hey everyone today we're gonna learn ten facts about space that will blow your mind now let's begin.





1- complete silence.

have you ever wondered what space sounds like? this is one of the most common questions that people ask astronauts after returning to Earth it turns out this never-ending expanse of star-studded blackness sounds just like it looks it's completely and utterly silent why? well because sound needs to vibrate the molecules in the air in order to exist but there's no air in space no air means no molecules and no molecules mean no sound.

it's so disturbingly quiet in space that the human brain starts to panic the silence that you hear on a daily basis is nowhere near as quiet as complete emptiness now in your normal environment you're constantly exposed to atmospheric noise like birds chirping and cars honking in the distance even if you don't notice them your brain depends on those faint sounds to stay sane and present when all the noise disappears like it does in space your brain has a strange reaction it starts searching for any kind of sound to fill the silence some astronauts noticed amplified physiological noises like your heartbeat in space your body seems painfully loud almost like you're listening to your own heart through a stethoscope but your heart isn't beating any harder or any louder you just aren't used to hearing your bodily functions so clearly if you want to get a good idea of what silence really sounds like you don't need to spend time and space there are a number of labs in u.s. that can block out 99.9% of all sound but just be careful because too much silence can drive you a little bit crazy.





2- an infinite starscape.

when you look up at the night sky how many stars do you see in the city? you might see if you hunt in the mountains you might look up at an array of thousands but there are actually billions upon billions of stars in our galaxy alone scientists estimate that the Milky Way galaxy contains between a hundred and four hundred billion stars most of them are either too small or too far away for you to see with your own eyes and that's because our galaxy is over a hundred thousand light-years wide.

now to give you some perspective our entire solar system isn't even one light year across its about eleven point three billion miles which equals zero point zero one nine light years you could comfortably squeeze about fifty-two million copies of our solar system into the Milky Way alone, of course, the universe is much much bigger than just our galaxy scientists haven't landed on an exact number but they estimate the universe contains upwards of 200 billion galaxies some are over ten times the size of the Milky Way and contain trillions of stars but we haven't explored the whole universe how could you possibly estimate the number of galaxies the universe has in it this estimate actually comes from the Hubble telescope it discovered evidence of a few thousand individual galaxies in one small section of the universe we do know that the universe or at least the observable universe is about 46 billion light-years across so that means around 200 billion galaxies and a nearly infinite number of stars okay so try not to get too attached to those numbers the universe is expanding every single second star are constantly growing and dying it's almost impossible to know exactly how many exist but we do know one thing for sure the sparkling stars that you see in the night sky don't even begin to cover it.





3- gobbling galaxies.

the Milky Way is one of the largest members of the local group which houses the Andromeda galaxy and about 48 others the Milky Way is around 12 billion years old and has significantly grown since its humble beginnings most people don't realize that the Milky Way has been slowly consuming smaller galaxies over the years right now our galaxy is devouring two of its neighbors it will gradually strip the gas from each of these dwarf galaxies until there's nothing left who knew natural selection affected galactic systems.





4- frozen rings.

best known for its amazing rings Saturn is the furthest planet you can see without a telescope. Galileo was the first to spot its rings in 1610 but it took some time to figure what its rings were made of it turns out Saturn's seven rings are thin layers of ice now when I say thin I mean about 20 meters thick that's probably not thin by your standards but compared to the total size of the planet 20 meters is like a piece of paper.





5- galactic collision.

the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are about 2.5 million light-years apart that sounds incredibly far but Andromeda is so close that you can actually see it with your naked eye and it's only getting closer.

scientists discovered that the Andromeda galaxy is moving toward us at about 110 kilometers per second that's over 240,000 miles per hour which is about the distance from the earth to the moon. now whether we like it or not these two massive galaxies are going to smash into each other but don't worry this collision isn't happening in your life or your kids or their kids. Andromeda and the Milky Way won't collide for another 4.5 billion years and even then it probably won't be a head-on galaxy shattering event if this were a car accident it would be more like clipping someone's headlight but when the stakes are this high a glancing blow can still have a catastrophic effect on our little slice of the universe.





6- the tilted planet.



if you've ever seen a picture of Uranus you probably thought it looks like the other blue ball you probably assumed it was right-side-up but recent research has discovered otherwise Uranus is actually tilted 98 degrees off of its orbital plane, in other words, it's basically sitting on its side a little tilting is common among the planets in our solar system.

Jupiter is a few degrees off Saturn is almost 30 even the earth is tilted about 23 degrees however no planet is nearly as sideways as Uranus scientists think the planet was struck by multiple other celestial bodies each collision not Uranus further off its axis this explanation has been revised over the years so it may change again but we do know this if you want to look at Uranus the right way then tilt your head 90 degrees there you go to one side.





7- a year on Venus.

as planets get closer and farther away from the Sun solar time begins to change but this isn't like daylight savings you're not adding or losing an hour here and there on different planets days and years can be hundreds of times longer than they are on earth. the length of a day depends on the amount of time it takes for a planet to rotate around its axis on earth that process takes 24 hours but on Venus, it takes over 5800 hours that's 240 times longer than one day on earth.

Venus' days are so long that they actually last longer than an entire year a year is how long it takes for a planet to complete its orbit around the Sun? this is where the position of the planets in the solar system really matters on Venus one year takes around 224 days or 5376 hours that means a year is at least 424 hours shorter than a single day.





8- a year on Neptune.

what about planets that are further away from the Sun? hmm let's jump to the other side of the solar system on Neptune a day is 16 hours long which isn't that much different from Earth the biggest distinction is in the length of each year Neptune is so far from the Sun that a year equals 165 years on earth that means that Neptune's orbit is about 165 times bigger than Earth's how.

here's the craziest part Neptune was discovered in 1846 now that seems like a long time ago right well since then it's only been a single Neptunian year hmm. so what if we take things one step further? it's no longer recognized as a planet but we still know how long it takes for Pluto to make its way around the Sun. one ploutonion year lasts a whole 248 earth years days and years are things we rarely think twice about. but as humans begin expanding outside of Earth your calendar may be one of the first things to go.





9- mass distribution.

our solar system is comprised of one-star eight planets five dwarf planets and a whole bunch of moons yet. if you put our whole solar system on a scale you'd notice something kind of odd the Sun accounts for 99.8% percent of the mass in our solar system. this giant ball of primarily hydrogen and helium weighs 330 thousand times more than the earth and it's not even one of the biggest stars yeah it looks gigantic floating in the sky but the truth is our Sun is about average at best.





10- the oldest footprints.

in 1969 Neil Armstrong commander of the Apollo 11 walked on the moon he and his pilot Buzz Aldrin were the first to leave footprints in the sand on the moon's surface. it's been decades since then, but here's something most people don't know. if you travel to the moon right now those footprints would look the exact same way they did in 1969 lunar footsteps don't disappear like they do on earth.

here a footstep left in the sand would be washed or blown away if it somehow survives the elements it's bound to be smudged by another person casually passing through but the moon doesn't have an atmosphere there's no wind or water to erode the surface and there certainly aren't many random people walking around up there that means those footprints made in 1969 will look exactly the same way for millions of years.



