Space and Science Informant/Facts May 2017

Space & Science Informant May 2017

  By: Daniel Domingos

Hey guys! Daniel here. I'll be posting one of these every month. They contain new (or old) and exciting facts that are space and/or science - related.

1. It can take a photon (light particle) 40,000 years to go from the sun's core to it's surface, then only 8 minutes to Earth.
2. The core of a star reaches 16,000,000 degrees Celsius. A grain of sand this hot can kill you from 150 kilometers (93.2 miles) away.
3. Venus rotates around the sun opposite to the direction of the rotation of the other planets.
4. The Earth's rotation is decreasing at approximately 0.17 milliseconds per year. If it continues at this rate, in around 140,000,000 years, the length of a day will be 25 hours.
5. Earth is the most dense planet in the solar system, with around 5.52 grams per cubic centimeter
6. During the 1950s, the US considered exploding a nuclear bomb on the moon
7. The exoplanet PSR-B1620-26b is the oldest planet in the universe ever discovered, dating back to approximately 13 billion years ago.
8. Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon wasn't small at all. It was close to a four - foot jump!
9. Charon is one of Pluto's moons, and it is so large in relation to the dwarf - planet that some even classify Pluto as the Pluto - Charon double system.
10. The moon is moving away from Earth at around 4 cm per year.
11. Saturn is the lightest planet in the Solar System, though it is the second biggest.
12. The sun loses up to 1,000,000,000 kilograms in mass every second  because of solar winds
13. The average human body carries 10 times as many bacterial cells as human cells!
14. In a teaspoonful of water, there are 8 times as many atoms as there are teaspoonfuls of water in the Atlantic Ocean.
15. On average, 41 new species are discovered every day.
16. The chicken came first, not the egg.
17. In 2012, a 10 - year old accidentally created a new molecule: tetranitratoxycarbon. 
18. The world's oldest known creature, at 507 years old was accidentally killed by scientists.
19. A piece of paper folded 50 times is longer than the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
20. Tomatoes have more genes than humans.
21. Friends share more DNA than strangers.
22. Humans share 50% of DNA with bananas.
23. Viruses can get Viruses.
24. De-Extinction is possible. The 1918 flu virus has been recreated.
25. Scientists can locate penguins from space, by observing the dark spots of penguin poop on ice.