Today I found out the name for the dwarf planet Pluto was suggested by an 11 year old girl. The girl was Venetia Burney of Oxford, England. Venetia’s great uncle, Science Master of Eton Henry Madan, in 1877 suggested the name for the two dwarf moons of Mars, Deimos and Phobos (fear/panic and dread/terror). This was referencing the fact that […]
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Sirius-A is the brightest extrasolar star visible to the naked eye from Earth, being almost twice as bright as the second brightest, Canopus. Sirius-A and Sirius-B combine to form a binary system and appear as one star to the naked eye, though the vast majority of luminosity to the naked eye comes from Sirius-A, Sirius-B being a white dwarf which […]
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Each second about four million metric tons of matter is converted to energy within the Sun’s core. This gives the Sun a lifetime as a main sequence star of about 10 billion years with about 5 billion years to go. The surface temperature of the Sun is about 5780 K, which is equivalent to just under 10,000 F and 5,500 […]
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Once regarded by astronomers as a small and relatively insignificant star, the Sun is now known to be brighter than about 85% of the stars in the Milky Way. Contrary to popular belief, it is also white, not yellow, despite being classified as a “yellow” dwarf. Reference
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Light travels from the Sun to the Earth in about 8 minutes and 19 seconds. While it only takes 8 minutes and 19 seconds for the light from the surface of the sun to reach us, it actually takes about 10,000-170,000 years for a photon to travel from the core of the sun to the surface. Sources and Further Reading
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Myth: The “Big Dipper” is a constellation. In fact, the Big Dipper is an asterism. A constellation is an officially recognized group of stars as defined by the International Astronomical Union. Constellations are used to split the celestial sphere into different sections that aid in locating objects in the sky, kind of like landmarks on a map. An asterism, on […]
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Today I found out the Earth is hottest when it is furthest from the Sun on its orbit, not when it is closest. During the period when the Earth is furthest from the sun (aphelion), the average temperature of the entire planet is about 4°F (2.3°C) higher than when it is closest to the sun (perihelion). On average, the intensity […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn More Interesting Earth and Sun Facts The energy required to stop the Earth orbiting the sun is about 2.6478 × 10^33 joules or 7.3551 × 10^29 watt hours or 6.3285*10^17 megatons of TNT. For reference, the largest nuclear explosion ever detonated (the Tsar Bomba by the Soviet Union) “only” produced 50 megatons […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn More Interesting Astronomy Facts Text Version: The Sun does not have enough mass to go supernova and explode. However, in about 5 billion years it will enter a red giant phase steadily expanding until it consumes the Earth. But fear not, the Earth will already be dead in about 1 billion years […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn Why the Hottest Part of the Summer is Called the “Dog Days” Text Version A white dwarf is a former star that is nearing the end of its life-cycle, with no further nuclear fusion going on at its core. Once most stars have used up the fuel at their core, they go […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn Why the Moon Looks Bigger on the Horizon Text Version The Moon always has the same side pointing towards the Earth due to its rotation speed matching its orbit around the Earth exactly. This isn’t by chance and it wasn’t always this way. When the Moon first formed, its rotation speed was […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and to Learn More Interesting Asteroid Facts Text Version The odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field isn’t “approximately 3,720 to 1!” The actual odds would entirely depend on what asteroid field you were talking about and a variety of other factors. But for reference, NASA estimates the odds of one of their probes traveling […]
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##EMBED## Click Here for Sources and More Interesting Astronomical Facts Text Version It takes approximately 225 million Earth years for our solar system to make one trip around the Milky Way.
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##EMBED## Click Here for the Sources and to Learn More Interesting Astronomy/Earth Related Facts Text Version Along with orbiting around the sun at 66,600 mph, the Earth is also rotating at its axis at about 1,070 miles per hour. So you are simultaneously hurtling around the sun at 66,600 mph while sitting on a rock that is spinning at 1,070 […]
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##EMBED## Click Here to Find Out What Moon Dust Smells Like Text Version One Moon “day” is 29 1/2 Earth days. This rotation coincides perfectly with its rotation around the Earth so that we always only see one side of the Moon. Coincidence? I think not! Wake up Sheeple!
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