From a colony to a superpower in only 200 years
On Earth, we would expect the resulting tail to point backward, but there's no air in space. Comets are shaped and blown by radiation pressure and solar winds, so they always point away from the Sun.
Comets are essentially lumps of dirty ice, which heat up as they approach the Sun. When they do so, they release gas and dust.
As light travels toward Earth, it passes through gas molecules (stars) that make up our atmosphere. The stars swirl as turbulence stirs the atmosphere. This deflects some of the light, making it look like the light is shifting and twinkling.
A famous nursery rhyme is responsible for this myth. However, the notion that stars twinkle is only an illusion.
As the Moon goes around the Earth, different parts of it are illuminated by the Sun. So it's all about the position of the Sun, Moon, and the Earth.
Lunar phases are actually the result of the Sun rising and setting over the visible side of the Moon as it orbits Earth.
The truth is this yellowness is just an illusion. The Sun produces all wavelengths of visible light and therefore its true color is white. But as sunlight travels through the atmosphere, it changes.
However, despite appearing to be close together, the stars that form the constellations are often separated by tens or hundreds of light years.
According to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, a light-year is the fastest speed in the universe, traveling around 186,000 miles (300,000 km) per second.
The gases of the Earth's atmosphere bend the light in an effect called Rayleigh scattering, which is what also makes the sky appear blue.
A light-year actually measures distance. NASA defines a light-year as "the total distance that a beam of light, moving in a straight line, travels in one year."
Human skin is stretchy enough, so it won't lead to an explosion. But after around 10 seconds of exposure, people become unconscious.
The stars in the night sky are arranged into 88 constellations, which are recognizable groupings that have guided farmers and travelers for thousands of years.
For example, Venus, which orbits nearly twice as far from the Sun, has an average temperature of 864ºF (462ºC). The difference is down to the atmosphere. On Venus, the atmosphere is thick and composed mainly of carbon dioxide, trapping the heat in an insulating bubble, while Mercury has a very thin atmosphere.
In 1966, this unfortunately happened to a space suit technician during a NASA test after some equipment failed. Thankfully, the pressure was restored after just 30 seconds, and the technician recovered.
Many people believe in this misconception because Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. However, the distance from the Sun has little to do with the average temperature of a planet.
Experts believe that most of the stars in the Milky Way have planets surrounding them. Any planet that's found outside our solar system is known as an exoplanet, and they affect the way a star appears.
As the Moon is orbiting Earth, it's also rotating on its axis, so we're always seeing the same side of the Moon.
Sitting between Mars and Jupiter, the asteroid belt contains over 3,000 minor planets and more than 750,000 separate asteroids. The larger asteroids sometimes collide, which has fueled the myth that it's dangerous for any spacecraft to weave its way through.
When most people think of planets with rings, there is only one that comes to mind. The gas giant, Saturn, is well known for its seven main rings.
However, contrary to popular belief, the opposite side isn't dark. It actually gets the same amount of sunlight as the other side.
One way to detect exoplanets is to look for a decrease in light from certain stars at various times. This would indicate that a planet is passing in front of the star, affecting how the light appears to us.
Sources: (Space) (Mental Floss)
See also: A rare look into the daily lives of astronauts in space
But Saturn isn't alone. Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune all boast their own set of rings as well. However, nobody could be certain they existed until the spacecraft Voyager's flybys got close up in the 1970s and '80s.
The Sun is actually a ball of gas. It burns thanks to nuclear fusion, which happens in its core.
However, there's no danger because the distance between asteroids is huge. On average, there's a distance of around 600,000 miles (970,000 km) between the asteroids, which is more than twice the distance from the Earth to the Moon.
Every second in the Sun, 700 million tons of hydrogen gets converted into 695 million tons of helium. Energy is then released as gamma rays, which becomes light. So, the Sun emits light and heat, but it's not on fire, because there's no oxygen involved.
In reality, objects passing far away enough and at a high speed are in no danger of being pulled into the center of a black hole. For example, if the Sun were swapped with a black hole, Earth would continue to orbit as normal.
Black holes are actually more like flytraps than vacuums. They're pretty dormant until a star gets too close. That's when they become active, and rip away layers of gas and shred the component atoms.
While we understand more about the universe than ever before, there are still plenty of misconceptions about space, which are largely thanks to Hollywood. Some of these misconceptions are actually plausible and have managed to fool many of us. For example, do you think that Mercury is the hottest planet in the solar system because it's the closest to our Sun? And do black holes really suck matter into their cores?
To find out the answers to these questions and more, check out the following gallery on the biggest myths about space. Click on!
Debunking major misconceptions about Space
These myths have been debunked by science
LIFESTYLE Misconceptions
While we understand more about the universe than ever before, there are still plenty of misconceptions about space, which are largely thanks to Hollywood. Some of these misconceptions are actually plausible and have managed to fool many of us. For example, do you think that Mercury is the hottest planet in the solar system because it's the closest to our Sun? And do black holes really suck matter into their cores?
To find out the answers to these questions and more, check out the following gallery on the biggest myths about space. Click on!