It takes a photon 170,000 years to travel from the core of the Sun to the surface, but only 8 minutes to travel the rest of the way to Earth.
6
From the nitrogen in our DNA, to the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, to the carbon in our apple pies - all were made in the interiors of collapsing stars; we're all made of stardust.
22
Astronomer Percival Lowell believed that he was the first person to observe canals on Venus, but because of a faulty adjustment of the eyepiece on his telescope, he was in fact looking at the blood vessels in his own eye.
4
In the last 7 years, humanity has discovered 43 potentially habitable planets.
14
Earth is the only planet in our solar system that's not named after a god or goddess.
17
If two pieces of metal touch in space, they become permanently stuck together.
808
On Titan, Saturn's largest moon, the atmosphere is so thick and the gravity so low that humans could fly through it by flapping "wings" attached to their arms.
7