Space Facts for Kids
Out-of-this-world facts about the universe
The Moon is slowly drifting away from Earth at a rate of about 1.5 inches per year. This has been measured using laser reflectors left on the Moon's surface by Apollo astronauts. Billions of years from now, the Moon will be much farther away.
Scientists believe it actually rains diamonds deep inside Neptune and Uranus. The extreme pressure and heat at those depths can squeeze carbon atoms together to form diamond crystals, which then fall like hailstones.
Space is completely silent because sound needs a medium like air or water to travel through. In the vacuum of space, there are almost no particles for sound waves to travel through, so no one can hear anything at all.
The Hubble Space Telescope orbits Earth once every 95 minutes at a speed of about 17,000 miles per hour. Since its launch in 1990, Hubble has made over 1.5 million observations and helped scientists determine the age of the universe.
Mars is home to Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the entire solar system. It stands about 13.6 miles (22 km) high — nearly three times the height of Mount Everest — and is about the size of the state of Arizona.
Voyager 1, launched in 1977, became the first human-made object to enter interstellar space in 2012. It is now more than 14 billion miles from Earth and is still sending back signals, making it the most distant human-made object ever.
Stars twinkle in the night sky, but planets don't! Stars twinkle because they are so far away that their light bends as it passes through Earth's atmosphere. Planets are closer and appear larger, so their light is steadier.
Astronauts living on the International Space Station see 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every single day. This is because the ISS orbits Earth once every 90 minutes, traveling at about 17,500 miles per hour.
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has lakes and rivers — but not of water. Titan has lakes of liquid methane and ethane on its surface. It's the only world besides Earth known to have stable liquid on its surface.
The Andromeda Galaxy is heading toward our Milky Way and will collide with it in about 4.5 billion years. But don't worry — galaxies are mostly empty space, so stars are unlikely to actually crash into each other.