Was Yuri Gargarin actually the first man in space or just the first man to go into space and return alive?
During the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was not very forthcoming about their mistakes and failures. Before Colonel Gagarin’s flight, there were rumors of a…
What was the brightest stellar event ever recorded?
On April 17, in the year 1006, a new light suddenly appeared within what is now the constellation of Lupus. Observers from all over the world recorded the…
If the Earth were a grain of sand, then how big would the rest of the universe be in comparison?
Let’s make earth be a largish grain of sand, about 1.27 mm in diameter. This gives us a scale of 10^10 or ten billion to one. Fairly easy…
What is the largest size a planet can be?
320 light years away is a star called HD 100546. In 2014, the discovery of a new exoplanet around it was announced. Creatively, it was named “HD 100546…
Why is Uranus the only planet without interesting features on it?
You may be thinking of this picture: taken in the visible spectrum by Voyager 2 as it passed the planet in 1986. And I would agree with you:…
What will the universe be like in 100 trillion years?
In 100 trillion years, galaxies will contain fascinating astronomical objects that we cannot encounter now, and overall, the Universe will be a different and relatively unfamiliar place. We…
Can you blow my mind with a space fact?
Here’s one that blew my mind not that long ago when I read about it. I wrote about this before. As an amateur astronomer who has been looking…
What would happen if a Jupiter-sized iron planet hit the Sun at 100 kilometers per second?
First of all it could NOT hit the sun at 100 km/s – the MINIMUM speed at which it could hit the sun would be 617 km/s. If…
If the universe is so big, why haven’t we encountered an advanced alien civilization yet?
Look at it like this. If there were intelligent life out there, how would they know about us? The only way is by monitoring radio transmissions. The first…
Could the North Star possibly be a sun with its own solar system?
Whoa! You’re underestimating the north star! POLARIS – Dhruva for us in India – is a multiple star system containing a total of 5 stars. Polaris appears to us as…