Space Facts for Kids
Out-of-this-world facts about the universe
Our Sun is a medium-sized star — astronomers classify it as a yellow dwarf. Some stars, like UY Scuti, are so large they would engulf Saturn if placed at the centre of our solar system.
Mars experiences planet-wide dust storms that can last for months, blanketing the entire planet and blocking sunlight. It was one of these storms that ended NASA's Opportunity rover mission in 2018.
As far as scientists know, Earth is the only planet in the solar system with active plate tectonics — the movement of crustal plates that creates mountains, triggers earthquakes, and recycles carbon.
About 240 meteorites found on Earth have been confirmed to have come from Mars — blasted off the Martian surface by ancient asteroid impacts before drifting through space to land here.
Cosmic rays — extremely high-energy particles — constantly rain down on Earth from deep space. Most are blocked by the atmosphere and Earth's magnetic field, but they can damage electronics on aircraft.
The Moon appears larger near the horizon than when it is high in the sky, but this is purely an optical illusion. Its actual size in the sky is exactly the same in both positions.
Stars twinkle because their pinpoint light is bent by pockets of moving air in Earth's atmosphere. Planets, being much closer, appear as discs and their light averages out, so they shine steadily.
The entire universe is filled with microwave radiation left over from the Big Bang, called the Cosmic Microwave Background. It was discovered accidentally in 1965 when engineers thought it was pigeon droppings on their antenna.
Jupiter rotates so fast that its equator bulges outwards noticeably. The planet is about 9,000 kilometres wider at the equator than at the poles.
Astronauts on the ISS age very slightly more slowly than people on Earth due to time dilation — moving fast and being slightly further from Earth's gravity stretches time by a tiny amount, as Einstein predicted.