Space & Cosmos

Mind-blowing facts about our universe, from quantum physics to galactic phenomena.

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There’s a star that’s almost as old as the universe.

HD 140283, nicknamed the Methuselah star, is estimated to be 14.5 billion years old (which actually conflicts with...

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The most magnetic object known is a special type of neutron star.

Magnetars are neutron stars with magnetic fields so powerful they could wipe a credit card's data from halfway...

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The most reflective planet in the solar system is Venus.

Venus reflects about 70% of the sunlight that reaches it, thanks to its thick cloud cover of sulfuric...

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Some exoplanets orbit around dead stars.

Several planets have been discovered orbiting pulsars, the incredibly dense remnants of exploded stars. The first confirmed exoplanets...

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There’s a Saturn-like planet that floats freely through space without a star.

PSO J318.5-22 is a gas giant planet that doesn't orbit any star. It floats freely through space, likely...

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There is a black hole in the center of most galaxies.

Most, if not all, large galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their center. The one at the...

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Some stars create sound waves too deep for human ears to hear.

Stars produce sound waves through their turbulent convection, but the frequencies are typically far too low for humans...

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The entire Milky Way smells like rum and tastes like raspberries.

Large clouds of ethyl formate, a chemical that gives raspberries their flavor and rum its smell, have been...

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Some stars are cool enough to touch.

Brown dwarfs, failed stars that never got massive enough to sustain nuclear fusion, can have surface temperatures as...

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