Random and interesting astronomy facts

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The space age began on the 4th October 1957.

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If you attempted to count all the stars in a galaxy at a rate of one every second it would take around 3,000 years to count them all.

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The one and only satellite that Britain has launched was called Black Arrow.

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The odds of being killed by space debris - 1 in 5 billion.

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Driving at 75 miles (121 km) per hour, it would take 258 days to drive around one of Saturn's rings.

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"Moon" was Buzz Aldrin's (second man on the moon) mother's maiden name. Laughing

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The only married couple to fly together in space were Jan Davis and Mark Lee, who flew aboard the Endeavour space shuttle from September 12-20, 1992.

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If you shouted in space even if someone was right next to you they wouldn't be able to hear you.

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The first man-made satellite in space was called sputnik.

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Just 20 seconds worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon.

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The first woman in space was a Russian called Valentina Tereshkova.

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One Day on the planet Pluto is about the length of a week on Earth.

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That great red spot on the surface of Jupiter is actually a hurricane-like storm system. This storm system was first detected way back in the early 17th century. This area is larger than Earth

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70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water

When astronauts first went into the space, they looked back at the Earth with human eyes for the first time, and called our home the Blue Planet. And it’s no surprise. 70% of our planet is covered with oceans. The remaining 30% is the solid ground, rising above sea level.

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Jupiter's moon Europa is completely covered with ice.

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The Earth’s molten iron core creates a magnetic field
The Earth is like a great big magnet, with poles at the top and bottom of the planet, near to the actual geographic poles. This magnetic field extends from the surface of the Earth out thousands of kilometers – a region called the magnetosphere.

Be grateful for the magnetosphere. Without it particles from the Sun’s solar wind would hit the Earth directly, exposing the surface of the planet to significant amounts of radiation. Instead, the magnetosphere channels the solar wind around the Earth, protecting us from harm.

Scientists think that the magnetic field is generated by the molten outer core of the Earth, where heat creates convection motions of conducting materials. This generates electric currents that create the magnetic field.

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Being closest to the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth & Mars are often referred to as the inner planets.

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No matter is able to escape the powerful gravitational pull of the black holes. Even light can not escape them.

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Uranus has 27 moons.

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Andromeda Galaxy is the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way galaxy where our Solar System is located.

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Mercury has no atmosphere. This small planet has too little gravity to hold on to an atmosphere.

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Temperature at core of the Sun is 15.5 million Celsius (28 million degrees Fahrenheit).

Subject: Re: Random and interesting astronomy facts Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:34 am

Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system, but has the fastest day, being only 9.8 hours long

Subject: Re: Random and interesting astronomy facts Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:35 am

If Jupiter was 30% more 'mass'ive it would have everything it needed to collapse into a red dwarf star, the most common star in our galaxy

Subject: Re: Random and interesting astronomy facts Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:36 am

The moon is moving away from the Earth at a rate of 1.5 inches per year

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