101 Facts You Didn't Know About Space

Description

Did you know a compost heap generates as much energy as the Sun? Or that dung beetles use the Milky Way to navigate? Maybe you have not been into space but if you have then you will know that astronauts have feet as soft as babies! 101 Space Facts You Didn't Know takes you on a wild journey around the Universe bringing you facts galore. Whether you are a space enthusiast or a newcomer you will find plenty of facts in here to keep you amused and entertained. Cover Book Title Copyright Table of Contents FACT 1: A compost heap generates as much energy as the Sun! FACT 2: Venus smells like rotten eggs FACT 3: You are made of stardust FACT 4: Footprints on the Moon will last for millions of years FACT 5: Oceans of liquid diamond may exist on Neptune FACT 6: Astronauts have feet as soft as babies FACT 7: Space is completely silent FACT 8: Hot stars are blue, cold stars are red… our taps are wrong! FACT 9: Some stars spin 700 times per second FACT 10: Venus and Uranus are upside down FACT 11: Saturn is not the only planet with rings FACT 12: Dark sunspots are as bright as the full Moon FACT 13: Metal sticks together in space FACT 14: Astronauts cannot burp in space FACT 15: The days really are getting longer FACT 16: Neptune is home to the fastest winds in the Solar System FACT 17: There is no dark side to the Moon FACT 18: Black holes are not actually holes! FACT 19: Clusters of galaxies are used as gigantic cosmic telescopes FACT 20: Mercury is the fastest planet FACT 21: On Mars you need flip flops and a hat FACT 22: The moons of Jupiter told us the speed of light FACT 23: Earth is travelling through space at 225 km per second FACT 24: The light from stars tell astronomers what the Universe is made of FACT 25: Space agencies use planets to steer spacecraft around the Solar System FACT 26: Shepherds keep the rings of Saturn in order FACT 27: The Universe is expanding faster now than in the past FACT 28: Zero gravity makes copulation rather tricky FACT 29: The sight of a larger than usual Moon rising is just an illusion FACT 30: Twinkle twinkle little star! Stars do not twinkle FACT 31: Europa, a moon of Jupiter, could harbour alien life FACT 32: Pluto is no longer a planet FACT 33: The first spacewalk nearly ended in tragedy FACT 34: The Andromeda galaxy is on a collision course with the Milky Way FACT 35: A Martian volcano is almost three times the size of Mount Everest FACT 36: The telescope was invented by an optician FACT 37: Astronomers use black and white cameras to take colour pictures FACT 38: There are thousands of planets beyond our Solar System FACT 39: There is a hurricane on Jupiter nearly three times the size of Earth FACT 40: If you fell into a black hole you would be stretched like spaghetti FACT 41: There are clouds of water floating in space FACT 42: It is very likely that the Sun will one day swallow up the Earth FACT 43: Shooting stars are not stars at all FACT 44: Inhabitants of Saturn could enjoy the northern lights too FACT 45: Comets have two tails FACT 46: The Moon was once part of Earth FACT 47: To find black holes, astronomers look for the brightest objects in the night sky FACT 48: There are three laws which govern the motion of the planets FACT 49: The most common star is a red dwarf FACT 50: The Kessler effect suggests one day we may get cut off from space! FACT 51: The first telescope mirrors used arsenic FACT 52: A gas cloud contains enough alcohol for everyone for a billion years FACT 53: Our eyes are rubbish colour detectors in the dark FACT 54: Light takes around one million years to reach us from the core of the Sun FACT 55: A hurricane force wind is just a breeze on Mars FACT 56: An astronaut in space would last about 15 seconds without a spacesuit FACT 57: Travel fast to stay young FACT 58: The sky has co-ordinates just like latitude and longitude FACT 59: The Grand Canyon is dwarfed by the largest valley in the Solar System FACT 60: Earth is closer to the Sun in winter FACT 61: There is water on the Moon FACT 62: Dark matter exists but we do not know what it is FACT 63: Studying the light from galaxies tells us how fast they are moving FACT 64: The largest single mirror telescope has a mirror 8.2m across FACT 65: Pigeon droppings were once mistakenly identified to explain the radiation from the Big Bang FACT 66: Saturn’s moon Mimas looks like the Death Star from Star Wars FACT 67: Neptune was first discovered by mathematics FACT 68: Meteorites are not hot! FACT 69: The Sun looks white in space FACT 70: Voyager 1 will reach its destination in 40,000 years FACT 71: We are sending signals into outer space and aliens could be listening FACT 72: Mercury is shrinking! FACT 73: The Hubble Space Telescope was launched with the wrong mirror FACT 74: A veritable menagerie of animals have been sent into space FACT 75: The movement of the Earth allows astronomers to measure distances in space FACT 76: Stars do not live forever FACT 77: The different shapes of galaxies relate to their evolutionary stage FACT 78: The rotation of the Sun is not uniform FACT 79: Some variable stars can tell us how far away they are FACT 80: Spacecraft docking in space is a tricky manoeuvre FACT 81: The Universe is 92 billion light years across FACT 82: In 1977 astronomers thought they had detected an alien radio signal FACT 83: Gamma ray bursts are among the most powerful explosions in the Universe FACT 84: The constellations of today will not be recognisable in a hundred thousand years FACT 85: VY Canis Majoris is the largest known star in the Universe FACT 86: Jupiter is a failed star FACT 87: Dung beetles use the Milky Way to navigate FACT 88: Jupiter is the Solar System’s vacuum cleaner FACT 89: Polaris is the north pole star but in 12,000 years it will be replaced by Vega FACT 90: The night sky in a globular cluster would be glittering with thousands of bright stars FACT 91: Eratosthenes measured the circumference of Earth in 240bc FACT 92: A star called Lucy is a large cosmic diamond FACT 93: Lunar eclipses cause massive temperature drops on the Moon FACT 94: A teaspoon of neutron star material weighs 10 million tonnes FACT 95: The Pistol Star is 10 million times brighter than the Sun FACT 96: The atmosphere of the Sun is hotter than its visible surface FACT 97: Some rocket engines produce enough thrust to lift a sheet of A4 paper! FACT 98: The Sun is a very faint star! FACT 99: Astronomers have their very own tape measures FACT 100: A Martian meteorite has the fossilised building blocks of life inside it FACT 101: There are alien lakes on Saturn’s moon Titan Back Cover