The space is full of unknown. And as humanity keeps exploring it, we’re coming across with countless factinating things each day. Today we’re going to look at 7 of these fascinating and very interesting facts about astronomy that you probably never heard before. So put on your seatbelts because a quick space travel is about to start!
The North Star Changes
Over ages there have been many different ways for navigation. The North Star has always had an important usage. The interesting thing about the North Star is that “which star is considered as the North Star” changes. This is happening due to a process called precession which is a change in rotational axis of earth. Currently our North Star is Polaris but in 12 thousand years from now it will be Vega and 26 thousand years from then it will be Polaris again.
Stars vs. Trees
You may think that it is impossible to count the stars in our galaxy, however did you know that the number of trees on Earth is more than the amount of stars in our Galaxy? Sounds impossible right? But there are about 3 trillion trees on earth while the amount of the stars in the Milky Was is just around 100-400 billion.
We are seeing the past
Because it takes a long time for light to reach earth from a certain object, what we’re seeing now actually happened in past. As an example, the sun is 8.3 light minutes away from earth which means when you’re looking at the sun you see how it was 8.3 minutes ago. And because of that, from a planet that is far enough from earth, you can still see dinosaurs. We shouldn’t be suprised about why aliens don’t visit us. And the next time you’re watching the sky at nights keep in mind that the stars you see might have already been dead, maybe even for centuries. So every time you’re watching the sky you can count yourself as a time traveller.
Raspberries & Rum
In 2019 a group of scientists were searching a dust cloud in the Milky Way when they discovered the presence of “Ethly Formate”. This is the chemical which gives the rum its smell and the taste of the raspberry. So this means there is a dust cloud out there which smells like rum and tastes like raspberry. I guess if Jack Sparrow had a birthday wish it would have been this.
Crying on Space
When there is zero gravity I don’t think crying is the best idea. Because one day if you get sad and cry in space your tears will form a jello-like blobs under your eyes instead of falling down. Poor astronauts, they can’t even cry. What a miserable situation. Watch this video to see what exactly happens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P36xhtpw0Lg
Enceladus: the Mirror on Space
Enceladus is one of the 53 confirmed moons of Saturn. But unlike many other planets or the moon, this one reflects sunlight instead of absorbing it. And since it reflects sunlight up to 90%; its temperature is -394 degrees Fahrenheit or -201 degrees Celcius.
One Year on Neptune
Because of its distance from the sun, it takes Neptune 165 earth years to complete just one orbit around the sun. So sadly that means that you will never be able to travel to an entire orbit.