There are more stars than grains of sand on Earth
Astronomers estimate roughly 10^22 to 10^24 stars in the observable universe. Every beach and desert on Earth put together holds far fewer grains of sand.
More space facts
See all →A day on Venus is longer than its year
Venus takes about 243 Earth days to spin once on its axis but only about 225 Earth days to go around the Sun. It also spins backwards compared to most planets.
Read the fact →Sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach you
Light leaves the Sun’s surface and crosses 150 million km to Earth in roughly 8 minutes 20 seconds. The light you see from the Sun is always slightly old news.
Read the fact →It rains diamonds on Neptune and Uranus
Deep in their atmospheres, extreme pressure squeezes carbon from methane into diamond crystals, which sink slowly towards the core — a diamond rain, confirmed in lab experiments.
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