10 Amazing facts about astronomy

Even though man has studied the heavens for thousands of years, we still know very little about the Universe we live in. And as we continue to learn more, we are consistently amazed, and sometimes confused, by what we learn. Here is a collection of amazing, interesting, and strange astronomy facts, in no particular order.


1.Scientists believe that we can only see about 5% of the matter in the Universe. The rest is made up of invisible matter (called Dark Matter) and a mysterious form of energy known as Dark Energy.

2.Neutron stars are so dense, that a soup can full of neutron star material would have more mass than the Moon.

3.The Sun produces so much energy, that every second the core releases the equivalent of 100 billion nuclear bombs.

4.Even though Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, temperatures can reach -280 degrees F. Why? Since Mercury has almost no atmosphere, there is nothing to trap heat near the surface. So, the dark side of Mercury (the side facing away from the Sun) is very cold.

5.Venus is considerably hotter than Mercury, even though it is further away from the Sun. The thickness of Venus’ atmosphere traps heat near the surface of the planet.

6.Every year the moon moves about 3.8cm further away from the Earth.

7.Every one minute you are about 19 thousand kilometres away from where you were because both our planet and galaxy are travelling through space.


8.Black holes produce such powerful gravity that even light cannot escape from their gravitational clutches. They are called “black” for a reason and this is one for sure.


9.The word astronaut originates from the Greek word “Astron,” meaning star, and “nautes,” signifying sailor.


10.Hubble’s law shows that the Universe is getting bigger every day. It also proves the point that the universe must have started from something very small, almost minuscule. This leads to the idea of the big bang theory.