Isotropic

Isotropic means the same in all directions.

Neptune - facts 6

Neptune is approximately 2 billion 702 million miles from Earth.

Uranus - facts 5

Uranus is approximately 1 billion 691 million miles from Earth.

Saturn - facts 8

Saturn is approximately 794 million miles from Earth.

Jupiter - facts 9

Jupiter is approximately 391 million miles from Earth.

Mars - facts 14

Mars is approximately 49 million miles from Earth.

Venus - facts 8

Venus is approximately 26 million miles from Earth.

Mercury - facts 4

Mercury is approximately 57 million miles from Earth.

Escape velocity

Escape velocity is the speed needed to get free from the gravitational attraction of a celestial body without any additional propulsion.

Earth - facts 14

The escape velocity of the Earth is approximately seven miles per second. This is a little over 25,000 mph.

Kinetic energy

Kinetic energy is the energy an object has because of its motion.

Sun - facts 15

Light from the Sun takes approximately a little over eight minutes to reach the Earth.

Planets - facts 16

All of the planets in the Solar System have elliptical orbits.

Venus - facts 7

Venus is the only planet in the Solar System that rotates in a clockwise direction.

Stars - facts 7

Alpha Centauri C is the closest star to the Sun. It is approximately 4.2 light years away.

Voyager 1 enters interstellar space

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is the farthest man-made object from Earth. In September 2013, Voyager has entered interstellar space. It is the first human-made object to leave the Solar System. Voyager 1 will reach the nearest star in approximately 40,000 more years.

Black holes - facts 5

The event horizon is the boundary of a black hole from which nothing can escape, including light.

Galactic year

A galactic year is the time it takes for the Solar System to orbit once around the Milky Way galaxy. This is approximately 230 million years.

NASA

NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It is the agency of the U.S. government that is responsible for the space program. NASA was formed in 1958 and began operations on October 1, 1958.

Extraterrestrial hypothesis

Extraterrestrial hypothesis is the belief that some unidentified flying objects are extraterrestrial life from other planets occupying actual spacecraft that are visiting Earth.

Ancient astronauts

Ancient astronauts are supposed intelligent extraterrestrial beings that were said to have visited Earth in ancient times and made contact with humans. This contact helped the development of humans, technologies, religions, and other areas.

Zoo hypothesis

The zoo hypothesis states that highly advanced extraterrestrial life does exists, but they will not contact life on Earth in order to allow for our natural evolution.

Planetary geology

Planetary geology is the study of the geology of celestial bodies. Planets, their moons, asteroids, comets, and meteorites in the Universe.

Stars - facts 6

The largest known star is NML Cygni. It is 1,650 times the Sun's radius. This would make NML Cygni is approximately 713,130,000 miles in radius and 1,426,260,000 miles in diameter.

Stars - facts 5

The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius.

Redshift

A redshift is an increase in wavelength that is caused by an object moving farther away from us.

Blueshift

A blueshift is a decrease in wavelength that is caused by an object coming closer toward us.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 7

The Milky Way galaxy is expected to collide with the Andromeda Galaxy in a few billion years from now.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 6

The Milky Way galaxy is approximately 13.2 billion years old.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 5

A supermassive black hole may lie at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 4

There may be as many as hundreds of billions of planets in the Milky Way galaxy.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 3

The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way galaxy.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 2

There are hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

Milky Way galaxy - facts 1

The Milky Way galaxy is approximately 100,000 light years in diameter.

Search for extraterrestrial intelligence

You can search for extraterrestrial intelligence by using SETI@home; a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.

Phobos monolith

The Phobos monolith is a large rock on the surface of the moon Phobos. It measures approximately 280 feet across.

Mars - facts 13

The moon Phobos is larger than Deimos.

Space Shuttles

A total of six space shuttles were built. Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

Neptune - facts 5

The largest moon of Neptune is Triton.