Saturn is the only Ring Planet in Our Solar System.
When you think of ringed planets, well, you probably assume there's only one of them in our solar system: Saturn. But what if I told you that there are three other planets similar to Saturn? Yeah, it's true. Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune all have their own sets of rings that most people don't know about. They are because they're much thinner and pretty much invisible from Earth. We only learned about them when Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flew past them in the 1970s and 80s. Some scientists even think that Earth had rings at some point in its existence, four and a half billion years ago when a planet the size of Mars smashed into our young rock. It ejected so much debris that it likely briefly formed a small ring around Earth.
Blackhole Suck Everything In.
Despite their unimaginably massive gravitational pull, black holes don't go around sucking in everything in their way. It just doesn't work like that. Black holes are more like sinkholes. If you were to get too close to one, you'd get spaghettified and lost to the Blackness of this monstrosity. But if you're far enough away from it, you'd be safe. Even if our sun was replaced in the middle of our solar system by a black hole with similar mass, all the planets would just orbit like nothing happened. Things would get pretty dark, though.
Moons have Dark Sides
Now, speaking of Darkness, the moon doesn't have a dark side. Our planetary partner gets hit by the sunlight all around. The reason why you don't see the other side of the moon is because it's always facing away from us. Yeah, our moon rotates on its axis at the same rate it orbits Earth, making it what's called tidally locked to our planet.Nuking an Asteroid is a Great Idea
If a large asteroid is on a deadly collision course with Earth, the best thing to do is to nuke it. Oh, sorry, wait, I've actually got that wrong. Do not nuke asteroids that are about to collide with us. The reason why? Well, because the nuclear explosion will shatter the asteroid into millions of smaller pieces. Yeah, the pieces would still be headed for impact with us. Instead of dealing with just one giant asteroid, we'd have to deal with multiple impacts, and it would make our evacuation really difficult or straight-up impossible.
Now, you still can use a nuke to prevent an asteroid collision, but you don't even have to strike the space rock. We just set off a nuke near the asteroid, with emphasis on near. Then, the force from the blast would nudge it off course. That would keep our planet safe, hopefully.
You Can See Stars From the Moon
Standing on Earth at night, you can see thousands of stars. But the view from the Moon is actually quite boring. Yeah, astronauts who traveled to the Moon reported that stars aren't easily visible from there because our moon is super reflective. It really cranks up the brightness, making it harder to see out to the stars. It's kind of like stargazing in a city with a lot of light pollution. Not fun. You'd need to travel further into space to get some better views.
You Grow Taller in Space
Traveling in space won't make you taller, though it's true that astronauts can grow up to five centimeters in space. Well, that's because the Earth's gravity doesn't weigh them down, and the vertebrae in their spines are able to expand a bit. But this effect is only temporary. As soon as you return to Earth, you get back to your regular height. Yeah, thanks gravity.You Age Slower in Space
And space travel doesn't make you age slower, either. Not really. Albert Einstein theorized that time would pass slower for someone traveling at high speeds, versus for someone stationary. This is called time dilation. And while it's true, you'd have to travel incredibly fast to achieve this de-aging effect, like almost the speed of light fast, yeah, with our current space traveling technology, the difference in time is so minimal that it's not even worth calculating.You Can’t Cry in Space
If you thought crying in space was impossible, well, first, why? And second, you're wrong. It's just different. Without gravity to pull your tears down, they don't trickle down your face like they do here on Earth. The tears just stick to your eyes and form a sort of watery blob. They might even cover your eyes if you cry a lot. So, while you can totally cry in space, it's probably best that you don't. Not great for visibility.Martian Dust Storms Destroy Equipment
Martian dust storms are a real headache. The dust particles are so fine that they can get anywhere, and these dust storms can last for months. But they can't physically damage any equipment that we leave on the red planet. The thing is, the Martian atmosphere is super thin, just about one percent of the atmosphere we have on Earth. So, even when these dust particles zoom around at about 100 kilometers per hour, they can't pack a big punch without the help of air. But what they can do is cover our solar panels and put our rovers into power-saving hibernation. Oh, and I wouldn't inhale this dust either. Who knows what this fine powder could do to your lungs long-term.Stars Twinkle
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, this song is a big fat lie. Yeah, despite the famous children's song, stars don't twinkle. The flickering is just an illusion. Their light is actually very steady. Stars appear to twinkle due to the gas molecules that make up our atmosphere. They deflect some of the light from stars, making them appear as if they're shimmering.The Asteroid Belt is Full of Asteroids
Asteroid belts are typically depicted as minefields of floating rocks. Spaceships have to weave in and out of the asteroids in a life-or-death situation. But in reality, our asteroid belts are nothing like what you see in the movies. Asteroids aren't that close together. In fact, they're extremely far apart. For example, in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, each of the asteroids is several million kilometers away from its nearest neighbor. And the chances of a collision are about one in one billion. So, while Khan, Chewie, and Leia had you on the edge of your seat in "The Empire Strikes Back," asteroid fields like that are far from reality.The Great Wall of China is Visible From Space
The Great Wall of China is known to be the only man-made object that's visible from space, but this is entirely false. Yeah, sure, maybe you could see it with a camera and a zoom lens, but it's almost invisible to the naked eye. Add 5 to 10 meters wide, the wall is way too thin to be seen from space. However, you can still see plenty of other man-made objects from space, things like dams, bridges, and pyramids. And at night, you can see a light show from the world's big cities. And that's not all. We're ready to bust even more crazy space myths like the sun is yellow and humans without a suit exploding in space.