a chunk that broke away due to a huge object
    colliding with Earth when it was relatively
    young.
    The Moon will be visited by man in the
    near future:
    NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon
    to set up a permanent space station.
    Mankind may once again walk on the moon
    in 2019, if all goes according to plan.
    During the 1950’s the USA considered
    detonating a nuclear bomb on the Moon:
    The secret project was during the height cold
    war was known as “A Study of Lunar
    Research Flights” or “Project A119″ and
    meant as a show of strength at a time they
    were lagging behind in the space race.

    (4) STARS:
    A star is a massive, bright, sphere of very
    hot gas called plasma which is held
    together by its own gravity .
    Stars radiate energy created from nuclear
    fusion , which is a process that takes
    place in a star’s core and involves
    hydrogen fusing (burning) to make
    helium.
    As a star is near the end of its life, it
    begins to change the helium into heavier
    chemical elements, such carbon and
    oxygen, and the star will begin to change
    color, density, mass and size.
    The nearest star to Earth is the Sun,
    which is classified as a G2 yellow dwarf
    star.
    After the Sun in our Solar System , the
    nearest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri.
    It is about 39.9 trillion km away or 4.2
    light years. This means it takes light from
    this star 4.2 years to reach Earth. Using
    the newest, fastest space probe
    propulsion systems would still take a
    craft about 75,000 years to get there.
    There are approximately 200-400 billion
    stars in our Milky Way Galaxy alone.
    Each galaxy contains hundreds of billions
    of stars and there is estimated to be over
    100 billion galaxies in the universe. So
    the total number of stars in the universe
    is mind boggling, estimated to be at least
    70 sextillion and possibly as high as 300
    sextillion, that’s
    300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000!!!!!
    Stars are usually between 1 and 10
    billion years old. Some stars may even be
    close to the age of the observed Universe
    at nearly 13.8 billion years old.
    Binary stars and multi-star systems are
    two or more stars that are gravitationally
    linked, they orbit around each other.
    Stars form in nebulas, which are large
    gases areas. As gravity attracts more and
    more gas, young stars (called protostars)
    start to form in thick molecular gases
    cloud areas of the nebula.
    Once nuclear fusion has began in the
    core, a star is sufficiently fuelled to spend
    the majority of its life as a main
    sequence star in its most stable form.
    The most common star, are red dwarfs.
    They are less than half the size and mass
    of our Sun, and burn their fuel very slowly
    so live longer than any other type of star,
    over 100 billion years. Red dwarfs are
    cooler than most stars and so shine less,
    eventually getting dimmer they do not
    explode.
    A brown dwarf forms if a star cannot get
    hot enough to reach nuclear fusion. Its
    failed to become a proper star but is still
    not a planet because it does glow dimly.
    As yellow dwarf stars like our Sun start to
    run out of hydrogen fuel, the core shrinks,
    heats and pushes out the rest of the star
    turning it into a red giant.
    Red supergiants, such as Betelgeuse in
    the constellation Orion make our Sun look
    small, 20x its mass, and 1,000x larger.
    Red hypergiants such as the largest
    known star VY Canis Majoris are even
    bigger, over 1,800x the size of the Sun.
    When smaller stars such as red dwarfs or
    red giants use up all their fuel and
    nuclear fusion slows they start to die, and
    become small “white dwarf” stars which
    will emit white light until they finally
    darken into “black dwarfs”.
    Big stars like supergiants and hypergiants
    have shorter lives as they consume their
    fuel at a faster rate than smaller stars. As
    these massive stars die they explode as
    massive bright supernova.
    Very heavy stars that have gone
    supernova can actually turn into black
    holes.
    Other supernova leave behind very small
    20 to 40km (25 mi) in diameter white
    neutron stars, that have dense cores
    made of neutrons.
    Star matter blown away by supernova
    explosions form new stellar nebula and
    the process of making stars begins again.
    Stars range in color depending on how
    hot they are, in order from lowest to
    highest temperature they are can be
    brown, red, orange, yellow, white, or blue
    in color.
    The light from stars takes millions of
    years to reach Earth, therefore when you
    look at the stars you are literally looking
    back in time.
    Stars do not actually twinkle. They only
    appear to twinkle due to turbulences in
    the Earth’s atmosphere deflecting the light
    that reaches our eyes.
    The stars have played a very important
    role throughout human history. They have
    formed part of religious practices, been
    grouped into constellations, used in
    astrology star signs, helped to design
    calendars and were very important
    navigational tools for early explorations
    across land and seas.

    (5)COMET:
    What Is A Comet?
    A comet is a very small solar system body
    made mostly of ices mixed with smaller
    amounts of dust and rock. Most comets are
    no larger than a few kilometres across. The
    main body of the comet is called the nucleus,
    and it can contain water, methane, nitrogen
    and other ices.
    When a comet is heated by the Sun, its ices
    begin to sublimate (similar to the way dry ice
    “fizzes” when you leave it in sunlight). The
    mixture of ice crystals and dust blows away
    from the comet nucleus in the solar wind,
    creating a pair of tails. The dust tail is what
    we normally see when we view comets from
    Earth.
    A plasma tail also forms when molecules of
    gas are “excited” by interaction with the solar
    wind. The plasma tail is not normally seen
    with the naked eye, but can be imaged.
    Comets normally orbit the Sun, and have
    their origins in the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt
    regions of the outer solar system.

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