Did you Know? - ABOUT SPACE

• 1 million million million million kilometres (570 thousand million million million miles) - the diameter of the observable Universe
• 200 Billion - the approximate number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy
• 23 - the number of times our Solar System has orbited the Milky Way
• 7 Trillion - the approximate number of galaxies in the observable universe
• 6000 years - the length of time it would take to count the Milky Way's stars at a rate of one a second.

• The brightest stars emit a 6 million times more light than the Sun.
• 13 billion years - the age of the oldest known star.
• Supergiant stars can grow to 1 billion times the volume of our Sun.
• 1 Teaspoonful of material from a red giant weighs less than a grain of salt.
• 1,600 light years - the distance from Earth to the nearest black hole.
• 385 Million Billion Gigawatts - the amount of energy output from the Sun each second.

• 1,300 the number of times Earth could fit inside Jupiter's volume.
• 1665 the year Jupiter's Great Red Spot was first seen.
• 24,000 degree Celsius the estimated temperature of Jupiter's Core.    
• 18 days - the time it would take to fly to the Moon at the speed of a jumbo jet.
• Every year, the Moon drifts 3.73 cm(1.48 inch)further away from Earth.
• 12 people have walked on the Moon.
• 2,000 the number of stars visible to the naked eye.
• 40 trillion - the distance to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri.
• 1 million people traveled to Florida to watch the launch of Apollo 11 on 16 July 1969.
• 300, the total number of h ours that astronauts have spent on the Moon.
• Beef, Potatoes and grape juice - the first meal eaten by the Apollo 11 astronauts in space.
• 382 kg of lunar rock and soil were brought back by the Apollo astronauts.

HUMAN BODY IN SPACE:

• When the human body spends a long time in space, it changes. Without gravity pulling on the spine, the body gets about 5cm taller.  Body fluids that flow downwards on Earth build up in the head.  This gives astronauts swollen faces and blocked noses, making food seem tasteless.  When astronauts come back to Earth, the return of full gravity can make them feel extremely weak.

• Astronauts must adapt to a zero-gravity environment when living in space.  Although floating weightlessly can be fun, it can also cause medical problems.  Space stations are cramped places with few luxuries.  Astronauts eat ready-made meals that are earlier freeze-dried or served in pouches.  All water is recycled, including the water vapor from human breath.  Astronauts clean themselves with special shampoos and soaps that don't need water, and they use space toilets that suck away waste rather than flushing with water.

SPACE DEBRIS:

About 1,000 operational satellites orbit Earth, carrying out tasks such as beaming TV signals around the world, gathering data for weather forecasters and spying for the military.  Many thousands more pieces of space junk old satellites, discarded rocket parts, and debris from collisions also circle our planet.  The growing cloud of space debris is a hazard to spacecraft.

• 4 spacecraft have visited the planet Saturn.

• 53 Spacecraft have attempted to reach the planet Mars.
• 27 Missions to Mars have ended in failure.

NOTE:

Images are taken from internet, which are acknowledged to the rightful owners.