Space Facts for Kids
Out-of-this-world facts about the universe
Some white dwarf stars have cores made largely of crystallised carbon — essentially turning into enormous cosmic diamonds as they cool over billions of years.
In 1990, Voyager 1 took the famous 'Pale Blue Dot' photograph of Earth from 6 billion kilometres away. Our entire planet appears as a tiny speck of light.
Some pulsars — rapidly spinning neutron stars — rotate more than 700 times per second, faster than a kitchen blender blade.
The heart-shaped feature on Pluto, called Tombaugh Regio, is made of nitrogen ice and is about the size of Texas.
Earth sits in the 'Goldilocks zone' around the Sun — not too hot and not too cold — where liquid water can exist on the surface, making life possible.
About 85 per cent of all matter in the universe is dark matter, a mysterious substance that does not emit, absorb, or reflect light and has never been directly observed.
The James Webb Space Telescope can look so far back in time that it can observe the first galaxies that formed just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
Despite being the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury has ice at its poles. The ice sits inside permanently shadowed craters that never receive sunlight.
Mars is home to Valles Marineris, the longest canyon in the solar system — stretching 4,000 kilometres, roughly the width of the United States.
Pluto is smaller than Australia. Its diameter of about 2,377 kilometres is less than the 4,000-kilometre width of the Australian continent.