- Our planet is not round. Although, this doesn’t mean that it is square, cubical or flat. Data that was collected from satellites indicates that there is a ‘bulge’ at the North Pole that corresponds to an opposite depression to the other pole (the South Pole). Our planet is an oblate spheroid that stretches out at the Equator, while it is a little squashed at the poles.
- Is Pluto a planet? Over the last few years there have been a lot of debates on this matter and finally, scientists decided that Pluto should no longer be considered a planet. They now call it a ‘dwarf planet’.
- Jupiter and its moons. While Earth has only one moon, you’ll be shocked to find out that Jupiter has 67 of them. Scientists claim that the giant planet may have even more, but we only counted 67 so far.
- On Titan it rains methane. Titan is Saturn’s biggest moon and recent discoveries show that it gets so cold there that the methane gas starts poring as if it was rain.
- Light and dark on Uranus. Uranus has 42 years of daylight and then 42 years of darkness.
- The Sun isn’t that big. You might think that the Sun is big, but when comparing it to VY Canis Majoris, its size isn’t that impressive anymore.
- Saturn is not solid. This planet is mostly made out of gas so if it would be surrounded by water, in a fictional scenario of course, it would float.
- Sun vs. Earth. If we’re only referring to size, 1 million planets that have the same size as Earth would fit inside the Sun.
- Are people taller in space? When on Earth, the gravity pushes down the human spine. But when this effect is no longer pressuring the human body, the spine is almost straight which makes people taller.
- An optical illusion makes the Moon look bigger when it’s closer to the horizon.
