Here are some fascinating facts about space:
- There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth, estimated to be at least a billion trillion.
- A black hole forms when massive stars explode, creating a gravitational force so strong that nothing can escape it. The nearest known black hole is about 10,000 light-years away from Earth.
- Astronauts wear special spacesuits that take about six hours to put on. These suits are warmed, cooled, pressurized, and supplied with fresh air to survive in space.
- The universe has no center and is constantly expanding, making it impossible to reach its edge.
- The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old, but the universe is much older, about 13.5 billion years.
- Space is a hard vacuum with very little matter, and there is no sound in space because molecules are too far apart to transmit sound.
- The temperature in space is around −270.45 °C.
- Our solar system orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy at about 515,000 mph and takes 230 million years to complete one orbit.
- One million Earths could fit inside the Sun, which is an average-size star.
- Space junk refers to human-made objects orbiting Earth that no longer serve a purpose; there are about 500,000 pieces today.
- Neptune has only completed one orbit since its discovery in 1846, taking 165 years to complete one full orbit.
- The International Space Station has gravity, about 90-91% of Earth's gravity, but astronauts experience weightlessness due to free-fall while orbiting.
- Venus takes 243 Earth days to complete one rotation, meaning a single day on Venus is longer than its year, which is 225 Earth days.
These insights reveal the vastness, the mysteries, and the extremes of conditions in space.
