Space: Wonders Beyond Earth

Space is Completely Silent

There’s no sound in space because there’s no air. On Earth, sound travels through air, but in space, it’s a vacuum—meaning no molecules to carry sound. Even if a star explodes or two planets crash together, you wouldn’t hear a thing. That’s why astronauts need radios inside their helmets to talk to each other in space.

It might seem spooky, but silence also means peacefulness. The only way we "hear" the universe is through special instruments that turn radio waves or vibrations into sounds we can understand. In space, silence isn’t scary—it’s just how things work.

A Day on Venus Is Longer Than a Year

Venus spins so slowly on its axis that one full rotation takes about 243 Earth days. But it only takes 225 Earth days for Venus to go all the way around the Sun. That means a day on Venus is longer than its year!

Stranger still, Venus spins the opposite way of most other planets, including Earth. If you stood on Venus (which you couldn’t—it’s way too hot), the Sun would rise in the west and set in the east.

Neutron Stars Are Super Dense

Neutron stars are what’s left after a giant star explodes in a supernova. They are incredibly small—about 12 miles wide—but super heavy. A single teaspoon of neutron star material would weigh about a billion tons on Earth!

Their gravity is so strong that they warp space and time. Neutron stars also spin extremely fast—some rotate hundreds of times per second. If Earth were that dense, it would be the size of a marble!

You Could Fit 1 Million Earths Inside the Sun

The Sun is huge—about 109 times wider than Earth. If the Sun were hollow, you could fit 1 million Earths inside it. That’s how massive it is. The Sun is mostly made of hydrogen and helium, and it’s been shining for about 4.6 billion years.

It gives us light, heat, and energy, and without it, life on Earth wouldn’t be possible. It’s a giant, blazing ball of gas, and even though it's 93 million miles away, it affects every part of life on Earth.

The Moon Is Moving Away from Earth

The Moon is slowly drifting away from Earth at a rate of about 1.5 inches per year. Scientists believe that when the Moon first formed, it was much closer—maybe only 14,000 miles away! Today, it’s about 238,000 miles from Earth.

In the far future, this means we’ll no longer have total solar eclipses because the Moon will appear too small to fully cover the Sun.

The Coldest Place in the Universe Is Not on a Planet

The coldest spot we’ve found is the Boomerang Nebula, a cloud of gas 5,000 light-years away. It’s about -458 degrees Fahrenheit, even colder than the vacuum of space! That’s just a little above absolute zero—the coldest temperature possible.

Scientists think it’s this cold because the gas is expanding so fast it cools itself. Even space can be freezing beyond imagination.

Quiz Video

Test your Space trivia knowledge with the following video!