Look up on a clear night and you're seeing just a tiny slice of a universe that is stranger than anything Hollywood could invent. Here are seven cosmic facts to share at your next dinner party.
1. A Day on Venus Is Longer Than Its Year: Venus spins so slowly that one rotation takes about 243 Earth days, while one trip around the Sun takes about 225.
2. Saturn Could Float in a (Giant) Bathtub: Saturn's average density is lower than water's, so in theory it would bob on the surface, if you could find a tub big enough.
3. Sunsets on Mars Are Blue: Fine Martian dust scatters light so that the sky glows blue around the setting Sun, the opposite of what we see on Earth.
4. Astronaut Footprints Could Last Millions of Years: With no wind or rain on the Moon, the boot prints left by the Apollo astronauts should stay put for a very, very long time.
5. A Teaspoon of Neutron Star Weighs Billions of Tons: These collapsed stars are so dense that a sugar-cube-sized piece would outweigh a mountain.
6. Space Is Completely Silent: Sound needs something to travel through, like air or water. In the vacuum of space, there's nothing to carry it.
7. There Are More Stars Than Grains of Sand on Earth: Scientists estimate the observable universe holds more stars than all the beaches on our planet have grains of sand.
Feeling small yet? In the best way possible!