Astronomy Facts & Trivia

Mercury Mercury is the fastest planet in the Solar System, with a speed of about 45 km/second around the Sun. Submitted by: Manikanta - Vizag, India
Black hole Sagittarius A* Our nearest black hole — supermassive Sagittarius A* — is 26,000 light years away, right in the middle of Milky Way Galaxy. Submitted by: Ashu - Punjab, India
IC-1101 The largest galaxy is IC 1101 — extending 2 million light years from its core, with over 100 trillion stars. Submitted by: Nick - Bangalore, India
UY Scuti star The largest star discovered in Milky Way galaxy is UY Scuti (17,000 times bigger & 100,000 more luminous than the Sun).sciensational.com Submitted by: Jonah - Missouri, United States
Icarus star The farthest star ever seen is Icarus.
Earth's core The Earth's inner core of solid iron is almost the same size as the Moon.
Moons with water Solar System moons that have water are Jupiter’s Europa, Callisto & Ganymede and Saturn’s Enceladus & Titan. Submitted by: Mark Andrei
VFTS 102 star The fastest star by rotation is VFTS 102 in Tarantula Nebula (spinning 1.6 million km/h.) Submitted by: Raissa
Diamond raining Jupiter and Saturn It rains diamonds on Jupiter and Saturn.sciensational.com Submitted by: Bea - Lucena City, Philippines
Ganymede The largest moon in the Solar System – Jupiter's Ganymede – is even bigger than planet Mercury.
The Sun After helium and hydrogen, the most common element on the Sun is oxygen.
Boomerang Nebula Boomerang Nebula is the coldest known place in the universe.
Earth and Moon The Moon is moving away from the Earth 3.8 cm every year.
Pluto The entire surface area of Pluto is smaller than Russia.sciensational.com Submitted by: Am - Singapore
three golf balls on the Moon There are three golf balls on the Moon (left by Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard in 1971.) Submitted by: Carol Cooper - United States
Neptune With the strongest winds, Neptune is the windiest planet in the Solar System.
Westerlund 1-26 The largest known star – Westerlund 1-26 – is 2000 times bigger than the Sun.
Dark matter 95% of all matter in the universe is invisible, and is called the Dark Matter.
Sun The Sun is growing: In 5 billion years it will be 250 times bigger and close enough to swallow up the Earth.sciensational.com
Proxima Centauri Proxima Centauri is the nearest star to us after the Sun.