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15 Facts About Black Holes That'll Blow Your Effing Mind

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Black holes are something everyone has heard about, but few actually know anything about. They are like giant invisible blenders lurking in the corners of deep space, sucking in unsuspecting stars and planets and ripping them to shreds. We're only beginning to understand the secrets of deep space and the full capacity of these cosmic death traps.

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Black holes are one of the most interesting things about space. Like their event horizon, which is the point of no return situated at their swirling center, black holes are invisible. Nothing can escape their pull - not even light itself. But just because they’re surrounded by mystery doesn’t mean they’re always shrouded in darkness. Some black holes are so luminous they outshine Earth’s sun by the billions.

What is a black hole? Is it a secret doorway into alternate realities? Is it Mother Nature’s time machine? Does it destroy, create, or all of the above? Here are some crazy facts about black holes that will help you put these questions and more into perspective.

Every Black Hole Contains a Universe

If life were a run through Wonderland, the rabbit hole might just be a black hole, and here’s how deep it gets.

The theory of quantum gravity seems to suggest every black hole contains a new universe that stretches out beyond our own. This could mean that entering a black hole could be like opening a doorway and stepping into an alternate reality. That is, if you survived going through a black hole.

Our Universe Might Just Exist Inside Of a Black Hole

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Scientists have long played with the notion that our universe contains millions of black holes, invisible death traps spiraling around the atmosphere in space. But in modern times, a new concept has unearthed an even more mind-boggling possibility - our universe exists inside of a black hole. This popular theory opens up possibilities for things previously thought fictional, like time travel and parallel worlds, because if a black hole is a doorway rather than a deathtrap, we all stand to enter into a realm where the laws of nature no longer apply.

Black Holes Can Slow Down Time, Hypothetically Making Time Travel Possible

Because black holes are masters of distortion and the universe at large, they don’t obey the natural laws of time. They are surrounded by approximately 15 million miles of darkness and their mass consequently slows down time in a process known as time dilation. This process concludes that traveling faster makes time move slower. Could it be the key to time travel isn’t in an actual vessel but rather through a hole? Stephen Hawking and several other geniuses seem to think so.

They Are Considered the Single Most Deadly Force in the Entire Universe

Black holes don’t just give birth to universes, they also swallow them whole. If one were to come into contact with our planet, all weapons of mass destruction combined would not be able to compete with the phenomenon that would inevitably follow. In fact, literally nothing we’ve ever seen is comparable to the deadly force of a black hole. Upon contact (and by contact we mean coming within about a billion miles of these things) our solar system would simply spin out of control and we would all be ripped to shreds. Scientists call this spaghettification.

They Can Turn You into Spaghetti (Sort Of)

Spaghettification is a made up word describing what black holes do to anything within a billion mile radius. When a black hole spaghettifies something (or someone) it stretches them to death using horizontal compression and extreme tidal force.

This agonizing routine could go on for a very long time, depending mainly on the size of the black hole itself. But why spaghetti? Because when a mass comes into contact with a black hole, it compresses everything into noodle-like shapes. Sometimes this is also called the noodle effect.

They Will Erase You From Existence

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Should you, for any given reason, get sucked in by a black hole, you will not be spit back out. You will simply vanish without a trace. It will be as if you never existed. This is because nothing can enter into a black hole and exit unless, of course it exits out the other side, alive and intact. And even then, theoretically you'd be in another universe, so you would never be heard from again. Let’s say that were the case for a person.

They would still disappear as the black hole dissolves, shrinking down into an unfathomable, astronomical smallness.

The Largest Black Hole We've Discovered Is 12 Billion Times Larger than Earth's Sun

The 2015 discovery of SDSS J010013.02+280225.8 (a doomsday name if ever there was one) turned science on its heels yet again. This cosmic mystery of a black hole is so colossal that even the most sophisticated mathematicians are baffled by its size especially when compared to its approximated age. To put things into perspective, this hole is thought to be just shy of 13 billion years old, and is 12 billion times larger than the sun. The sun's radius is 432,288 miles, which means this black hole is...well, it's huge.

The Super Massive Black Hole Burns 429 Trillion Times Brighter Than Our Sun

Talk about shedding some light on an ancient illuminated space component. This revelation is unique and interesting because black holes are often associated with darkness, but in fact some of them are quite luminous. This newly discovered black hole is the brightest massive quasar we have ever witnessed. Any bulb that bright is bound to pose ominous threats to all existence - human and other.

A Black Hole Could Fry Earth At the Speed of Light

In the event that we (as in everyone on Earth) inadvertently got sucked into a black hole, we might not actually notice this at first. The initial effect could, hypothetically, be as subtle as a change in tides, a shift in the stars and a strange, off kilter sensation but then we’d be fried up pretty quickly by the radiation at a pace exceeding the speed of light.

The Smallest Black Hole We've Found Can Rip Winds out at 20 Million Miles per Hour

Don’t be deceived into believing the power of a black hole lies solely in its size. IGR J17091-3624 is one of the tiniest black holes spinning through the cosmos, yet its wind power outnumbers that of larger black holes by a force 10 times the highest observed velocity. This tiny stellar mass is situated right here in our Milky Way - and here’s something you don’t hear every day about a black hole. - we know it’s alive because it has a heartbeat.

The Way They Are Made Is Absolutely Mind Blowing

Super massive black holes are thought to have developed during the primitive stages of creation. Some of them are probably billions of years old. Younger black holes are born when stars die. In fact, they are created out of pieces of stars when they are alive. Black holes live and die, like humans, animals and plants, but the legacy they leave behind is unparalleled. They create and destroy, yet they too are created and eventually destroyed.

Basically, when a stars center implodes on itself, it creates a supernova. That supernova is a huge explosion that blasts into outer space, creating a massive pull so intense that even light can't get out. Because these things are so huge, they essentially suck in everything in and squeeze it in really tight - and this is where a black hole is born.

Black Holes Eat Everything, Including Each Other

Somewhere amidst the drifting stars and shifting particles of space, one massive black hole eats another. This effect is known as merging galaxies and it’s a new revelation to astrophysicists and the scientific community at large. It’s worth noting the black hole that got consumed was the largest in the spiral galaxy we were observing called NGC3393.

Not Only Do They Suck In Matter but They Also Spit It Out At Accelerated, Fatal Speeds

Just 28,000 light years from our planet, a black hole labeled H1743-322 is hurling cosmic bullets into space at lighting speeds. As we know, black holes suck in matter, functioning like interstellar vacuum cleaners or super space magnets if you will. But some of the matter they suck in gets spit back out and the end result is a shower of fragmented planets spiraling aimless through space posing all sorts of threats of possible collision but capturing our attention throughout the journey.

These Mystifying Wonders Can Distort Even Space Itself

Not only do black holes slow down time, they also distort space and everything surrounding them for billions of light years. They have been described as putting dents in the space time continuum. They have been suspected of folding and later collapsing universes whole. The full effect of these abilities is still immeasurable.

Rogue Black Holes Are Like Rogue Waves, But Scarier and One of Them Just Broke Way

Rogue black holes are the most obvious threat to civilization due to their sheer unpredictability. Prior to their discovery, black holes were presumed stationary. In March 2017, NASA’s Hubble Telescope observed a rogue black hole leaving galaxy 3c 186 at a speed of 5 million miles per hour. According to AOL News, at this alarmingly fast pace, the rogue hole could travel back and forth between Earth and the moon in under three minutes' time.

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10 Weird Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About the Milky Way

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On a dark night, the dense plane of the Milky Way winds like a ribbon across the sky. On a really dark night, in areas free from light pollution, that ribbon becomes so intensely spangled with stars that it’s possible to see the dark, dusty clouds of dust and gas deep in space that blot out their light. Those clouds are so prominent that Australia’s Aboriginal people saw them create the shape of an emu.

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Our galactic home is one of trillions of galaxies in the universe. Astronomers have been ardently studying them for almost a century, ever since Edwin Hubble discovered that neighboring Andromeda was not just another nearby dusty nebula, but a galaxy in its own right. And yet, humans are still trying to unravel the secrets of our galactic home and how it fits in the tapestry of the universe.

“I would love to see a movie in time of the assembly of the Milky Way,” says Jay Lockman of the Green Bank Observatory, who presented new observations about our galaxy this week at the 231st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Maryland.

Here are some of the fun, weird facts and questions we have about the 13.6-billion-year-old space oddity we inhabit.

The Milky Way Is (Mostly) Flat

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Our galaxy is, on average, a hundred thousand light-years across but only a thousand light-years thick. Within this flattened (though somewhat warped) disc, the sun and its planets are embedded in a curving arm of gas and dust, putting the solar system about 26,000 light-years away from the galaxy’s turbulent core. A bulge of dust and stars swaddles the galactic center, looking like a dollop of whipped cream plopped on both sides of a pancake.

Earth Is 18 Galactic Years Old

The solar system is zooming through interstellar space at around 500,000 miles an hour. Even at that rate, it takes about 250 million years to travel once around the Milky Way. The last time our 4.5-billion-year-old planet was in this same spot, continents fit together differently, dinosaurs were just emerging, mammals had yet to evolve, and the most profound mass extinction in the planet’s history—an event called the Great Dying—was in progress.

There’s a Monster Black Hole in the Galaxy’s Middle

Called Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole weighs in at more than four million times the mass of the sun. We’ve never seen this object directly—it’s hidden behind thick clouds of dust and gas. But astronomers have been able to follow the orbits of stars and gas clouds near the galactic center, which allowed them to infer the mass of the cosmic heavyweight hiding behind the curtain. It’s thought that supermassive black holes are parked in the cores of most galaxies, and some are feeding on nearby matter so greedily they shoot out jets of powerful radiation visible from millions of light-years away.

You can take a spin through the Milky Way’s chaotic center courtesy of a new animation released at the AAS meeting.

The Milky Way Won’t Live Forever

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In about four billion years, the Milky Way will collide with its nearest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. The two spiral galaxies are currently hurtling toward each other at 250,000 miles an hour. When they do smash into one another, it won’t be as cataclysmic as you might imagine—Earth will likely survive, and very few stars will actually be destroyed. Instead, the newly formed mega-galaxy will offer a night skyscape with a spectacular blend of stars and streamers unlike anything we see today.

Our Sun Is One Star among Several Hundred Billion

There are a hundred billion stars in the Milky Way. Or is it 300 billion? Or 400 billion? That’s right—we don’t actually know how many stars are in our galaxy. Many of them are dim, low-mass stars that are hard to detect over vast cosmic distances, and there are massive clouds obscuring the bulge of stars nearest to Sagittarius A*. Astronomers have estimated the total number of stars based on the Milky Way’s mass and brightness, but more precise numbers are still elusive.

We’re Surrounded By a Dark Halo

Image result for dark halo around milky way

The Milky Way is embedded in a clump of dark matter that is far larger and more massive than the galaxy itself. In the late 1960s, astronomer Vera Rubin inferred the presence of these invisible halos around galaxies when she observed that stars near the edge of Andromeda were whipping around the galaxy’s center at speeds that should send them flying off into space. And yet, they weren’t, meaning that some sort of cosmic glue held everything together. That glue, we now know, is dark matter.

He Hang Out With Ancient Stars

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The Milky Way is also surrounded by more than 150 ancient groups of stars, some of which are among the oldest in the universe. Called globular clusters, these primordial stellar conglomerates live in the Milky Way’s halo and orbit the galactic center. Each is crammed with hundreds of thousands of stars. Also hanging around the Milky Way are dozens of satellite galaxies; most of these are tough to see, but the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds glisten each night in the southern sky.

The Galaxy Is an Island in a Stream of Stars

The Milky Way eats galaxies that come too close. Over the years, scientists studying the galaxy’s fringe have detected some two dozen faint streamers of stars that are the remnants of galaxies past. These ghostly stellar rivers formed when the Milky Way’s more powerful gravity ripped apart smaller galaxies, leaving behind glittering strands of leftovers. At the AAS meeting, the Dark Energy Survey team announced that it had detected 11 more of these streamers, some of which have been given Aboriginal names.

The Galactic Center Is Blowing Hot Air

The Milky Way is blowing massive bubbles of extremely hot gas and energetic particles. Stretching far above and below the galactic plane, these so-called Fermi bubbles balloon straight out of the galaxy’s center, fueled by a wind blowing at two million miles an hour. Unknown until 2010, it’s not entirely clear why the bubbles exist, but scientists think they could be linked to the frenzy of star death and formation in the region around Sagittarius A*.

Gas Clouds Are Fleeing the Galaxy

Observed recently with the Green Bank Telescope, more than a hundred hydrogen gas clouds are zooming away from the galaxy’s core at 738,000 miles an hour. Scientists studying the deserting swarm say the clouds can act as tracers for the powerful processes that produce the giant Fermi bubbles.

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Some Interesting Facts about Uranus that You Probably Don’t know

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The gas (and ice) giant known as Uranus is a fascinating place. The seventh planet from out Sun, Uranus is the third-largest in terms of size, the fourth-largest in terms of mass, and one of the least dense objects in our Solar System. And interestingly enough, it is the only planet in the Solar System that takes it name from Greek (rather than Roman) mythology.

But these basic facts really only begin to scratch the surface. When you get right down to it, Uranus is chock full of interesting and surprising details – from its many moons, to its ring system, and the composition of its aqua atmosphere. Here are just ten things about this gas/ice giant, and we guarantee that at least one of them will surprise you.

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1. Uranus is the coldest planet in the Solar System

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, orbiting at a distance of 2.88 billion km. But it’s still much closer than Neptune, which averages a distance of 4.5 billion km from the Sun. However, this does not prevent Uranus from being colder than Neptune. Whereas the former experiences an average temperature of 72 K (-201 °C/-330 °F), reaching a low of 55 K (-218 °C/-360 °F).

Diagram of the interior of Uranus.

Credit: Public Domain

In contrast, the temperatures at the cloud tops on Uranus (which is defined as “surface temperature” for gas giants) averages 76 K (-197.2 °C/-323 °F), but can dip as low as 47 K (-226 °C/-375 °F). This is due to the fact that, unlike the other large planets in the Solar System, Uranus actually gives off less heat than it absorbs from the Sun. While the other large planets have tremendously hot cores, which radiate infrared radiation, Uranus’ core cooled down to the point that it no longer radiates much energy.

2. Uranus orbits the Sun on its side

All of the planets in the Solar System rotate on their axis, with a tilt that’s similar to the Sun. In many cases, planet’s have an axial tilt, where one of their poles will be inclined slightly towards the Sun. For example, the axis of the Earth’s rotation is tilted 23.5-degrees away from the Sun’s plane. Mars is similar, with a tilt of about 24 degrees, which results in seasonal changes on both planets.

But the axial tilt of Uranus is a staggering 99 degrees! In other words, the planet is rotating on its side. All the planets look a bit like spinning top as they go around the Sun, but Uranus looks more like a ball rolling in a circular pattern. And this leads to another strange fact about Uranus…

Uranus, as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Image credit: NASA/Hubble

3. A Season on Uranus lasts one long day – 42 years

A sidereal day on Uranus (that is, the time it takes for the planet to complete a single oration on its axis) is only about 17 hours long. But the tilt of Uranus is so pronounced that one pole or the other is usually pointed towards the Sun. This means that a day at the north pole of Uranus lasts half of a Uranian year – 84 Earth years.

So, if you could stand on the north pole of Uranus, you would see the Sun rise in the sky and circle around for 42 years. By the end of this long, drawn-out “summer”, the Sun would finally dip down below the horizon. This would be followed by 42 years of darkness, otherwise known as a single “winter” season on Uranus.

4. Uranus is the second-least dense planet

The least dense planet in the Solar System is Saturn. In fact, with a mean density of 0.687 g/cm3, Saturn’s body is actually less dense than water (1 g/cm³). This means that the planet would float in a pool, provided it were roughly 60,000 km wide. With a mean density of 1.27 g/cm3, Uranus has the second-lowest density of any planet in the Solar System.

This low density has an interesting side effect. Despite the fact that Uranus is 14.5 times as massive as the Earth, its significantly lower density means that you would only experience about 89% the force of gravity, assuming you could stand on Uranus’ cloud tops.

Uranus viewed in the infrared spectrum, revealing internal heating and its ring system.

Image Credit: Lawrence Sromovsky, (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison), Keck Observatory

5. Uranus has rings

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When it comes to ring systems, Saturn’s are the most famous. In addition to be colorful and far-reaching, they are also highly visible. One could spot them using nothing more than a backyard telescope. But in truth, all the gas and ice giants have their own ring systems, and Uranus’ is the second most dramatic set of rings in the Solar System.

However, these rings are composed of extremely dark particles which vary in size from micrometers to a fraction of a meter – hence why they are not nearly as discernible as Saturn’s. Thirteen distinct rings are presently known, the brightest being the epsilon ring. And with the exception of two very narrow ones, these rings usually measure a few kilometers in width.

The rings are probably quite young, and are not believed to have formed with Uranus. The matter in the rings may once have been part of a moon (or moons) that was shattered by high-speed impacts. From numerous pieces of debris that formed as a result of those impacts, only a few particles survived, in stable zones corresponding to the locations of the present rings.

6. The atmosphere of Uranus contains “ices”

Compared to Jupiter and Uranus, Neptune seems quite… normal. When one looks at the swirling clouds and eddies that stream across the surface of Jupiter and Saturn, the violent and turbulent nature of their atmospheres is made clear. Uranus, by contrast, appears as a light and uniform blue. But thanks to improved instruments that can examine planets through other wavelengths (i.e. infrared) and the flyby conducted by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, some significant things become apparent.

For example, Uranus has powerful zonal winds within its atmosphere that can reach up to 250 m/s (900 km/h, 560 mph), and can generate anticyclonic storms like Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (known as the “Dark Spot“). It also has cloud patterns that differ between hemispheres, some of which last for mere hours while others can persist for years or decades.

But perhaps most interesting is the presence of certain “ices” in Uranus’ atmosphere. The third-most-abundant component of Uranus’s atmosphere is methane (CH), which is what accounts for Uranus’ aquamarine color. There are also trace amounts of other hydrocarbons, such as ethane, acetylene, methylacetylene, and diacetelyne – all of which are believed to be the result of methane interacting with solar ultraviolent radiation (aka. photolysis).

Uranus’ Dark Spot, as imaged by the Hubble telescope.

Credit: NASA/ESA/L. Sromovsky

And last, there are confirmed traces of water, ammonia, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen sulfide within the layers of Uranus’ atmosphere. And due to the extreme cold, they are suspended in an icy state (hence the term “ice giant”).

7. Uranus has 27 moons

Like all of the giant planets, Uranus has its share of moons. At present, astronomers have confirmed the existence of 27 natural satellites. But for the most part, these moons are small and irregular.If you were to add up all of their masses, they would still be less than the half the mass of Triton, Neptune’s largest moon. However, unlike Triton, Uranus’ larger moons are all believed to have formed from an accretion disk that surrounded the planet, rather than being captured objects.

The largest moons of Uranus are, in order of size, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Oberon and Titania. These moons range in diameter and mass from 472 km and 6.7 × 1019 kg for Miranda to 1578 km and 3.5 × 1021 kg for Titania. Each of these moons is particularly dark, with low bond and geometric albedos. Ariel is the brightest while Umbriel is the darkest.

Each one is comprised of roughly equal amounts of rock and ice, except for Miranda which is made primarily of ice, which may include ammonia and carbon dioxide, while the rocky material is believed to be composed of carbonaceous material. Their compositions are believed to be differentiated, with an icy mantle surrounding a rocky core. In the case of Titania and Oberon, it is believed that liquid water oceans may exist at the core/mantle boundary.

A montage of Uranus's moons. Image credit: NASA

A montage of Uranus’s largest moons: Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon (from left to right). Credit: NASA

The rest of Uranus’ moons, which are either situated within the orbit of Miranda or beyond Oberon, are all connected to Uranus’ ring system, which probably resulted from the fragmentation of one or several small inner moons. All of them are composed of ices contaminated with a dark material, which are most likely organic compounds darkened by exposure to UV radiation.

8. Uranus was the first planet discovered in the modern age

Most of the planets are visible to the unaided eye, and were known in ancient times. Uranus was the first planet discovered after the invention of the telescope. It was first recorded in 1690 by John Flamsteed, who thought it was a star in the constellation Tauri. But it wasn’t until Sir William Herschel made his observations in 1781 that astronomers finally realized it was a planet.

Herschel originally wanted to call Uranus “George’s Star” after King George III of England. However, this was not a popular name outside of England. Eventually, the astronomical community officially settled on the name Uranus – the Latinized version of the Greek god of the sky, Ouranos – and the name stuck.

9. You can see Uranus with the unaided eye:

You might be surprised to know that you can see Uranus without a telescope. At magnitude 5.3, Uranus is just within the brightness scale that a human eye can perceive. Unfortunately, you’d need to make sure that the night sky was extremely dark (i.e. no light pollution), and would have to know exactly where to look.

The Voyager spacecraft have been on an extensive mission of discovery that has lasted some 36 years. Image Credit: NASA/JPL

The Voyager spacecraft have been on an extensive mission of discovery that has lasted some 36 years. Credit: NASA/JPL

Because of this, Uranus has actually been spotted many times in the past by ancient and pre-modern astronomers. But given its low luminosity compared to the other planets, it was generally mistaken for a star. In fact, when Flamsteed first observed it, he cataloged it as 34 Tauri, believing it to be a star in the Taurus constellation.

10. Uranus has only been visited once

Only one spacecraft in the history of spaceflight has ever made a close approach to Uranus. NASA’s Voyager 2 conducted its closest approach to Uranus on January 24th, 1986, passing within 81,000 km of the cloud tops of Uranus. It took thousands of photographs of the gas/ice giant and its moons before speeding off towards its next target: Neptune.

No other spacecraft have ever been sent towards Uranus, and there are currently no plans to send any more. The possibility of sending the Cassini spacecraft from Saturn to Uranus was evaluated during a mission extension planning phase in 2009. However, this never came to fruition, as it would have taken about twenty years for Cassini to get to the Uranian system after departing Saturn. While several proposals are currently under consideration, none have been confirmed yet.

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11 Facts about Time and Space That Will Make You Feel So Tiny

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Since we have yet to secure some “space talk and chill” time with Neil deGrasse Tyson, we’ve been left to our own devices when it comes to digging up a ton of facts about the universe related to time and space that make us feel extremely small — as in, less than microscopic. Seriously, we’ve never felt more insignificant in our lives than the moment we discovered how minor we are relative to the rest of the universe.

So, if the only thing you know about time is how slowly it passes when you’re counting down the days ’til the weekend, then we’re about hit you with some space-related realness that will completely blow your mind.

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Prepare to geek out and be humbled by these 11 facts about time and space that will make you realize just how tiny humans are in the grand scheme of things.

1. Earth really isn’t that big.

We totally remember beaming with smug pride as a kid after learning that Earth is the fifth largest planet in our solar system, but that’s because we had yet to be humbled by the largest known star in the universe: VY Canis Majoris. The red hypergiant is 1,420 times larger than the sun, and is currently expelling 30 times the mass of Earth every year in the form of dust and gas as it nears its demise.

2. The number of stars in existence is unknown.

At any given moment, we can simply use Google to find out how many people occupy our planet, but when it comes to tracking the number of stars there are, things start to get a bit fuzzy. Cornell University’s “Ask An Astronomer,” David Kornreich offered an explanation to Space.com that involved enough zeroes to make our eyes cross:

“Kornreich used a very rough estimate of 10 trillion galaxies in the universe. Multiplying that by the Milky Way’s estimated 100 billion stars results in a large number indeed: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars, or a “1” with 24 zeros after it. Kornreich emphasized that number is likely a gross underestimation, as more detailed looks at the universe will show even more galaxies.”

3. Our sun takes up most of the solar system’s mass.

If you were lucky, your parents raised you to believe that you are a unique, special star (and you *totally* are), but we hate to break it ya: You’re nowhere near as crucial to humankind’s existence as the sun, which accounts for 99 percent of the solar system’s mass. Damn, we are extremely small. Still special though.

4. Light from space takes a LONG time to reach Earth.

The speed at which light travels in a vacuum is 186,282 miles per second, which is pretty impressive. But even at that rate, it still takes the light from other stars quite a while to reach planet Earth, which is why looking into space is the same as looking back in time.

On average, it takes sunlight eight minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth. When you think about how big the distance must be if it takes light — traveling that fast — so much time to get to us, taking up roughly 5-7 feet of space for less than 100 years feels like it barely exists at all.

5. The universe is beyond ancient.

At an astounding 13.8 billion years old, the universe makes the average human life span look like a blip on the radar of existence.

6. And it’s still expanding.

While we’re down here on solid ground scrambling to make the most of our seemingly important existences, dark energy is thought to be causing universal expansion, which boggles the mind, especially when one considers the size of the observable universe.

As PBS reports:

“In 2005 a team of astrophysicists led by J. Richard Gott of Princeton performed a detailed calculation of the radius of the observable universe. Their answer was 45.7 billion light-years — more than three times bigger than our first, naïve estimate! Within this sphere lie hundreds of billions of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars.”

7. New planets are constantly being discovered.

We’re still not sure if we’re the only living species even vaguely like us out there, but it’s kind of hard to find out when we haven’t even nailed down the number of planets that exist.

In addition to the discovery of seven Earth-like planets scientists announced earlier this year, the Kepler space telescope identified more than 200 new potential planets in the month of June alone.

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16 Mind-Blowing Facts About the Universe

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50 Space Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

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Our universe exists on a mind-blowing scale, so big that preparing any number of space facts does not do our cosmos justice. It’s so large that there are black holes that dwarf our sun by factors of billions, there are pulsars that stretch thousands of light-years into infinity, and nebulae (such as lyman-alpha blobs) that are known as some of the largest objects in our universe.

There’s a lot to know about space, including the un-known. So we’ve provided this list to help tease your brain and provide new and interesting perspectives on our scientific measurement of stellar phenomena.

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Without further adieu, here is a look at 50 mind blowing space facts.

1. Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system. This is contrary to the idea that Mercury, the innermost planet in our solar system would be the hottest.

2. The Earth’s moon is approximately 4.5 billion years old.

3. One million earth sized objects could fit within the Sun.

4. The Sun is nearly a perfect sphere. It has only a 10 kilometre difference in its polar diameter compared to its equatorial diameter.

5. Saturn has 150 moons and smaller moonlets.

6. The Milky Way is known as a barred spiral galaxy.

7. The Oort cloud is made up of a reserve of planetesimals (small comets and debris) that date back to the birth of our solar system

8. The ‘cosmic web’, the entire fabric of our cosmos, is known as the biggest thing in our universe

9. When the Earth is at it’s closest approach to the sun, it’s known as the “perihelion”, when at it’s furthest, it’s known as the “aphelion”.

10. Apollo 11 through 14 astronauts had to be quarantined on their return back to Earth.

11. Uranus makes it’s trip around the sun once ever 84 Earth years.

12. Only one spacecraft has flown by Neptune, and that was the Voyager 2 craft in 1989.

13. The Milky Way contains a super-massive black hole at the center known as the Sagittarius A* star. It is believed all active galaxies contain a black hole at their cores.

14. The Sun is 149.6 million km (or 92 million miles) from the Earth.

15. One year on Mercury is equivalent to 88 Earth days.

16. One year on Jupiter is equivalent to 12 Earth years.

17. Saturn is 1.2 billion km away from Earth at the closest orbital point, and 1.67 billion km away at the furthest point.

18. The orbit of comets is for the most part, elliptical.

19. Your would weigh 38% of your total mass on Mercury.

20. Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky.

21. Mars is home to the tallest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons.

22. Jupiter has the shortest day of all the planets at 9 hours and 55 minutes.

23. Jupiter’s great red spot is a storm that has circulated for more than 350 years.

24. Jupiter’s great red spot is so large that you could fit three Earths within.

25. The Andromeda Galaxy is our nearest galactic neighbour.

26. A total solar eclipse only occurs every 1-2 years.

27. The longest in which a solar eclipse can last, is seven and a half minutes.

28. Pluto was re-classified to a dwarf planet (from being considered a planet) in 2006.

29. Pluto has only been visited by one spacecraft, New Horizons.

30. Jupiter’s moon Io has volcanic eruptions.

31. Mars has the longest valley in our solar system. Valles Marineris is 2,500 miles (4,000 km) long and can be seen from space.

32. Mercury and Venus are the only planets in our solar system without moons.

33. The Milky Way is approximately 100,000 light-years wide.

34. One day on Mars is 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35 seconds long.

35. Venus is the only planet that spins in the opposite direction of all other planets.

36. Venus has more active volcanoes than any other planet in our solar system.

37. Pluto owns a hazy atmosphere that extends 1,000 miles (1,600 km) above it’s surface.

38. Neptune radiates more heat than it absorbs from the Sun.

39. The area around the sun (the solar atmosphere) is actually far hotter than the sun itself. The Sun burns at 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit whereas the upper atmosphere can reach millions of degrees.

40. Pluto is smaller than the Earth’s moon.

41. The Andromeda galaxy is the furthest object you can spot with the naked eye.

42. Mars has the largest dust storms in the solar system. These storms can last for months and cover the entire planet.

43. Pieces of Mars have actually fallen to Earth. Scientists have found microscopic fragments of martian atmosphere on our planet (likely brought to Earth via meteorite).

44. The point of no return around a black-hole is known as the event horizon.

45. Any free-moving liquid will form into a sphere in outer space thanks to its surface tension.

46. The revolution of the Earth increases annually by roughly 0.0001 seconds

47. The International Space Station (ISS) circles the Earth every 90 minutes.

48. The number of stars in the Milky Way is estimated at 200,000,000,000.

49. Britain has only launched one satellite, known as the Black Arrow.

50. Pluto, is named after the Greek God of the underworld (previously known as Hades).

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52 Things You Always Believed That Simply Aren't True

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You'd think that in the age of the internet, where more information than we can possibly consume in several lifetimes is at our fingertips, stubborn myths from the past would die away.

But who among us still thinks the Great Wall of China is visible from space, and that it's a bad idea to pick up a lost baby bird because its mother would reject it? This awesome infographic breaks down 52 common misconceptions about life and the Universe, and let's just say, sharks aren't as lucky as you might think.

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There's lots to cover here, so let's go over some of the big ones.

Myth #24: MSG is bad for you

This myth stems from a paper published in the 1960s, but it wasn't until popular actor, Lorne Green, very publicly collapsed outside a Chinese restaurant in 1972 that it was cemented in people's brains.

The flavour additive has been demonised for decades, but extensive testing has failed to show any definite links between MSG and negative health effects (unless you're particularly sensitive to it).

Myth #27: Evolution is just a "theory"

As this equally awesome infographic explains, evolution might be a theory, but there's no "just" about it.

In everyday language, "theory" might mean a hunch or a guess, but in science, a theory is an idea that's passed the toughest tests that researchers can throw at it, and has lived to tell the tale.

"Theory" in science represents the highest amount of certainty we have.

Myth #30: Glass is a liquid

We wish it were that simple. The reality is that the atomic structure of glass is way more complicated than that.

As Derek explains in this Veritasium video, at school, we're taught that there are three basic states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. But the fact is that glass is none of those - it's an 'amorphous solid'.

Myth #32: Shaving thickens hair

Rejoice - for this is a total misconception, and scientists have actually known that since the 1920s.

It might feel like your hair comes back thicker and darker after a shave, but that's just because of the shape of the stubble that grows back - its blunt ends feel coarser to the touch, but as the hair grows out, the end tapers and softens once more.

Here are 52 of the most common misconceptions (click here for a zoomable version).

Let's put these to bed once and for all:

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Sinister Security

15 Facts About Black Holes That'll Blow Your Effing Mind

10 Weird Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About the Milky Way

The Milky Way Is (Mostly) Flat

Earth Is 18 Galactic Years Old

There’s a Monster Black Hole in the Galaxy’s Middle

The Milky Way Won’t Live Forever

Our Sun Is One Star among Several Hundred Billion

We’re Surrounded By a Dark Halo

He Hang Out With Ancient Stars

The Galaxy Is an Island in a Stream of Stars

The Galactic Center Is Blowing Hot Air

Gas Clouds Are Fleeing the Galaxy

Some Interesting Facts about Uranus that You Probably Don’t know

1. Uranus is the coldest planet in the Solar System

2. Uranus orbits the Sun on its side

3. A Season on Uranus lasts one long day – 42 years

4. Uranus is the second-least dense planet

5. Uranus has rings

6. The atmosphere of Uranus contains “ices”

7. Uranus has 27 moons

8. Uranus was the first planet discovered in the modern age

10. Uranus has only been visited once

11 Facts about Time and Space That Will Make You Feel So Tiny

1. Earth really isn’t that big.

2. The number of stars in existence is unknown.

3. Our sun takes up most of the solar system’s mass.

4. Light from space takes a LONG time to reach Earth.

5. The universe is beyond ancient.

6. And it’s still expanding.

7. New planets are constantly being discovered.

16 Mind-Blowing Facts About the Universe

50 Space Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

11 Things That You Probably Never Knew About the Earth

Top 10 Amazing People Who Survived The Impossible

52 Things You Always Believed That Simply Aren't True

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