Despite the numerous exploration missions and decades of research, space continues to be uncharted territory. Its vastness has always provoked human thought and imagination and has been a subject often delved into by science fiction, dramas and movies.
No matter how much we think we know about the nature of the Universe, it remains a mysterious place, filled with things we don't understand, such as black holes, red dwarfs, asteroid belts and more. As further proof we can examine the following facts, which few of us have fully realized, no matter how observant we may be.
- Deep space contains a reservoir of water 140 trillion times greater in mass than all of the water found on Earth.
- In 2013, NASA scientists discovered a star that's so cool it can safely be touched.
- Aside from Earth, Venus offers the most suitable conditions for life in the Solar System. This is due to the dense atmosphere that protects from the radiation coming from space.
- The first living creature from Earth to set foot on the Moon was a turtle. It was sent via a specialized Russian probe shortly before Neil Armstrong's landing.
- The footprints left by astronauts on the Moon will remain there forever unless something unexpected happens to the natural satellite. The reason is it has no atmosphere and therefore no wind.
- Humans can't cry in space like they do on Earth because their tears simply won't fall down from their eyes. They will instead remain in place and then float away.
- The first creatures to mate in space were cockroaches. Russian scientists report that they grew much faster there than their counterparts on Earth.
- Due to the lower gravity in space, astronauts can't tell when their bladders are full. As such, they are trained to relieve themselves every 2 hours.
- There are 5 dwarf planets in our solar system - Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake.
- Since the dawn of human civilization, only 24 individuals have gazed on our planet in its entirety with their own eyes.
- If you were to live on the International Space Station you would witness about 15 sunsets every day.
- In 1977, researchers received a signal from deep space, which elapsed 72 seconds. Known as the "Wow! signal", this is the only known radio transmission believed to have come from an intelligent source. It was detected coming from the star Tau Sagittarii in the Sagittarius constellation.
- Without a space suit, a human can live up to 90 seconds in space, even though they're almost certain to lose consciousness before that.
