Mind-blowing facts about space
https://www.qriyo.com/blog/10-mind-blowing-facts-about-space/
The largest known star • The largest known star in the universe is what we call the UY Scuti present in the constellation Scutum. It’s estimated radius is 1.88 x 109 kilometers. That is more than 1700 times than our sun’s radius and more than 5 billion times in volume that of our sun. It is a variable star (means it’s brightness level is variable) which was first discovered in 1860, but it wasn’t until 2012 that we got to know about its true size when seen from a larger telescope in Chile’s desert. It then surpassed VY Canis Majoris (largest known star before 2012) as the largest known star. UY Scuti is approximately 9500 light years away from us. Our own sun appears as a peanut when compared to UY Scuti. Do you think it is one of the mind-blowing facts about space that everyone should know? Share it with your friends
Lowest temperature possible- The absolute zero • The lowest possible temperature is known to be – 273.15 degrees Celsius. It is called the absolute zero because it means 0 kelvin, an SI unit of temperature in thermodynamics. Scientists have found a temperature of -272 degrees approx 5000 light years away from us. It is the boomerang nebula (a dying star) that is emitting the coldest gases ever recorded, which are only 1 degree hotter than the absolute zero. However, they can create a closer yet temperature to absolute zero artificially. In fact, scientists at MIT have managed to achieve a temperature of 0.45 nanokelvin in the lab. That is really close to the absolute zero
Largest moon in our solar system • The record for being the largest moon in our solar system is held by Ganymede which is one of the moons of Jupiter with a diameter of 5,268 km. For a long time, it was believed that the largest moon in our solar system was Titan (5,151 km in diameter), one of Saturn’s moons. Ganymede is the only moon to have a magnetic field and it’s diameter is larger than the planet mercury’s. Interestingly, Titan is the only other object (apart from earth, of course) in space that showed us definite proof of surface water bodies. Titan has its own atmosphere, that is itself a mindblowing fact. Moons usually don’t have atmospheres.
One of the biggest breakthroughs in finding potentially habitable planets • In 2017, NASA Spitzer Space Telescope discovered 7 exoplanets (planets that revolve around a different star than ours). This system of 7 planets is named Trappist 1, after the Trappist telescope in Chile because it was the first one to find 2 of the seven planets. All these 7 planets are capable of having water. Moreover, 3 of them are present in the habitable zone (a distance from the sun, where liquid water is possible). Also, these planets are too close to each other that if you stand on one of them, you could see other planets in the sky. The sun of TRAPPIST 1 is a small cool red dwarf. Trappist 1 is located 40 light years from earth. Interestingly, A planet about 4.5 light years away from us known as Proxima Centauri b, which revolves around its sun called Proxima Centauri is the closest exoplanet, which was also thought to support life potentially. But, later when the scientists discovered the solar winds’ speed on this planet, it became highly unlikely to support life.
Sun’s temperature • The surface temperature of the sun is 5505 degree Celsius. And, the core the sun could be a as high as 15 million degrees Celsius.
Great Red Spot on Jupiter • Have you noticed a red spot in Jupiter’s picture? Well..that red spot is a hurricane that has always been there, with winds up to 270 miles per hour. The whole spot is bigger than twice of the earth. For 400 years that we have been looking at Jupiter, the red spot has always been there.