Unusual Facts About Space You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

There’s a lot to wonder about space. The fact is we don’t know all the answers about it. We know it’s vast and beautiful, but we’re not really sure how vast (or how beautiful, for that matter). Some of the things we do know, however, are downright mind-boggling. Below, I’ve collected some of the most amazing facts about space.

If two pieces of the same type of metal touch in space, they will bond and be permanently stuck together

This amazing effect is called cold welding. It happens because the atoms of the individual pieces of metal have no way of knowing that they are different pieces of metal, so the lumps join together. This wouldn’t happen on Earth because there is air and water separating the pieces. The effect has a lot of implications for spacecraft construction and the future of metal-based construction in vacuums.

Neutron stars can spin at a rate of 600 rotations per second

Neutron stars are one of the possible evolutionary end-points of high mass stars. They’re born in a core-collapse supernova star explosion and subsequently rotate extremely rapidly as a consequence of their physics. Neutron stars can rotate up to 60 times per second after born.

The Apollo astronauts’ footprints on the moon will probably stay there for at least 100 million years

Since the moon doesn’t have an atmosphere, there’s no wind or water to erode or wash away the Apollo astronauts’ mark on the moon. That means their footprints, roverprints, spaceship prints, and discarded materials will stay preserved on the moon for a very long time. They won’t stay there forever, though. The moon still has a dynamic environment.

99 percent of our solar system’s mass is the sun

Our star, the sun, is so dense that it accounts for a whopping 99 percent of the mass of our entire solar system. That’s what allows it to dominate all of the planets gravitationally. When the sun dies, it will become a red giant and envelop the Earth and everything on it. But don’t worry: That won’t happen for another 5 billion years.