In 1859 a Solar Storm Set Telegraph Offices on Fire — the Next One Could Cost Trillions
The Carrington Event made auroras glow over the tropics and shocked telegraph operators. A repeat today could cripple power grids and satellites worldwide.
Solar System Secrets
Saturn's Moon Titan Has Rivers, Rain, and Seas — Made of Liquid Methane
Titan is the only other world with liquid on its surface. But its lakes are freezing methane, its rocks are ice, and its rain falls in slow motion.
The Sun Is 99.86% of the Entire Solar System — Everything Else Is Rounding Error
Every planet, moon, asteroid, and comet combined makes up less than 0.2% of the solar system's mass. The Sun is essentially the whole thing.
A Tiny Moon of Saturn Shoots Ocean Water 500 km Into Space
Enceladus is only 500 km wide but fires geysers of salty water from a hidden ocean — and Cassini flew through them and tasted the ingredients for life.
The Moon Is Leaving Us — 3.8 Centimeters Every Year
Laser mirrors left by Apollo astronauts prove the Moon drifts away yearly, slowing Earth's spin. Dinosaurs had 23-hour days; total eclipses are on borrowed time.
Uranus Rolls Around the Sun on Its Side — and We Think We Know Who to Blame
Every planet spins like a top. Uranus spins like a rolling ball, tipped 98 degrees, with 42-year-long polar nights. The prime suspect: an ancient mega-collision.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot — a Storm Older Than Your Country — Is Dying
A hurricane that could swallow Earth has raged for at least 190 years, maybe 350. In the last century it has shrunk by half, and no one knows why.
Mercury Is Shrinking — the Whole Planet Is Getting Smaller
As its giant iron core cools, Mercury contracts, wrinkling its crust into cliffs hundreds of kilometers long. The planet has lost up to 14 km of diameter.
Mars Has a Volcano So Big You Couldn't See It While Standing On It
Olympus Mons is nearly three times the height of Everest and the size of an entire country — so wide its slopes would hide beyond your horizon.
We Only Ever See One Side of the Moon — the Other Was Hidden Until 1959
The Moon is locked so that the same face always points at Earth. Humanity never saw its far side until a Soviet probe photographed it in 1959.
Sunsets on Mars Are Blue — the Exact Opposite of Earth's
On Earth, sunsets glow red and the sky is blue. On Mars it's reversed: the daytime sky is butterscotch, and the Sun sets in a cool blue glow.
Halley's Comet Returns Every 76 Years — Most People See It Once, If Ever
The most famous comet swings past Earth roughly once a human lifetime. It last appeared in 1986; the next visit is 2061. Mark Twain lived and died by it.
It Literally Rains Diamonds Inside Neptune and Uranus
Thousands of kilometers below the clouds of the ice giants, extreme pressure squeezes carbon into diamonds that fall like hail toward the core.
Saturn Is Slowly Losing Its Rings — They're Raining Down Onto the Planet
Saturn's iconic rings are being pulled into the planet as a dusty 'ring rain.' On cosmic timescales they're a temporary feature we're lucky to see at all.
Saturn Has a Perfectly Hexagonal Storm Bigger Than Earth
At Saturn's north pole sits a six-sided jet stream 30,000 km across that has held its geometric shape for over 40 years. Nothing else like it exists.
A Single Day on Venus Lasts Longer Than Its Entire Year
Venus takes 243 Earth days to spin once but only 225 to orbit the Sun. On Venus, your birthday comes around faster than sunrise.
Venus Is Hotter Than Mercury — Even Though Mercury Is Closer to the Sun
Mercury sits twice as close to the Sun, yet Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system. The reason is a runaway greenhouse effect gone mad.