A light year is the total distance travelled by a beam of light in one year. A beam of light can travel at up to 300,000 km/sec and the approximate distance covered in a year works out to be 9,470,000,000,000 km (1 light year = 9.47 x1012 km). So why did scientists create this new […]
A dwarf planet is a celestial body which is too small to be considered a real planet but too large to be called a space rock. It must revolve around the sun and it should not be a satellite of another planet. Hence this disqualifies earth’s big moon from being a dwarf planet.
Our solar system […]
The International Space Station (ISS) is a result of the collaboration between six countries (United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Italy, and Brazil) and the European Space Agency.
Not only has it been inhabited by astronauts continuously since the first crew entered the station on November 2nd 2000 but amazingly it only needs three astronauts on board […]
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Jupiter is the biggest planet in the solar system but unlike Earth it has no ground to speak off. It is made up of dense helium and hydrogen, along with water, nitrogen, and other gases.
Despite it being gas that doesn’t mean things will just pass through it. In fact when the 21 fragments of comet […]
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There are 9 planets within our solar system and all of them are rotating around the sun thanks to its natural gravitational pull. Thats a pretty unique setup and until the mid 90s the idea of other solar systems in distant galaxies was mere speculation.
That speculation became a reality in 1995 when the first extra-solar […]
The Hoba meteorite is the largest to ever have been found on Earth. The Hoba meteorite was found in Namibia, Africa in 1920. This meteorite, which landed some 80,000 years ago, is composed of iron and weighs a hefty 60,000 kg. It still lies in its original resting spot in Namibia, Africa.
The Williamette meteorite found in Oregon […]
Halley’s Comet appears every 75 to 76 years. It has had a recorded appearance since at least 240 BC. The last time Halley’s Comet crossed our planet’s sky was in 1986. Sometimes referred to as Comet Halley, it was formed 4.5 billion years ago.
Halley’s Comet was named after Edmund Halley who predicted the next time it […]
Some large asteroids in outer space even have their own moon. This surprising feature of asteroids was first discovered orbiting around the asteroid, Ida. Ida’s moon, named Dactyl, roughly measures 0.75 x 0.87 x 1.0 miles.
It is estimated between 10-30% of all asteroids have their own moon. To learn more facts about outer space, please visit […]