15 Crazy Facts about the Universe!

Facts you may not have known before!

15 Crazy Facts about the Universe
by Usman Abrar
Dec 24, 2014

The universe is a odd wild place, and man through history has been observing for ways to try to make sense of it. So, to give you a better appreciative, here are 15 crazy realities about the cosmos that will certainly get you thinking.

1. The Alcoholic Space Cloud

These space clouds are thousands of light years away and comprise over a billion litters of alcohol. These clouds are made when stars heat up, and produce clouds of gas and dust. It’s clearly not drinkable, but is a vital organic compound that is critical to the presence of life.

2. The Ponzo Illusion

Have you observed that when the moon is on the skyline, it seems larger and closer? Well, it’s really not, it’s known as the “Ponzo illusion”. Your brain expands the size of the moon thus, it seems larger to you than it actually is.

3. The Moon Smells like Gunpowder

Astronauts upon departuring the moon after the Apollo missions termed the moon dust as smelling like gun powder. Though, researchers are still not able to conclude why, because the two have tremendously different compositions.

4. A Day in Venus Is Longer Than Its Year

Odd isn’t it? Venus finishes a complete orbit around the sun, even before it manages to turn on its axis once. This results in a day being lengthier than a year.

5. Lunar Drift

After extensive research, researchers have found that each year the moon moves around 3.8cm away from the Earth.

6. Black Holes

At one point, black holes were enormous stars. When one of these stars die, it releases gaseous layers and the core ends into a small and dense sphere known as a black hole.

7. Other Galaxies

Researchers estimate that there are a billion more galaxies in the cosmos, none of which are observable without a strong telescope.

8. Biggest Diamond Ever

The biggest diamond ever, was found in 2014, guess what? It’s a collapsed star floating in outer space. It measures 4000KM crossways and a core made of billions of carats.

9. Space Junk

Earth has over 8,000 objects floating about it. These objects are categorized as space junk or debris that is left over from space missions.

10. Earth Has More Than One Moon

Okay, not exactly but, researchers have discovered various asteroids that are pursuing the earth as it orbits the sun.

11. Cold Welding

In outer space, when two metals touch one another, they get fixed together forever. Welding typically needs heat, but in this situation the vacuum of space plays its part.

12. The Sun Rays Striking the Earth are 30,000 Years Old!

Did you know that, the sun rays striking the earth on the go over 30,000 years ago?

13. Universal Speed Limit

It’s a fact that light cannot surpass 186,000 miles per second which is recognized as the Universal Speed Limit.

14. Not once Climb Stairs and Enhance an Nanosecond to Your Life

The forces of gravity raises close the surface of the Earth and so does your acceleration. This means the time slows down and you pass more seconds on different heights of stairs.

15. Twins Paradox

This crazy fact states that if one twin goes in a spaceship, touching the speed of light, due to the effect of relativity, the other twin in the spaceship would return to Earth comparatively younger than his twin brother.

So, these are 15 crazy facts about the cosmos that will surely blow your mind. Do comment your views...