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Sure! Here’s a list of 101 fascinating facts about space you probably didn’t know. Ready to get mind-blown?
101 Facts You Didn’t Know About Space
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Space is completely silent — no air means no sound.
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The hottest planet isn’t the closest to the Sun — Venus holds the record.
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Space is not very far away — about 62 miles (100 km) above Earth’s surface.
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The largest known star, UY Scuti, is over 1,700 times the size of the Sun.
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Neutron stars are so dense that a teaspoon would weigh a billion tons on Earth.
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A day on Venus is longer than its year.
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Space is expanding, and the universe has been since the Big Bang.
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The footprints left by astronauts on the Moon will likely stay there for millions of years.
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Mars has the tallest volcano in the solar system — Olympus Mons.
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Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a giant storm that’s been raging for at least 350 years.
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The Sun accounts for 99.86% of the total mass of our solar system.
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There are more trees on Earth than stars in the Milky Way.
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A year on Mercury is just 88 Earth days.
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Black holes aren’t actually holes — they’re incredibly dense objects with gravity so strong that not even light escapes.
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Space travel makes your body grow taller by up to 2 inches temporarily.
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Saturn’s rings are made mostly of ice particles, ranging in size from tiny grains to large chunks.
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There are rogue planets — planets that drift through space without orbiting any star.
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A spoonful of a neutron star would weigh about 6 billion tons.
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The Milky Way galaxy is estimated to be about 13.6 billion years old.
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If you fell into a black hole, time would appear to stop for you at the event horizon.
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The closest galaxy to us, Andromeda, is on a collision course with the Milky Way in about 4 billion years.
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The space between stars is not empty — it contains gas, dust, and cosmic rays.
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The temperature in space can be near absolute zero (−273.15°C), but sunlight can heat objects to hundreds of degrees.
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The Hubble Space Telescope has helped discover over 1 million objects.
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Some stars pulse or “blink” due to instability in their outer layers.
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The largest canyon in the solar system is Valles Marineris on Mars — over 2,500 miles long.
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Space junk is a growing problem — millions of pieces orbit Earth at high speeds.
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A teaspoon of a white dwarf star’s matter would weigh about 15 tons.
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The speed of light is about 299,792 kilometers per second (186,282 miles per second).
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Space travel causes muscle loss and bone density decrease.
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The Sun’s core temperature is about 15 million degrees Celsius.
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A black hole can spin near the speed of light.
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The Kuiper Belt is a region beyond Neptune filled with icy bodies and dwarf planets.
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The first living creatures in space were fruit flies, sent in 1947.
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Jupiter’s moon Europa may have an ocean under its icy crust that could support life.
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The term “astronaut” comes from Greek words meaning “star” and “sailor.”
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The International Space Station orbits Earth about every 90 minutes.
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Water has been found in space — on moons, comets, and planets.
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The oldest meteorite found is about 4.5 billion years old.
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The Great Attractor is a mysterious region pulling galaxies, including our own, toward it.
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A light-year is the distance light travels in one year — about 5.88 trillion miles.
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Space is constantly bombarded by cosmic rays from distant stars.
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Mars has two moons — Phobos and Deimos.
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Saturn is the least dense planet — it could float in water.
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The Voyager 1 spacecraft is the farthest human-made object from Earth.
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Some exoplanets orbit two stars — like Tatooine in Star Wars.
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The sound of space vibrations has been converted into audible audio by scientists.
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A solar eclipse can only happen during a new moon.
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The largest volcano in the solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars.
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The speed needed to escape Earth’s gravity is about 25,000 miles per hour.
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Space is full of antimatter, but it’s rare compared to matter.
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The universe might be infinite — no one really knows.
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Black holes can merge, creating even bigger black holes.
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The Moon is slowly moving away from Earth — about 1.5 inches per year.
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The concept of the multiverse suggests multiple or even infinite universes.
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Stars are mostly hydrogen and helium.
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A supernova explosion can outshine an entire galaxy temporarily.
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The cosmic microwave background radiation is the afterglow of the Big Bang.
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Our solar system is about 4.6 billion years old.
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The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy.
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Some stars are formed in huge clouds of gas called nebulae.
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There are rogue black holes wandering the galaxy.
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The asteroid belt lies between Mars and Jupiter.
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The largest dwarf planet is Pluto.
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The Moon has moonquakes, similar to earthquakes.
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Venus spins backwards compared to most planets.
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The Sun has a 11-year sunspot cycle.
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Mercury has no atmosphere to retain heat.
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The Hubble telescope is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble.
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Saturn’s rings are very thin — just tens of meters thick.
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The universe is about 13.8 billion years old.
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Gamma-ray bursts are the most energetic events since the Big Bang.
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Neutrinos are subatomic particles that pass through Earth by the billions every second.
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The first human-made object to orbit Earth was Sputnik 1.
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The Earth’s magnetic field protects us from solar wind.
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Titan, Saturn’s moon, has lakes of liquid methane.
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The speed of sound in space is zero.
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The largest known galaxy is IC 1101.
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The Moon’s surface temperature varies from -173°C to 127°C.
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Black holes evaporate slowly by emitting Hawking radiation.
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The Drake Equation estimates the number of active extraterrestrial civilizations.
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Stars can be born in clusters.
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The universe contains more dark matter than visible matter.
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The closest star to the Sun is Proxima Centauri.
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Space telescopes don’t have to deal with Earth’s atmosphere, giving clearer images.
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Venus has thick clouds made of sulfuric acid.
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The Oort Cloud is a hypothesized shell of icy objects far beyond Neptune.
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Some galaxies are colliding right now.
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The Hubble Deep Field image shows thousands of galaxies in a tiny patch of sky.
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The largest moon in the solar system is Jupiter’s Ganymede.
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The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova.
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The speed of light limit means we can never see the universe as it is “now.”
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Mars has seasons like Earth.
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The shape of the universe could be flat, open, or closed.
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The first humans on the Moon were Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
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Solar flares can disrupt communications on Earth.
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The Sun’s magnetic field reverses every 11 years.
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Dark energy makes up about 68% of the universe.
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The James Webb Space Telescope studies the early universe in infrared.
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The universe is mostly made up of empty space.
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Every atom in your body was forged in the heart of a star.
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