Facts about stars

• Lightning is about 3 times hotter than our Sun.
• The Sun is around 4.5 billion years old.
• The Sun causes the ocean currents and weather patterns on Earth.
• The energy produced by the Sun is 383 billion trillion kilowatts.
• The center of the Sun is called the core. (submitted by Ashley)
• Particles given off from explosions on the Sun are visible from earth... we know this as the aurora. (submitted by Alyssa)
• The closest star to our solar system is called Proxima Centauri and it's over 4 light years away.
• The light of the Sun takes 8 minutes to reach Earth.
• The surface of the Sun is called the Photosphere.
• There are stars that are over 600,000 times as bright as the Sun.
• A star is created when the gases and dust in a cool nebula condense.
• When the gases and dust inside a cool nebula condense, the new object is called a protostar
• White dwarf stars are blue, white, yellow, or red. It depends how hot they are.
• Supernovas are explosions that can destroy an entire star.
• A neutron star that emits radio waves is called a pulsar. The first star of this type was discovered in 1967.
• Sunspots are areas on the surface of the Sun that are 3000 degrees cooler than other areas.
• The only star in the sky that doesn't appear to move from night to night is called Polaris, the north star.
• Did you know that when you look up into the night sky, the light you see from a star today could be the light shown from a star over a million years ago? Some stars are so far away that when the light finally reaches you, it has already taken a million years, and the star may already be gone when you finally see it’s brilliant light. (Submitted by Jane C.)

Astronomy Facts Page Trivia Do you know what black holes are? Find out here What are the six space shuttle names? (answer: Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Endeavor, Atlantis, Discovery) When was NASA established? (answer:1958)

Fun astronomy facts about Mercury

• Mercury can get as hot as 800 degrees.
• Mercury can be as cold as 300 degrees below zero.
• Mercury was named for the Roman god of commerce.
• Mercury is the second smallest planet in our solar system.
• Mercury has no moon.
• One year on Mercury is only 88 days.

Venus

• A year on Venus is 225 days.
• One day is 243 days on Earth.
• The clouds on Venus are made of sulfuric acid.
• Venus rotates east to west.

Earth

• We are 93 million miles away from the Sun.
• Water covers 71% of Earth.
• Earth is the only planet known to have life.
• In 5 billion years, a day will be 48 hours long. Unfortunately, that is when scientists expect the Sun to explode. Pretty grim huh! (Submitted by Matt).
• Day and night occurs because of rotation of the Earth.(Submitted by Briana)
• a full revolution is 365 1/4 days not just 365 days.(Submitted by Sam)
• It takes 16 million horsepower to break loose from the Earth's gravitational pull. (Submitted by George)
• Our moon is moving away from the earth at about 3cm per year. (Submitted by Alyssa)

Mars

• Space missions to Mars suggest that it once had water.
• The canals on Mars are actually an optical illusion and not evidence of life.

Jupiter

• One day on Jupiter is only 9 hours and 55 minutes.
• The gravity on Jupiter is 2.6 times that of the Earth.
• Jupiter has rings just like Saturn (Submitted by Alyssa)

Saturn

• The rings of Saturn are made of ice and rock.
• Saturn is lighter than water.
• It takes Saturn exactly 29.46 years to travel once around the Sun. (Submitted by Jack Roudabush)
• Saturn is 75000 miles wide. (Submitted by Collin)

Uranus

• Uranus is 1.8 billion miles away from the Sun.
• One day is 18 hours

Neptune

• Neptune is named for the Roman god of the sea.
• Neptune has at least 11 moons.
• Neptune was discovered in 1846 (over 150 years ago). Since that time it has still yet to make a complete orbit around the sun, because one Neptune year lasts 165 Earth years!(Submitted by Andrea)

Pluto

• Pluto is named for the Roman god of the underworld.
• One year on Pluto is equal to 248 Earth years.
• Pluto only has one satellite (moon), called Charon and is nearly a planet itself.(Submitted by Sarah)
• Sometimes Pluto is actually closer to the Sun than Neptune is because it has a funny shaped orbit. (Submitted by Kathryn)
• Pluto is not a planet, because it does not have a fixed orbit and it's orbit comes in between the orbit of another planet (Neptune). (Submitted by Ankita).

The space shuttle

• The fastest space shuttle speed is around 18,000 mph
• The reentry speed of the space shuttle is so fast because the shuttle actually glides back to earth.
• The name of the first space shuttle to fly in space was Columbia.