We’re flying past the planets of our Solar System. We pass by Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Then we move through dark space beyond the edge of our world. We’ve reached our destination. It’s the Oort cloud. It’s a hypothetical region around the Solar System that holds tons of asteroids and blocks of ice. It’s likely to be where the largest comet in human history was born. And now, it’s heading toward the Sun! Bernardinelli-Bernstein was discovered totally by accident during the Dark Energy Survey. Our telescopes were pointed at distant space. Their main goal was to learn more about how the Universe was expanding. Astronomers also wanted to make a more detailed map of the observable universe.Scientists analyzed over 80,000 images and found a moving object. It was alarmingly close to our home planet. Its size was an impressive 62[ml (100 km)] miles. That’s about the width of Lake Michigan. It was an already active comet with a long tail. Usually, comets get a tail when they come close to the Sun. The heat from the star warms the comet’s surface, and light materials, like ice, begin to evaporate. This forms a cloud of steam and dust that stretches far beyond the comet.
The Sun, our majestic and life-sustaining star, has been a constant presence in our skies since time immemorial. Its radiant energy provides warmth, light, and the conditions necessary for life to thrive on Earth. But have you ever wondered what would happen if our Sun suddenly vanished and was replaced by another star?Arcturus. A huge red star. It’s just bursting from inside out! The red sea of plasma on its surface rages and pulsates. This star burns anything that comes close to it. And now... flop! Arcturus is gone! But at the same moment, it reappears at the center of our solar system, replacing the Sun. What we see in the sky isn’t a small yellow dot anymore, but a giant red ball. It’s 25 times wider and 30% heavier than the Sun.
People stop their cars on the highway, get out of them, and lift their heads in wonder. In the cities, everyone takes to the streets. Balconies and rooftops of houses are full of people staring at the Moon in shock. It’s red. Some people scream that it’s the end of the world; some seek shelter. Indeed, the usual white Moon now looks like it has been doused in red paint. There’s no need to be afraid if you see such a thing. On the contrary, enjoy the view, because you have witnessed a rare astronomical phenomenon. This is a total lunar eclipse.
I hope you feel well-rested. Because I’ve got a tough task for you. Don’t worry — it’s fun! You’re going to visit different planets of our Solar System and try to run on each of them! Let’s figure out where you can run the fastest and where you can barely walk! The fastest man on Earth, Usain Bolt, can run with an average speed of about 23 miles per hour. But his top speed is higher — up to 27 miles per hour! Sadly, we can’t all be Usain Bolts. The average person runs at a speed of 6 to 8 mph. But maybe, there’s a planet out there where you can beat the famous Jamaican sprinter’s records? But first things first, what will affect your speed when you run on other planets? For one thing, gravity. Depending on how strong it is on the planet you visit, it’ll influence your weight. And in most cases, the heavier you are, the more slowly you run.
If you landed on Mercury, the first thing you’d notice would be how close it is to the Sun. It’s actually the closest planet to the big ball of fire and the smallest. But it’s not the hottest planet. Venus takes credit for that. It takes Earth 365 days to orbit the Sun, and it takes Mercury more than 3 months. Well, 88 days, to be exact. The days are boiling hot, with the temperature reaching above 800 °F (425 °C). But on the other side of the planet that the Sun doesn’t reach, the temperatures drop to −300 °F (-180 °C). Mercury’s atmosphere can’t hold any heat when it’s nighttime, just like a desert. Deserts have no atmosphere, which is why they have no moisture, and no clouds or rain.If you manage to get from one end of the planet to the other and always stay in between the scorching heat and freezing cold, then you can survive. But oxygen isn’t a friend to Mercury’s atmosphere. So you’d just live for as long as you can hold your breath. Plus, there’s a magnetic field that has solar winds from the Sun that create plasma tornadoes.
There are a lot of space objects all around the Universe, from stars to planets, to satellites, comets, and asteroids. But our closest celestial body is the Moon, which has been subject to much research, theories, and even myths. As our only natural and permanent satellite, the Moon is in the top ten list of biggest satellites in our Solar System.
Mercury gets a bad rap for always being hot, but that’s not entirely true. The planet’s got no atmosphere, so its temperature swings are wild. When it’s facing the Sun, it can get up to a blistering 800°F, but when it’s turned away, it drops to a frigid −290°F. The reason for this is that Earth has a cozy atmosphere that keeps our temps in check. Mercury doesn’t have that luxury, so it’s at the mercy of the Sun’s rays. But despite all that, Mercury’s still worth checking out. It’s close to the Sun, which makes it a prime spot for studying how solar radiation affects planets. And even though it’s not exactly hospitable to life, there are still plenty of mysteries to unravel.
Have you ever wondered what stars look like in galaxies far, far away? Researchers can generally only see the brightest stars, so with the data they managed to collect, they simply thought these stars were similar in size and weight to the ones we have in our own galaxy. It’s hard to explore the space around us though. When they study stars in other galaxies, it’s like they’re trying to see a tiny ant crawling on a leaf. Not easy, but some new fancy models allowed them to find more information about distant galaxies. They used a big telescope to study light from 140,000 different galaxies, some of which are billions of light-years away from us. They realized stars in distant galaxies are mostly larger than those in our Milky Way. They’re heavier too.
Our Sun. Something strange just happened now. Every TV channel, the news, they’re all talking about a black hole that came closer to us — on the spot where our Sun used to be! You can even see an accretion disk, and the background of the sky looks kinda distorted, which means it got really close.Normally, black holes are so far away that we can’t see them with the unaided eye. You can’t even see them with a telescope directly! What is it doing here, so close? Where is the Sun? Did the black hole swallow it?
Ahh, Earth... the third rock from the Sun. The blue planet. You get it. Its atmosphere is made up of around 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% argon, water vapor, and carbon dioxide, a nice balance for any living creature to breathe. The weather here is also perfect for life to exist, unlike in places like Saturn, Mercury, or any other celestial object in our Solar System — we have the troposphere to thank for that. It’s the densest part of the atmosphere on our planet and is 5 to 9 miles thick. It’s the layer of the atmosphere that always affects our weather and secures the right conditions for life to exist and to have bodies of water.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if every planet in our solar system was the size of Earth? Well, it’s time to dive into this mind-boggling scenario! Let’s imagine what each planet would look like if they were as big as our beloved blue planet. Would the barren, red landscape of Mars suddenly become a lush green oasis? Would the massive, swirling gas giant Jupiter just disappear? And how would it affect our solar system as a whole — are we all doomed? Buckle up and let’s find out.
Now, what would Earth look like if it was the only planet in the Solar System? Or what would happen to our planet if the Moon went missing? Or what if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? We’ve all heard the story: over 66 million years ago, a big asteroid hit Earth. Almost 75% of creatures that roamed the planet at that time were wiped out in mass extinction. Amongst them, dinosaurs. Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Velociraptor... All gone. But because of that, we’re all alive! According to science, the human race was developing more safely without these gigantic creatures hunting us. But what if that asteroid had crashed to the ground a few miles away from the place where it fell? What would the world be like today? Imagine walking down the street to your local supermarket and coming across a truck-sized T. rex. Could that ever happen in this alternate universe we’re talking about?
Apples you usually grab in the supermarket seem super fresh, but they can be up to a year old. It’s all about how they’re stored: first, they’re covered with wax. Next, the wax is dried with hot air, and finally, the apples go into cold storage.
Way back in the Victorian Era, a strange celestial body appears to have popped up in our solar system. Was it an asteroid? Or maybe a comet? It took us until October 2017 to notice it and to start studying it closely. It was named Oumuamua [Oh-moo-ah moo-ah] — which is Hawaiian for “scout”. Not only is its shape extremely unusual — highly elongated and narrow — but it’s also speeding so fast that it appears the Sun’s gravity doesn’t affect it so much.
Imagine you’re showing Planet Earth around to a visitor from outer space. How about we show them some of Earth’s majestic phenomena? First things first: the dancing Northern Lights. They’d probably think it’s a work of magic if science hadn’t been able to explain how on Earth these things work. It’s crazy that such a beautiful phenomenon can emerge from such a violent encounter. So how about we take a closer look into the process?
I bet you’ve got an antiseptic or a pack of antibacterial wet wipes in your bag. Once the germ theory got known to the public, people started being quite careful about hygiene. But back in the day, no one knew anything about germs and the physicians back then strongly believed it was poisoned air that people needed to be careful about. Therefore, a special outfit was invented.
The good old Solar System is actually a pretty bizarre place, what with all its out-of-this-world phenomena that we, humans, haven’t managed to explain so far! There are rumors that a gigantic, undiscovered planet is hiding behind Neptune, volcanoes on Pluto spew ice, and a colossal canyon on Mars can accommodate the whole US territory! Well, let’s figure out if it’s true by talking about the most mystifying Solar System facts. The Solar System is 4.6 billion years old! So old — it’s a senior Solar System. Scientists came to this conclusion after they studied the oldest material they managed to get a hold of — and by that, I mean meteorites, of course.
Weird unusual sounds out of nowhere are spreading all over our galaxy, constantly repeating, and it’s something we’ve never heard before... Scientists discovered it in 2020, and it was nothing like any of the other energy signatures they ever studied.Powerful and bright radio signals occurring from time to time, mysteriously disappearing within a day. It doesn’t fit the profile of any space body we know. The signal is a bit irritating, and it disappears without a schedule. When scientists tried to match the signal with some other telescopes, it was gone. Low-mass stars sometimes flare up with radio energy, but not here since they mostly have X-ray counterparts. Very dense collapsed stars like Pulsars, Magnetars are also not a choice.
It’s normal for planets to be a bit tilted on the side. The Earth is tilted at a 23-degree angle. That’s why we have seasons. It’s summer when the part of the world where you are leans closer to the Sun. It works the opposite way, too — it’s winter when you lean away from it. But, Uranus is tilted more than normal. It lies at a 98-degree angle, which has a huge effect on its seasons. Each season on Uranus takes 21 years to play out. Something to think about next time we complain that winter lasts forever.
Well, looky here! You’re about to figure out what lies under the surface of each planet in the Solar System! Get into your spaceship equipped with the largest drill you can only imagine — and off you go! You start with Mercury. It’s the closest planet to the Sun. At first sight, the place looks similar to our good old Moon! But after landing, you understand it’s an illusion.
Of course, no one leaves food in the fridge to see how mold grows on it or pours sulfuric acid on a towel deliberately. But if this has already happened, you can post a photo of the event online for others to see what can happen in real life. We found photos from Internet users that show “what happens if.”
Some foods appear harmless at first. They don’t seem to pose any threat, however, more often than not they can silently cause heart diseases, cholesterol issues, and much more. Some are even full of mercury. Hopefully, this list of foods that you wouldn’t believe can cause issues will open your eyes, because it definitely opened ours.
We know that modern medicine has made a great leap in the last century, with modern machines that can scan our brains and lasers that can improve our eyesight. But what we’re not aware of is where it all started. Old-timey cures that consisted of using chloroform or magic words are a great reminder of how far medicine has come.
As we all know, living basically anywhere besides Earth in our solar system would be near-impossible. However, that doesn’t stop some researchers from imagining what life on other planets would be like if and when we colonize space. So, let’s forget about that for a moment and assume that we have the capabilities to do so and that no danger is real for us.
Each generation has its own understanding of beauty and fashion. Today, we get surprised when we read about feet binding and corsets deforming bodies. However, people have always had a tendency to want to improve their appearance, which is why any trend, no matter how crazy it may sound, can easily conquer people’s hearts. And back in the day, men had the same strong desire as women to be stylish and trendy.
The term “superfood” was first utilized to promote bananas in the early twentieth century. Today, the word superfood is used to describe any food that has many health benefits, particularly ones that are high in nutrients and low in calories. Although there are many advantages to the consumption of superfoods, eating too much of them can be just as dangerous as eating unhealthy junk food.
Stephen Hawking once said that we only have 100 more years before we move to space. That’s a rather tight deadline because — let’s admit it — we’d have some trouble surviving in space. Even astronauts, who only spend a few hours out there, often face health problems upon returning. Most of the planets in the universe are impossible for us earthlings to live on. In fact, we’d have to evolve ourselves, like with our vision, our breathing, and our vestibular system, almost entirely, to do it. But let’s give it a try.
If it seems like no matter how expensive your shampoo is, your hair still looks less than its best, you might want to have a closer look at your haircare routine. Something as simple as using the wrong hairband or wrapping your hair in a towel can harm your tresses and cause some serious damage in the long run. Although these mistakes are easy to make, and may seem innocent at first, they can have long-lasting consequences on your hair.
We consider our pets to be family members but we can’t forget that their bodies are different than ours and need a different array of nutrients. We may give milk to a cat or peanut butter to a dog as a treat. But the real question is: are we helping or hurting our favorite fluffies?
It’s common for people to think that some foods, which are considered healthier, should be eaten without any concerns. But the truth is that there are food groups that can be both beneficial and harmful to our health. Cruciferous vegetables, like kale, can have high amounts of lead, nutmeg can cause intoxication, and couscous is so low in fiber that, depending on your diet, it can increase the fat in your body, for example.
Eating healthy is just a matter of awareness. Unfortunately, the food industry has made it harder sometimes to actually know what is healthy and what is not, by placing misleading advertisements and labels on what is actually junk food.
We all understand "expensive" differently. However, we may not know that there are many amazing things and liquids that cost much more than we can imagine. We’re not talking about gold and diamonds here. Bright Side made a list of the most expensive liquids in the world. Which one will shock you the most?
We all know that fish is both delicious and healthy. However, there are certain fish that will do you more harm than good. We at Bright Side would like to tell you about 9 types of fish you should eat rarely or not at all. Take care!
