Our universe might be a never-ending topic to talk about, but one thing about space is that kids would have a never-ending curiosity learning about what mystery lies outside our planet Earth. Today’s topic, interesting space facts and celestial objects that wander aimlessly in space. Welcome to Space Objects for kids!
Asteroid-
Have you ever heard about an asteroid? They are metallic or rocky bodies orbiting around the sun coming in various shapes and sizes. They have no atmosphere. They are leftovers from the formation of our solar system.
Fun fact- The first asteroid was discovered in 1801, Ceres, also the largest asteroid in our solar system. Here is a picture of Ceres in comparison to the Earth and the Moon.
Image source: Wikimedia
- Comet-
Comets are space snowballs made up of frozen gases, rock and dust orbiting the sun. As they pass the sun, they start to warm up and begin to release gases, producing a tail.
Fun fact- Halley’s comet is the comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the only naked eye comet that can appear twice in a human lifetime (75-76 years). Here is a picture of Halley’s comet on 8th March, 1986.
Image Source: Wikimedia
- Meteorite-
It is a piece of debris, from objects such as comets, asteroids or meteoroids that survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach a moon or a planet.
Fun fact- Chicxulub is one of the most famous meteorites that hit Earth. It is the meteorite that snubbed out the dinosaurs when it smashed into our planet 65 million years ago.
Image Source: Wikipedia
4. Light year-
It is a unit of distance, measuring how far light travels in one year. Now let us tell you how big our universe is.
Fun fact- The nearest galaxy to our Milky way galaxy is the Andromeda galaxy. It is approximately 2.5 million light years away!!!
The nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, is about 4.22 light years away.
The centre of our Milky Way galaxy is approximately 26,000 light years away.
5. Black Hole-
It is a place in space where gravity is the strongest. So strong, so strong that not even light can escape. Because light cannot get out, we cannot see black holes. Black holes are formed when massive stars collapse at the end of their cycle. We know quite a lot about black holes, but it still lies a mystery to us.
Fun fact- The closest black hole, V4647 Sagitarii was thought to be 1600 light years away, but it is further away than expected. Scientists now believe that it is 20,000 light years away.
Here is an image of a supermassive black hole at the core of messier 87.
Image Source: Wikimedia
Now, let’s take a look at few of the strangest planets in the Universe :-
- 55 Cancri E ( discovered 2004 ) –
This super hot world is covered in a global ocean of lava and sparkling skies. The image below is an artist’s representation of 55 Cancri E near its host star.
Image Source: Wikipedia
- GJ1214b ( discovered 2009 ) –
Scientists have nicknamed this planet as “the waterworld”. This planet has just one thing. Water. It is covered by just one enormous ocean. This is a size comparison of GJ1214b with Earth (left) and Neptune (right). The colour of the planet is yet unknown to us.
Image Source: Wikipedia
- Hd 189733 b ( discovered 2005 ) –
It is an exoplanet 64.5 light years away. This planet orbits its host star every 2.2 days. This planet is recognised as strange because of its weather. The winds are composed of silicate particles, travelling approximately 8700 kilometres per hour. Observations have found evidence that it rains molten glass, horizontally, due to the strong wind.
Image Source: Wikipedia
In a nutshell, Our universe is vast and always expanding, consisting of strange planets and strange celestial objects. Always fun to learn about them.
To read more of interesting blogs like this, download the Cub McPaws app now! Shop comfortable kids’ apparel from CubMcPaws!
Source for the information and images :-
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/strange-new-worlds/
https://www.boredpanda.com/strangest-weirdest-interesting-exoplanets-space/