Outer Space

Monks in the 16th century recorded seeing a giant explosion on the side of the Moon. It most likely was a large meteor that slammed into the Moon and left a large crater. It was a good thing the Moon was between us and the meteor!

See the rings of Saturn while you can. They slowly wobble up and down over the years as Saturns poles point away from then towards the sun. The rings disappear when edge on to our line of sight. Currently they are almost at their widest point and can be seen even in binoculars and small telescopes.

Stars viewed through even the largest telescopes look like tiny points of light. But astronomers, using the Hubble Space Telescope to photograph a star called Betelgeuse (pronounced "beetle jooze"), have now been able to see the surface of another star. Betelgeuse is a red, giant star located at the left shoulder of the constellation Orion and is the largest known star in our galaxy.

Not all stars are found inside galaxies. Astronomers have found stars moving between the galaxies, which are millions of light years apart. These stars may even have planets, possibly with intelligent life on them. If they do, these beings would see a lonely sky with just one star (its own sun) and a few faint galaxies.

The Hubble Telescope has photographed pictures of auroras on Jupiter and Saturn very much like those at our North and South Poles. But if we had auroras as big as these, they would cover the entire Earth and more.

Do you have a favorite fact?

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