When a massive power outage struck southern California in the 1990s, Los Angeles residents reportedly called 911 to express alarm about strange clouds hovering overhead; they were seeing the Milky Way for the first time.
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The last time that the Sun was in its current position in space around the Milky Way, dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
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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.
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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.
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One pinhead of the sun's energy is enough to kill a person at a distance of 160 kilometers.
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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.
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The ashes of the man who discovered Pluto are currently en route to dwarf planet, scheduled to arrive on the 14th of July, 2015.
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