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
It would take more than 150 years to drive a car to the sun.
569
Tidal forces between the Earth and Moon are slowing the Earth down and pushing the Moon further away.
46
The light hitting the earth right now is 30 thousand years old.
163
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.
31
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
The last time that the Sun was in its current position in space around the Milky Way, dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
10