50 Mind Blowing Facts About The Universe

Don’t you think we didn’t know much about the universe? Not because of the intelligence of the human species, but the fact that the universe is so expansive that it’s difficult to know much about it all. It holds incredibly mind-blowing, fascinating, exciting, and sometimes even scary mysteries that captivate our imagination. Every time we gaze up into the cosmos space, we see astonishing things that will challenge the human mind and extend our appreciation for the Creator. Wow! 

Humans will constantly try to figure out the HOW and WHY of everything and from these discoveries we learn more and more. Maybe they discover everything about the universe and its mysteries. But honestly! it will likely be thousands of lifetimes from now. Just now I am here to fascinate you with at least 50 incredible and mind-boggling facts about the universe. 

Here’s The Fascinating Facts About The Universe 

1. The universe is really old. Scientists have concluded the age of the universe to be 13.8 billion years old. Also, it has a diameter of 9.3 billion light years. 
2. Do you know how many stars are up there? Let me tell you that there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth. Astonishing!
3. It’s impossible to know how many stars there are in the universe. But if we multiply the number of stars in an average galaxy by the estimated number of galaxies we reach the mind-boggling figure of about 2006 trillion. 
4. Opposite to Earth, the atmosphere on Mars is mostly made up of carbon dioxide along with lots of dust. As a result, the sunset on the red planet is blue. 
5. We all know that it’s not safe to drink your urine, however in space, the astronauts do that, and they even drink their sweat. Disgusting! Don’t get it wrong, these sources go through the filtration process, which makes the resulting water cleaner than we drink down here on our planet. 
6. The universe is constantly expanding and the galaxies up there are moving far away from each other at incredible speed. 
7. Did you know about the black holes in the universe? These are formed from the collapse of gigantic stars and are of 618 tons. They have such a strong gravitational pull that even light can not escape them. 
8. The most powerful object in the universe, black holes, serves as a natural vacuum cleaner. These weirdest objects gulp up anything that comes close to it, or you can say it’s a cosmic cleaner. 
9. Rogue black holes are sneaking in the shadows wandering throughout our galaxies. What would happen if one of them entered our solar system? It would be ALL OVER. 
10. We don’t know how big the universe is and what’s its end. Right now the observable universe is around 90 billion light years across. 
11. You know what, we can only observe 5% of the universe. All thanks to the Hubble Telescope which allows us to see massive amounts of space. But after discovering dozens of galaxies and billions of stars it’s still 5%. 
12. Let me tell you one of the scariest facts, imagine yourself in a space suit and we teleport you into space. What would you see in deep space? In the darkness between galaxies, you would see nothing at all. Incomprehensibly dark! Just you all alone floating in the deep dark with the coldness of space. 
13. Our universe is filled with lights that you can’t see with your naked eyes but with a special telescope. Of course, there’s visible light but there is an electromagnetic spectrum made of ultraviolet, radio waves, infrared, and more. It means the universe is luminous. 
14. The temperature of our universe is pretty frigid. Our space has a bone-chilling environment with 2.7 kelvin, which is equal to -270 degrees Celsius or -454 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrr! 
15. There is almost everywhere dark in the Universe in the form of dark matter and dark energy. In fact, 95% of our universe is deceptive to us. Ooh dark! 
16. Math believes that the actual universe is at least 500 times larger than what we can see or you can say it’s infinite. It is impossible to reach its edges. 
17. The temperature at the sun’s core is estimated around 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. Furthermore, some believe that the sun might be a medium-sized star, but do you know that it can fit 1.3 million Earth inside it? 
18. While we have only one moon orbiting our planet, there are nearly 300 moons in our solar system. Only Saturn has 146 moons, isn’t it stunning? 
19. Almost every year an asteroid about the size of a car enters Earth’s atmosphere. Don’t worry it doesn’t cause any harm because before reaching the planet it burns up. Phew! 
20. Do you know one crazy fact about space? Scientists estimated that Neptune has completed only one full orbit around the Sun since it was discovered. What! It takes an enormous 165 years just to complete one orbit around the sun. 
21. In our solar system, Olympus Mons on Mars is the tallest mountain. Here comes the stunning fact that it’s 3 times taller than Mount Everest at 16 miles high. 
22. Our sun could emit a coronal mass ejection aimed at the Earth. If we don’t prepare for it then there will be a high chance of power breakdown for years because of the destruction of Earth’s energy grid. 
23. Although space is a vacuum, there are giant clouds carrying water vapor floating in space. Yes, you read it right! Only one cloud is a massive 100,000 times bigger than the sun and carries almost 140 trillion more water than all of the Earth’s water combined. 
24. Most of the area in the universe is silent because there is no air to carry sound waves. But there are some noisy areas like near the black holes or around the stars where a lot of activities happen. 
25. It might sound like a sci-fi movie but there is indeed diamond rain on Jupiter and Saturn. Scientists say that the atmosphere there is under immense pressure that’s why the methane gas squeezes so tightly that it rains diamond. Pretty cool huh? 
26. I know our days become so busy that it might feel like there is never enough time. But our planet’s rotation is slowing down due to which our days are getting longer, although only by 1.7 milliseconds per century.
27. If you think that you have such a long day then imagine yourself on Venus. The planet takes 243 Earth days to complete its first rotation on the axis. How long!
28. Do you want to become a little taller? Then become an astronaut. The spine stretches in microgravity and an astronaut becomes 3% taller than its actual height. But it’s only temporary, once they are back on Earth they return to normal height. 
29. Jupiter has been seen as the Earth’s protector due to its strong gravitational pull. Before reaching our planet, Jupiter pulls all the asteroids and comets towards itself.
30. There is good news and bad news. The first good news is if there is a leak in a space suit it doesn’t mean instant death. Now the bad news is you feel unconsciousness in 10 to 15 seconds, burning bodily fluid, and death in a minute or two. 
31. Ever heard of time travel? Well, Einstein’s theory says it could be possible, but not like in the movies. It’s more about traveling super fast, like near the speed of light. But it’s complicated stuff, and we might not be hopping through time anytime soon. Pretty cool, right?
32. A year on Mercury has two sunrises because of its quirky orbital path. The way it spins and orbits around the sun the day becomes longer on Mercury than a year on the planet. 
33. Mercury has no weather which means no clouds, no rains, no storms. All this is because of its extremely thin atmosphere. 
34. Do you know what an explosion of stars is called? It’s Supernova. When stars explode what’s left behind either becomes neutron stars or a new black hole. 
35. Neutron stars are like the super-dense hearts of collapsed stars. Just imagine squishing all the stuff from our sun into a tiny city-sized ball, that’s a Neutron star! Just a teaspoon of neutron star is so dense that it weighs millions of tons on Earth. Crazy, right? 
36. Some neutron stars can spin at an extraordinary speed of up to 600 to 700 times per second. The record-breaking speed clocked in at 716 which is the fastest ever. 
37. The Milky Way galaxy experienced a giant hiccup every few million years. These are a huge structure of hot gas called “ Fermi Bubbles”. It’s a cosmic mystery and scientists are still figuring out what causes them. 
38. The International Space Station up there in space is about the size of a football ground. It stretches 357 ft from one end to another and weighs an enormous 1 million pounds. 
39. 640 light years away from the Kepler system, there is an exoplanet Kepler 22b in which scientists take keen interest. Because it looks quite similar to our Earth and they think that it might be habitable. 
40. Although Saturn is the second largest planet, it’s the lightest one in the solar system. It consists mostly of helium and hydrogen which makes it denser than water. 
41. Astronomers divided galaxies into three different types: elliptical, spiral, and irregular. These galaxies can differ in size and amount of the stars they have in each category.
42. There is a galaxy shaped like a boomerang! Unlike most galaxies which are spiral or oval, this one looks like a boomerang. Its funky shape comes from the huge clash with another galaxy billions of years ago. 
43. When it rains on Earth, just be thankful that you weren’t on Venus. It rains sulphuric acid on Venus which doesn’t reach the surface but evaporates from the extreme heat. 
44. A few moons in our solar system have a reverse orbit, which means orbiting in the opposite direction of the rotation of their planet. The Triton moon of Neptune is the largest of them. 
45. Here comes the opulent fact! A planet made almost entirely of diamond. PSR J1719-1438b or diamond planet is a rocky world four times greater in mass than Earth. The immense pressure on the planet converts the carbon in its core into diamonds.
46. Do you believe there are rivers on the moon? Saturn’s big moon, Titan, has liquid bodies but they are different from Earth. They are filled with methane and ethane and some of them flow backward. 
47. PSR J003-0048 is one of those millisecond pulsar stars that spin super fast and emit a beam of radiation. But it glitched! Its spin sped up by 2.3 milliseconds in a flash. 
48. How big is our galaxy? Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is about one quintillion kilometers across. Or you can say it’s about 100,000 light years. 
49. Every single year, our moon is slowly growing further and further away from Earth. It is estimated that every year approximately 3.8 centimeters of the moon is moving far away. It’s actually pretty scary that one day Earth will be left without a moon. 
50. Everyone believes that there is no sound in space but scientists have been receiving frequent radio signals from space for decades. They still don’t know where they are coming from and what it means. Maybe they are signs of extraterrestrial life or sounds of energy rings. Not sure!

Conclusion 

Our Universe began with an explosion, we called it the “Big Bang”. Nobody could conclude how or why this big bang happened. Our universe is full of unexplainable and unpredictable things, filled with incredible wonders and mysteries waiting to be discovered. These 50 mind-blowing facts are just a taste of what’s out there. Keep looking up and exploring, who knows maybe you will be the one who makes the next cosmic discovery. 

So now what are your favorite facts about the universe we didn’t mention let us know in the comment section below.