Crazy Facts from Outer Space

Crazy Facts from Outer Space


1. Goodnight Moon

The moon is slowly drifting away from the Earth at a rate of 3.8cm per year. This also affects the Earth's rotation, which slows by a nearly indetectable 2 milliseconds every 100 years.

2. Make it Rain

Water isn't exactly the first thing you'd expect to find in the deep and cold vacuum of space, but a massive cloud of water vapor actually exists that contains 140 times the mass of Earth's oceans! Approxmately 10 billion light years from Earth, a quasar is actually emitting this water vapor rather than sucking it in.

3. Hole in One

The closest known black hole, Cygnus X-1, is a mere 8,000 light years away from Earth. Surpirisingly, only 14 black holes have been discovered so far in the entire known universe.

4. What's Cooler Than Being Cool?

The temperature on Pluto is extremely frigid -390 degrees Fahrenheit, which is not surprising considering its extreme distance from the sun. The amazing thing is that the ice on Pluto's compacts due to the temperature and becomes stronger than steel.

5. Walkin' on the Sun

While most stars produce an extreme amount of heat and light, brown dwarves haven't gained enough mass to start the process of hydrogen fusion. One particular brown dwarf, WISE 1828+2650, has a surface temperature of just 80 degrees Fahrenheit.