10 Strange and Amazing Astronomy Facts

By John Millis, About.com Guide

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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.

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

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

Galileo Galilei is often incorrectly credited with the invention of the telescope. Instead, historians now believe the Dutch eyeglass maker Johannes Lippershey as its creator. Galileo was, however, probably the first to use the device to study the heavens.

Black Holes are so dense, and produce such intense gravity, that even light can not escape. Theoretical physicists predict that there are situations under which light can escape (which is called Hawking radiation).

Light from distant stars and galaxies takes so long to reach us, that we are actually seeing objects as they appeared hundreds, thousands or even millions of years ago. So, as we look up at the sky, we are really looking back in time.

The Crab Nebula was produced by a supernova explosion in 1054 A.D. The Chinese and Arab astronomers at the time noted that the explosion was so bright, that it was visible during the day, and lit up the night sky for months.

Shooting stars are usually just tiny dust particles falling through our atmosphere. Comets sometimes pass through Earths orbit, leaving trails of dust behind. Then as Earth plows through the dust in its path, the particles heat up, creating the streaks in the night sky.

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.

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.

Mercury - Thief In The Night - First Planet

From Nick Greene, former About.com Guide

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Mercury - Closest Planet To the Sun NASA More Images (3)

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MEAN RADIUS: 2439.7 km MASS: 0.055 (Earth=1) DENSITY: 5.43 (g/cm^3) GRAVITY: 0.376 (Earth=1) ORBIT PERIOD: 87.97 (Earth days) ROTATION PERIOD: 58.65 (Earth days) SEMIMAJOR AXIS OF ORBIT: 0.387 au ECCENTRICITY OF ORBIT: 0.206

Named after the Roman god of commerce, travel and thievery, Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and the eighth largest. Mercury's existence has been known of since before the third century BC. The Greeks gave it two names, Apollo for when it appeared as a morning star and Hermes when it came as an evening star. Mercury has a large iron core which is most likely at least partially molten. The silicate outer shell is only 500 to 600 km thick. It actually has a very thin atmosphere made up of atoms blasted off its surface by the solar wind. Due to the heat of the planet, these atoms quickly escape into space. Thus unlike the Earth and Venus which have stable atmospheres, Mercury's atmosphere is constantly being replenished. Mercury is a planet of extremes. Temperature variations swing from 90 K to 700 K. It's hotter on Venus, but with less fluctuations. Mercuryalso has a very eccentric orbit; at perihelion it is only 46 million km from the Sun but at aphelion it is 70 million. Mercury has no known moons or satellites