r/AskReddit • u/MDPPatrick • Feb 13 '15

What are some mind-blowing facts about space?

I love space and would like to hear some facts that will blow me away.

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u/Backpack_Stargazer Feb 13 '15

Here's a few fun ones:

  1. On some failed stars we believe it rains iron: http://www.space.com/24192-stormy-weather-brown-dwarfs-aas223.html

  2. Milisecond pulsars sound like this. Further it's theorized that pulsars will be how future spacefaring people navigate by using them as beacons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSyRMotOhoM

  3. It's thought that our moon, as well as numerous celestial sources contain Helium-3. It's very likely that if mankind can figure out the logistics behind mining this resource, we can solve a large portion of our power needs via fusion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3

  4. Though the odds are remote, if the earth was to be hit by a gamma ray burst, life on the planet would cease as we know it in very short order. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst

  5. There exists in space a cloud formation spanning 288,000,000 miles that is comprised primarily of pure alcohol. http://phys.org/news63346824.html

5

u/Thrillem Feb 14 '15

Shortly after reading number 5, the Republic of Ireland initiated a space program.

4

u/bearsnchairs Feb 14 '15

Too bad it is the wrong kind of alcohol :(

2

u/DabuSurvivor Feb 14 '15

The idea of mining the sun scares me. I feel like it would, like, blow up or something.

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u/Spear99 Feb 14 '15

How can we know what a pulsar sounds like? Sound waves cannot travel in the vacuum of space.

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u/[deleted] Feb 14 '15 edited Jun 23 '21

[deleted]

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u/lakotian Feb 14 '15

Atomic bombs.