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Top 5 Unheard and Amazing Facts About Space

April 01, 2022    7 min read

Despite advances in finding life beyond Earth, space remains largely unknown to us. It never ceases to fascinate us. There's a lot to be curious about in space. The truth is that we don't have all the answers. We know it's vast and beautiful, but we're not sure how vast it is (or how beautiful, for that matter).

As we dive deeper, we unearth some of the most amazing facts about space that will make you appreciate the mysteries of our universe.


Source: Freepik

Space is fully silent

To travel, sound waves require a medium. Because there is no atmosphere in space, the realm between stars will always be deafeningly quiet. However, worlds with atmospheres and air pressure allow sound to travel, which is why there is a lot of noise on Earth and probably other planets as well.

Countless Stars

We have no idea how many stars there are in the universe. They are countless and that is the beauty of stars. Right now we use our estimate of how many stars there could be in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. We then multiply that number by the best estimate of the number of galaxies in the universe. After all that maths, NASA can only claim that there are zillions of uncountable stars. A zillion is an uncountable amount.

An Australian National University study put their estimate at 70 sextillions. Put another way, that's 70,000 million million million.

The Apollo astronauts' footprints on the moon will probably stay there for at least 100 million years

Since the moon doesn't have an atmosphere, there's no wind or water to erode or wash away the Apollo astronauts' mark on the moon. That means their footprints, roverprints, spaceship prints, and discarded materials will stay preserved on the moon for a very long time.

They won't stay there forever, though. The moon is still a dynamic environment. It's actually being constantly bombarded with "micrometeorites," which means that erosion is still happening on the moon, just very slowly.

The largest asteroid in our solar system is a mammoth piece of space rock named Ceres

The asteroid -- which is sometimes known as a dwarf planet -- is almost 600 miles in diameter. It's by far the largest in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter and accounts for a whole third of the belt's mass. Ceres' surface area is approximately equal to the land area of India or Argentina.

The uncrewed spacecraft Dawn just finished up its mission orbiting Ceres and helping us totally transform our understanding of the world.

One day on Venus is longer than one year on Earth

Venus has an extremely slow axis rotation that takes about 243 Earth days to complete one full cycle. Funny enough, it takes Venus even less time in Earth days to complete one revolution around the sun -- 226 to be exact.

Furthermore, the sun rises every 117 Earth days, which means that the sun will rise only two times during each year, which is also all technically on the same day. Since Venus also rotates clockwise, the sun will rise in the west and set in the east.

Are you someone who likes to explore space and planetary movements and learn about new things everyday? Practically is just the right place for you then. The Practically app has some interesting 3D videos, AR experiences, and simulations for you that can offer you life-like learning experiences. Head to the Practically app and know more about our amazing planet and the solar system.

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