Interesting Facts About Phuket, Thailand:

Thailand is quite the mysterious country, from unbelievable food to lush green lands as far as the eye can see. There’s one place however that we’re here to discuss today – Phuket City or Phuket Town to the locals. Here we’re going to look at some mind-blowing and ever-intriguing facts about this beautiful land.

1. Phuket is the largest island in Thailand being just under the size of Singapore. It stretches just over 222 sq. miles (576 sq. km).
2. The word Phuket actually means mountain jewel.
3. Phuket is known for its beaches, in particular Patong which is one of the biggest tourist attractions for the island, there are 36 beaches spanning the island in total.
4. An island in Phuket was used in 1974 for the Bond movie “The man with the golden gun”. After this the island was renamed James Bond Island.
5. Phuket boasts a 148 foot-tall (45 meter) marble Buddha with supposedly some of the best views on the island.
6. The island has a vegetarian festival every year lasting around 8 days; this festival is a huge part of the island’s calendar.
7. Kathu Mining Museum is a museum established to commemorate the thriving tin mining industry that ruled the island for centuries.
8. Currently there are unofficially over 600,000 inhabitants of the island but in 2012 the official count stood at 360,905.
9. 70% of Phuket is covered in mountains stretching north to south.
10. 60 percent of Phuket is covered with forest, rubber and palm oil plantations and the island has no major rivers.
11. On the 12^th month of their calendar (November) during a full moon, Loy Kratong is celebrated by releasing little floats made of leaves, flowers and incense on the water.
12. Numerous celebrities from around the world frequently visit Phuket including Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Kevin Spacy and Leonardo DiCaprio.
13. Heroine’s monument lies along one of Phuket’s main roads Thepkassatri Road. The monument is a tribute to 2 women, Thao Thep Kasatri and Thao Sri Suntorn, who ordered women to dress as men in order to scare off advancing Burmese troops in 1785.
14. Aside from tourism, Latex, frozen fish, pineapples, palm oil and cashew nuts are the main source of income.
15. According to an Australian News Report, one of the riskiest places to swim, scuba dive or generally drive around is Koh Hae, Phuket.

Phuket really does seem to be the 8^th wonder of the world, from never ending numbers of beautiful beaches to a wealth of history embedded in and around the island, there’s something for everyone.

Great..!!

That's Unique..!!

Perfect Place:

No extra charges for bugs. :)

Wow..!!

Cassini: Mission to Saturn

Mission Clocks

Cassini launched in October 1997 and arrived at Saturn in July 2004. The end of the mission is set for September 15, 2017.

Did You Know?

The maximum speed clocked by Cassini was 98,346 mph (44 kilometers per second) relative to the sun on June 25, 1999.

Relative to Saturn, the spacecraft reached 68,771 mph (30.7 kilometers per second) during the Saturn Orbit Insertion maneuver on July 1, 2004.

With respect to Earth, the maximum speed reached by Cassini is 42,561 mph (19.0 kilometers per second) on Aug. 18, 1999, as the spacecraft flew past our home planet at an altitude of 727 miles (1,171 kilometers).

During the second Venus flyby, Cassini zoomed by the planet at 13.6 kilometers per second (30,523 mph) on June 24, 1999.

The spacecraft flew by Jupiter at a speed of 25,951 mph (11.6 kilometers per second) on Dec. 30, 2000.

By the way, Saturn's average orbital speed around the Sun is about 34,700 kilometers (21,561 miles) per hour.

Facts About Burger King:

Everyone has that one food that makes their mouth water at the sheer mention of it, for me it’s the “Triple Whopper”, a gargantuan pile of deliciousness and it’s only found at Burger King. Here we’re going to look at 20 mouth-watering (and sometimes eye-watering) facts about this fast food God!

1. Burger King was founded in the 1950s by businessmen James McLamore and David R. Edgerton and was old to Pillsbury in 1967.
2. Buffy’s Sarah Michelle Gellar’s attack on McDonald’s through Burger King’s 1981 ad campaign caused McDonald’s to sue the franchise.
3. On the 11^th December 1999 a toddler suffocated whilst playing with a Burger King Pokémon toy. This was the first Burger King toy related death.
4. Burger King are often held as the first fast food outlet to make deals with big budget films to promote their products, in 1977 Burger King teamed up with Star Wars to sell character glasses.
5. In Mattoon, U.S, a Burger King exists that has no affiliation to the franchise. The Mattoon Burger King existed before the franchise tried to move into the town.
6. In Australia, Burger King is known as Hungry Jacks due to a copyright infringement of an existing company.
7. The “Suicide Burger” is an off-menu 800 calorie artery clogger consisting of four burger patties and cheese slices, bacon, and special sauce.
8. Burger King has a deluxe hidden system, known as the ‘Gold Card’. Held by celebs like Hugh Laurie and Jay Leno the card gives them free meals.
9. Burger King branched out into Hot Dogs in recent years, promoting it on Twitter in 2016, offering a range of toppings including ‘whopper’.
10. Burger King offer delivery in over 13 US states including Alabama, Virginia, Utah and Ohio.
11. In Japan, and possibly America, Black Buns exist as an alternate to the plain and apparently unappealing brown bun.
12. Burger King took its variety to new heights in 2016, creating the ‘Whopperito’ a Whopper burger in a flour tortilla.
13. In May 2016, Burger King opened a spa in one of it’s restaurants in Helsinki, Finland!
14. Worldwide, over 11 million customers visit Burger King Restaurants for their burger fix.
15. Even with their success, burger king still live in the shadow of McDonald’s, advertising themselves as the ‘second largest fast food hamburger chain’.
16. Burger King offer something known as the “CROISSAN’WICH” and in my opinion it decimates the McDonald’s McMuffin contender.
17. Burger King was born after its owners visited a McDonald’s and were inspired to open their own version with a newly copyrighted broiler that cooked 12 burgers at once.
18. In 1955 Burger King’s logo was a King atop a burger holding an oversized drink, this soon lost fashion and developed in 1969 into a bun sandwiching the words “Burger King”.
19. The new logo was born in 1998 and is now a world renowned fast food icon.
20. In 2010, Brazilian based 3G Capital purchased Burger King for a staggering $3.3 billion.

Whether you like Burger King or not, you have to admit their story is that of rags to riches, one couple with a dream that ends in a major worldwide brand that it is today. From amazing burgers to some downright wacky ideas, Burger King always try to push the boundaries in the fast food game and I’m sure we’re nowhere near the end of that journey yet.

Exactly..!!

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Interesting Facts About Tigers:

If tigers are your favourite of the big cats, then why not check out these top thirty interesting facts on tigers and learn something new!

1. The Latin name for the tiger is ‘Panthera tigris‘.
2. They can live up to 26 years in captivity and in the wild.
3. Tigers prefer to inhabit forests, grasslands and mangrove swamps.
4. There are six distinctive tigers: Bengal, Indochinese, Malayan, Siberian, South China and Sumatran.
5. White tigers are caused by recessive genes and inbreeding.
6. There are as few as 30 Golden Tigers in captivity.
7. There are three extinct breeds: Bali, Caspian and Javan.
8. They can measure up to 11ft, including tail.
9. They can weigh up to 670lbs.
10. The stripes that a tiger has are as unique as human fingerprints.
11. Tigers are generally solitary creatures, but are seen as highly social able.
12. They have a great fondness for water and are very strong swimmers.
13. Tigers feast on many animals, depending on their territory. These include: antelope, boar, buffalo, camel, fish and horse.
14. Interestingly, a tiger can go two weeks without feeding.
15. They can gorge up to 75lbs of flesh in one sitting.
16. A tiger’s method of killing prey is to stalk it, before ambushing and overpowering it, before biting.
17. Human behaviour can make the tiger feel threatened and attack humans. These are known as ‘man eaters’.
18. They can make horizontal leaps of up to 33ft.
19. Usually, in a litter of cubs, there are up to three, but as many as six can be born.
20. After fourteen days, the cubs will open their eyes.
21. A cub can take up to two-and-a-half years to separate from its mother.
22. Tigers are heavily endangered.
23. They are hunted for fur, meat, medicine and sport.
24. Save China’s Tigers are a conservation group, which is extremely successful at breeding and reintroducing tigers to the wild.
25. The Bengal tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh and India.
26. They are one of the Chinese Zodiac animals, depicting wood.
27. In Asian folklore, the weretiger is seen as a horrific and terrifying creature, replacing the werewolf.
28. Shere Khan was a deadly tiger in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1894).
29. The breakfast cereal Frosties is sponsored by Tony the Tiger, who claims, “They’re grrrreat!”
30. Siegfried and Roy, the magical entertainers, closed their show after a confused seven year old tiger bit Roy’s neck and attempted to treat him like a cub.

Awesome..!!

Interesting Facts on Egypt:

Possibly one of the most famous holiday destinations in the world, Egypt is not only a place for sun seekers. It’s a place for lovers of history too. Read on for interesting facts about this stunning country!

Myths tell us that many Gods created life and Egypt from the water called Nun that covers the Earth. This reflects the way of life and belief that the waters of the Nile are in their own respect, Holy.

The most well-known Gods are:

• Ra, the God of the Sun. He had the head of falcon and was crowned with a sun disk.
• Hathor, the God of Music. He had the horns of cow and crowned with a sun disk.
• Sekhmet, the God of Destruction. He had the head of lion.
• Nut, the Goddess of the Sky. She is blue in colour and adorned with golden stars’.
• Geb, the Goddess of the Earth. She is the colour of plants and Nile mud.
• Osiris, the God of the Dead. He is dressed in white and carried a crook and flail.
• Seth, the God of the Desert. He has an animal head with a long curved snout.
• Horus, the God of the Pharaohs. He was the head of a hawk and wears the crown of Egypt.
• Isis, the Goddess of magic. She sits on a throne and is sometimes seen holding a baby.
• Thoth, the God of wisdom. He has the head of the ibis bird.
• Anubis, the God of Embalming. He has the head of a jackal.
• Ma’at, the Goddess of Justice. She wears feathers in her hair.
• Amun, the God of Creation. He has a crown of feathers.
• Bastet, the Goddess of Cats. She has the head of a cat.

Interestingly, cats have been household companions dating back to 600 BC in Egypt. The Mummified remains were found by archaeologists in 1889 and in paintings, cats were often featured at the feet of noble ladies, suggesting their worth. They were worshipped with Bastet as being mythical and creatures of great importance, especially for their hunting and night vision abilities.

The Egyptians even worshipped mythological sphinxes – the most notable statue is in the desert of Giza. The Egyptian Sphinx has a male voice. He has the body of a lion, the wings of a bird and a human face. He often told riddles and if the person answered wrong, they were eaten.

Still of the subjects of moggies, the Sphinx (hairless cats that have neither eyebrows or whiskers) and Egyptian Mau’s (cats with spotted fur, who hunted along the Nile) are breeds of cats that can be kept as pets.

The Nile River is 6,670 km and runs through the length of Egypt. Most people built homes on its banks as it offered them a rich source of food, irrigation (for crops) and transportation. Papyrus reeds grew along the banks, which was dried and used for writing and boat building. Many lived in fear of the beasts though that roamed the waters such as the infamous crocodile.

Whilst hot, Egypt had little rain. Every year, there was an annual flood, which happened when the bad weather of the neighbouring countries, edged towards the Nile. Crops could be grown from the soil that was left behind.

Most people visit for the heat, but those seeking culture head for Luxor, which is the site of the old capital, Thebes. Thebes homed the great leaders such as Tutankhamen, Ramses and Cleopatra, to name a few. A short way into the wilderness takes you to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, home to a great many pyramids that are now the burial chambers for the great rulers. Built by slaves, hieroglyphic covered walls tell their stories.

Painting Relieves Stress:

Health Tips:

Turmeric or Haldi is a yellow indian spice which is widely used in south asian and middle eastern cooking. It is an extremely healthy spice with a potent healing and anti-aging properties, which has been commonly used in the Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. Researchers have found that this amazing spice has wide-ranging anti-inflammatory effects, which may be the reason why the population of Okinawa, a Japanese island, has one of the longest average life spans on the planet– 81.2 years.

Curcumin is the active compound present in turmeric which is believed to have a wide range of biological effects including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumour, antibacterial, and antiviral activities.

Here is a recipe to prepare the GOLDEN MILK. You can consume it on a regular basis and feel fresh and energetic always.

RECIPE :

Step 1 : Prepare Turmeric Paste 

Ingredients:

> 1/4 cup of turmeric powder

> 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper

> 1/2 cup of filtered water

Prepare a turmeric paste by mixing all the above ingredients in a small pan. Turn the heat to medium high and stir constantly until the mixture is a thick paste. Let this paste cool and then keep it in a small jar in the fridge.

Step 2 : Prepare Turmeric Milk 

Ingredients:

> 1 cup of milk

> 1/4 teaspoon or more of turmeric paste

> 1 teaspoon coconut oil

> Honey

Mix all above ingredients except honey in a saucepan.Heat it up for about 2 minutes. Stir constantly while heating and do not allow the mixture to boil. Add honey to taste.

Drink this golden milk daily and you will get to see the results within a week.

Below are some health benefits of Turmeric:

> Anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, antiseptic,analgesic,.

> Boosts immunity.

> Anti-carcinogenic.

> Helps maintain cholesterol levels.

> Promotes digestive health.

> Liver detoxifier.

> Regulates metabolism and weight management.

> High blood pressure.

> Memory and brain function.

> Various skin conditions.

> Neurological disorders.

> Lowers Triglycerides

8 Things Your Mind & Body Are Doing While You Sleep:

You are probably well aware that your body requires sleep every night – ideally around seven to eight hours – to function properly and maintain your health, but you may not realize how much goes on while you are sleeping. Read on to learn eight surprising things your mind and body are doing while you snooze.

Your Body Temperature Drops Significantly

During sleep, your body temperature drops to reduce the rate at which it burns calories and release melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that plays a key role in your circadian rhythm.

Toxins are Cleansed

When at rest, the body filters out toxins and clears damaged molecules. These processes allow the body and brain to rejuvenate. Without sufficient amounts of sleep, the brain is unable to purge toxins. This may lead to an increase is neurological deterioration.

You Lose Weight

Throughout the night, you lose weight due to expelling humid air and losing water through perspiration. As opposed to during the day, there is no consumption of food or beverages to offset this effect. This leads to a decrease in pounds by the morning. During sleep, your body also regulates hunger hormones. You are better equipped to fight off junk food cravings if you got an appropriate amount of sleep the night before.

You Dream

Everyone knows the mind creates dreams during the night but you may be surprised to learn how much you dream. We can spend as many as 2 hours dreaming each night.

You Get Taller

Your body actually experiences an increase in height while you sleep. When you are laying down, the discs in your spine decompress and rehydrate causing them to get bigger and slightly boost your height.

You May Jerk Involuntarily

Whether you sleep alone or with a partner, for many people, falling asleep produces a phenomenon where muscles suddenly contract involuntarily. This creates a sudden jerk. In some cases, it may be noticeable enough to wake you back up.

Your Skin is Boosted

Collagen – a protein that contributes to youthful, healthy skin – is produced at an increased rate while you sleep. It is stimulated by growth hormones that are released as you snooze. Higher levels of collagen promote more resilient, vibrant skin.

You Wake Up – Often

During the night, we actually wake up numerous times – up to 15 – each hour. This usually occurs when we are shifting to a different sleep stage. The periods of wakefulness are usually so brief that we do not remember them.

Final Thoughts

Getting an adequate amount of sleep is a crucial component of good health. Given all the health benefits and the fascinating facts mentioned above, make a point to get a solid chunk of sleep each night. To increase your odds of getting deep, restful sleep, avoid caffeine too close to bedtime, keep your room dark, and skip screen time prior to hitting the pillow.

Facts About The Saturn Hurricane:

The hurricane-like storm on Saturn is one of NASA’s most compelling factual discoveries about a planet within our solar system to-date.

First sighted by the NASA space-craft Cassini, this huge storm on Saturn heavily resembles one of Earth’s hurricanes. Using infrared and red wavelengths, and falsely coloured for detail, the picture was taken at a height of 420,000 kilometres (or 260,000 miles)! Earth’s hurricanes usually have a small eye surrounded by a larger outer band. However, the centre of the storm on Saturn is approximately 2012 kilometres (1250 miles) wide: that’s the distance between Dallas and Washington D.C. or big enough to cover the United Kingdom twelve times over! This is twenty times larger than the centre of an average Earth hurricane and the outer band can be seen for several thousand miles more.

Usually in a hurricane the wind speeds are highest in what is known as the ‘centre eye’ of the hurricane and weakest near the edges of the outer ring. The wind speeds on the outer edge of Saturn’s hurricane range up to 530 kmph (330 mph). In the centre eye of the storm they are four times faster than the fastest recorded winds on Earth, these being the winds of hurricane Camille that hit the United States in 1996 that measured up to roughly 305 kmph (190 mph).

Usually a hurricane feeds off water vapour from the warm ocean waters on Earth, which is what gives a hurricane its needed energy to develop. Yet there is no large body of water on the planet Saturn, however, and its storm feeds off the small amounts of water vapour found in Saturn’s hydrogen atmosphere. Earth’s hurricanes are also usually formed in the tropical and move North due to something known as the Coriolis effect in which the Earth’s rotation imparts an acceleration which pulls the storm towards the poles, chiefly the North Pole. Saturn’s storm is already situated over the planet’s North Pole and therefore is stationary, with nowhere else to go. This has led NASA scientists to believe that the storm on Saturn could have been raging for years.

Only in 2009 did the Sun once again start to shine upon Saturn’s Northern Hemisphere once again, allowing Cassini to snap pictures on the massive storm. As it takes Saturn 29 (Earth) years to orbit the Sun, the entire Northern Hemisphere of the planet has been in total darkness since Cassini’s 2004 arrival to the planet. These images of Saturn are the first sunlit images of the planet since the pictures taken by the Voyager 2 craft during its passing of the planet in 1981.

NASA scientists will continue to study the terrestrial hurricane-like storm because despite the fact that it differs in size, strength and energy source to an Earth hurricane, it carries similar characteristics such as a central eye without clouds, a counter-clockwise spin in the Northern Hemisphere and high clouds that circle the storm’s eye.

Facts About the Planet Saturn:

If you like to watch the skies at night, you should check out these facts about one of the planets out there, the planet we call Saturn.

1. Saturn is the lightest planet in our solar system.
2. This planet is known as being a “gas giant”. The other planets that are classed as gas giants are Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus.
3. Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system.
4. The rings of Saturn are made of chunks of rock and ice.
5. If you was driving at 75 miles (121 km) per hour, it would take 258 days to drive around one of Saturn’s rings.
6. Saturn’s winds can blow up to 1,100 miles per hour, which makes it the windiest planet in our solar system.
7. As Saturn has a very low density, if you were able to put it into water, it would float!
8. Saturn is so big that Earth could fit into it whooping 755 times!
9. Saturn is twice as far away from the Sun as Jupiter is.
10. A year on Saturn would take almost thirty Earth years.
11. A day on Saturn is 10 hours 39 minutes.
12. Enceladus, one of Saturn’s smaller moons, reflects some 90% of the sunlight, making it more reflective than snow!
13. Saturn is approximately 856 million miles away from the Sun.
14. Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture.
15. Saturn has 64 known moons orbiting it.
16. At times, Saturn can be the 3^rd brightest planet in night sky.
17. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is the only moon in the Solar System to possess an atmosphere.
18. Saturn is about 75% hydrogen and 25% helium with minor traces of water, methane and ammonia.
19. Galileo was the first to observe this planet with a telescope in 1610.
20. Saturn is the root of the English word “Saturday”.

Interesting Facts About Neptune:

If you enjoy random knowledge, space facts and more specifically, the planet Neptune, then you’ll love these top 10 facts about this planet.

1. Neptune is the most distant planet in our solar system.
   When Neptune was first discovered in 1846, it became the most distant planet in our Solar System. Then just 84 years later, Pluto was discovered, making it the most distant planet. After discovering Pluto, they soon realised that it’s orbit was ecliptic. As all the other planets in our Solar System have a circular orbit, they stay the same distance away form the sun at all times. Pluto has an egg-shaped orbit, meaning the distance away from the sun varies according to where in its orbit. At the times where Pluto is nearer to the Sun in its orbit, it becomes closer to the Sun the Neptune does, making Neptune the most distant planet in our Solar System. The last time this event occurred was between 1979 and 1999. Sadly in 2006, it was decided that Pluto was no longer a planet, making Neptune the most distant planet in our Solar System once again.
2. Neptune was originally called “Le Verrier’s Planet”.
   Shortly after it’s discovery, Neptune was only referred to as “the planet exterior to Uranus”, or more commonly “Le Verrier’s planet” (After the man who discovered it, Urbain Le Verrier). There were a number of suggestions about what to call this planet, but in the end, the man who discovered this planet chose the name Neptune.
3. Neptune has 13 known moons.
   Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, is one of the coldest places known within our Solar System. The temperature on the surface of this moon can dip down to an amazing -235 degrees Celsius! When NASA’s Voyager 2 passed by Triton, it observed volcanoes erupting liquid nitrogen! When Voyager 2 passed by, it managed to find another six that were not visible from Earth. Later, in 2002, three more moons were discovered from a ground based telescope.
4. A Neptunian year lasts for 164.79 Earth years!
   Because of Neptune distance from the Sun, It takes 164.79 Earth years to orbit the Sun once. This means that since it’s discovery in 1846, only one Neptunian year has passed! Neptune has a similar tilt on its axis as Earth does. This means that it has similar seasons as Earth does, only they last much, much longer! An average summer on Neptune would last for 41 years!
5. Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, was discovered in 1846 by the British astronomer, William Lassell.
6. Each day on Neptune lasts for around 16 hours, and 6.5 minuets.
7. The strongest winds that have ever been recorded in our Solar System have come from Neptune, with speeds at 2,000 kilometres per hour!
8. Like Saturn, Neptune has three rings orbiting the planet. Two are fairly thick, whilst the third is very faint ring. These rings are smaller than the rings of Saturn and are made of dust.
9. Although Neptune is smaller in diameter than Uranus, it has a greater mass. Neptune’s mass is 17 times greater than that of Earth’s, whilst Uranus is only 14.5 times greater.
10. Some people believe that Pluto was once a moon of Neptune, that broke away from Neptune’s gravitational pull.

Facts About the Planet Mercury:

As the planet Mercury has never fully been mapped out, and is hard to observe with telescopes, just what facts do we know about the planet?

1. If you were to look up at the sky on Mercury, the Sun would appear to be twice the size then here on Earth.
2. A year on Mercury is just then 88 days long.
3. The rays from the sun are around seven times stronger on Mercury then on Earth.
4. Mercury is 4,878 Km wide, making it only slightly bigger then our own moon.
5. Despite Mercury being the closest planet to the Sun, Venus is the warmest planet.
6. In the time it takes Pluto to go around the Sun once, 1028 years have passed away on Mercury!
7. Mercury gets its name from the Roman god of commerce, travel and industry. It’s Greek equivalent is Hermes, the messenger of the gods. The planet probably got this name because of the speed that it moves across the sky.
8. If you were to weigh 100 kg on Earth, you would only weigh 38 kg on Mercury.
9. Mercury is one of only two planets that have no moon orbiting. The other planet being Venus.
10. Despite being so close to the Sun, radar observations have shown that the planets North Pole show evidence of water ice in the shadows of some craters!
11. Mercury has a very weak magnetic field, about 1% of that of Earths.
12. Only half of Mercury has ever been seen!
13. The Hubble Telescope has never observed Mercury, and never will be able to. This is because the planet is too close to the Sun, and light would cause damage the optics and electronics
14. As of 2012, Mariner 10 and MESSENGER are the only two spacecraft to ever have visited the planet Mercury.
15. Mercury is the smallest planet in our Solar System. Pluto used to be the smallest, until it was decided it no longer classed as a planet.

Facts You Didn’t Know About Venus:

Venus is the brightest planet in our night sky, but what are the facts about this planet? Check out these top fifteen interesting facts about Venus!

1. Venus and Mercury are the only planets within our solar System not to have any moons orbiting them.
2. Venus is the only planet in our solar system to rotate clockwise! Due to its very slow rotation, experts have been lead to believe that at one time far in the past, something may have collided with the planet that changed its rotation.
3. After the Sun and the Moon, Venus is the next brightest object in our night sky.
4. There are more volcanoes on the surface of Venus then there are on any other planet within our Solar System. We are unsure on how active these volcanoes are, if at all.
5. Venus can be bright enough in the night sky to cast shadows! These types of shadows are known as “Venusian shadows”!
6. A day on Venus would last for 243 Earth days, whilst an entire year on Venus would last for 224.7 days – making a year on Venus shorter than a day!
7. Due to the thick atmosphere on Venus, temperatures on the surface can reach up to a staggering 470 degrees Celsius!
8. The ancient Babylonians used to track Venus’ path though the skies in records that date back as far as 1600 BC.
9. Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.
10. Venus is the only planet named after a female.
11. Venus is often said to be Earth’s twin sister, as they are both of similar sizes, mass and density.
12. The surface of the planet is extremely dry due to the surface temperature. If there were any liquid there, the heat would cause the liquid to boil away instantly.
13. At times during history, Venus was known as “Lucifer”. Lucifer means “Light-Bringer”, and with Venus being one of the brightest objects in the night sky, it’s easy to see where this name came from. Sadly this name never really stuck, and is no longer in use.
14. The planet’s atmosphere is mostly made up from Carbon Dioxide.
15. Maat Mons, Venus’ largest volcano, stands at 5 miles high!

Facts About the Planet Uranus:

Uranus, a distant planet in our Solar System that orbits the Sun billions of kilometers from the Earth, but what facts do you know about Uranus? Apart from it’s slightly odd and funny name, what else is there to know about this beautiful planet?

1. Uranus is the 7^th planet away from the Sun, and by diameter, is the third largest.
2. Like Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus is known as being one of the gas giants.
3. The planet Uranus gets its name from “Uranos”, the ancient Greek deity of the sky, and grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter), father of Cronos (Saturn) and son of Gaia.
4. The angle of the tilt of the axis of Uranus is 97 degrees! This means that Uranus’ south pole is pointed straight towards Earth. It is believed that the reason for such a tilt is due to an object the size of Earth smashing into it during its formation billions of years ago.
5. Because of the unique tilt of the planet, a night at one of its poles lasts for 21 Earth years, during which it will receive no heat or light from the Sun at all.
6. The atmosphere on this planet is mainly made up from hydrogen, helium and methane. The methane absorbs all the red light it receives from the sun, and reflects the blue light. This is what gives the planet its beautiful blue colour.
7. It takes Uranus 84 years to orbit the Sun once.
8. All but two of the moons of Uranus are named after characters in plays written by the famous William Shakespeare. All the other moons within our Solar System are named after characters in both Greek and Roman mythology. The two moons that are not named after Shakespearean characters: Arlel and Umbriel, are named after characters in a book titled “The Rape of the Lock” by Alexander Pope.
9. Saturn is well-known for its rings. However, many people forget that Uranus has the second most dramatic set of rings in the Solar System! Unlike Saturn’s which are made of bright ice, the rings of Uranus are very dark and narrow (measuring a few km across). Astronomers believe that these rings were formed relatively recently.
10. There has only ever been one spacecraft to visit Uranus. NASA’s Voyager 2 passed by Uranus in January, 1986. It managed to take thousands of photographs of Uranus and its moons before continuing on its journey towards Neptune. No other spacecraft has been sent out towards Uranus, and as of the beginning of 2013, there are no plans for any future spacecraft to visit this planet.
11. The average surface temperature of Uranus is -224°C making it the coldest planet in the solar system.
12. There are two main ways to pronounce this planets name. The most common way is to pronounce it as “your-anus”. This often gets many giggles, so to avoid this, Astronomers have started pronouncing the name as “urine-iss”.
13. Because Uranus is so far from Earth (2.57 billion km), it moves very slowly though the night sky. For centuries it was believed to be just another star, and wasn’t until the 13^th of March in 1781 when a man named Sir William Herschel realised it was in fact a planet.
14. Like Venus, Uranus spins from east to west – the opposite of what Earth does.
15. The orbital speed of Uranus is 6.6 km per second!

Facts About The Planet Earth:

Day by day we live our lives, marked by the rotation of our planet giving us our beautiful sunrises and sunsets. But have you ever wondered about the planet we live on, the Earth? Have you ever wondered what it’s made of? Or how much it weighs? Maybe you’ve wondered why have a leap year? Or maybe you’ve never really given it a passing thought. For all of you wanderers, or all of you who just want to know something new, here’s 30 interesting facts about our brilliant planet. Enjoy readers.

1. The planet Earth weighs approximately 5,974,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms (nearly 6 septillion kg), that’s roughly the same amount of weight as 54,807,339,449,541,284,403 (approx 55 quintillion) Blue Whales – the heaviest creature on the Earth itself!
2. Contrary to popular belief it does not take the Earth 24 hours to complete a single rotation, it actually takes it 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds to complete a rotation and astronomers call this a sidereal day.
3. A year on Earth is not 365 days as widely thought, but rather 365.2564 days. The extra 0.2564 days is where the extra day that is added onto February every leap year, or every four years, comes from.
4. Ever wondered why people call the Earth the Blue Planet? That’s because 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water!
5. Of the 70% of water covering the Earth only 3% of it is fresh, the other 97% of it is salted.
6. Of this 3% more than 2% resides in ice sheets and glaciers, meaning less than 1% is in lakes and rivers.
7. Due to the amount of water covering the Earth, it would be one of the brightest planets to look upon from a distance due to the way in which the water would reflect the Sun’s rays.
8. The Earth consists of 3 different the layers: the Crust, The Mantle and The Core. And each of these three different layers is made up of different elements.
9. The Crust consists of 32% Iron, 30% Oxygen, 15% Silicon, 14% Magnesium, 3% Sulphur, 2% Nickel – which totals 96%. The other 4% is made up of trace amounts of Calcium, Aluminium and other miscellaneous elements.
10. Before I tell you what the rest of the Earth’s layers consist of, here’s an interesting side-fact about the Earth’s Crust: it consists of different plates floating perpetually on the Earth mantle, moving at the same rate that a person’s fingernails grow!
11. On an elemental level, the Mantle consists of 44.8% Oxygen, 21.5% Silicon and 22.8 Magnesium, although it also contains trace amounts of Iron, Aluminium, Calcium, Sodium and Potassium. However, these elements are all bound together in the rocks that make up the Earth’s Mantle.
12. The Mantle is the largest layers of the Earth, approximately 2,970 km thick – this makes up about 84% of the Earth’s total volume.
13. The Earth’s core consists of two layers, an outer-layer and an inner-layer. Although the specific percentages are unknown, both the outer and inner layers of the Earth’s Core consist of mainly Iron and Nickel.
14. The outer-layer of the Earth’s core is believed to be liquid, whereas the inner-layer of the Core is believed to be a solid as hot as the Sun!
15. Due to the unique Nickel-Iron properties of the Earth’s Core, when coupled with the Earth’s rotation, The Earth is surrounded by a powerful magnetic field that protects it from the effects of Solar Wind.
16. In the past there have been many misconceptions about the Earth, such as when people thought it was the centre of the Solar System and that all other planets orbited it! Or when they thought it was flat and that a person could sail off the edge by sailing over the horizon!
17. The Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing down. However it is slowing down so very minimally (approximately 17 milliseconds per hundred years) that it will be about 140 million years before the Earth experiences 25 hour days.
18. Of all the planets in our solar system, the Earth is the most dense with a density of roughly 5.52 grams per cubic centimetre. The second densest planet in our solar system is Mercury with a density of 5.427 grams per cubic centimetre.
19. The Earth is the only planet in our solar system not named after either a Greek or Roman God.
20. The Earth is associated with the Goddess Terra Mater (Gaea in Greek Mythology) who was the first Goddess on Earth and the mother of Uranus.
21. The name Earth comes from a combination of Old English and Germanic and is derived from ‘eor(th)e’ and ‘ertha’ which mean ‘ground’.
22. Earth is the only planet in our solar system to have water in all three of its forms (Liquid, Solis & Gas).
23. One third of the Earth’s surface is either partially or totally desert.
24. The Earth is struck by lightning 100 times per second – that’s 8.6 million times per day!
25. The Earth is the only place in our solar system where a Solar Eclipse can happen.
26. The Queen of the U.K. is the legal owner of one sixth of the Earth’s land surface!
27. The Earth is actually not round in shape – it is geoid. This is because the rounded shape has a slight bulge towards the equator which is caused by the Earth’s rotation.
28. Although life (as we know it) has only existed on Earth for 150 – 200 million years, the Earth itself is almost 5 billion years old!
29. The Earth tilts at roughly 66 degrees.
30. If you drilled a tunnel straight through the Earth and jumped in, then it would take you about 42 minutes to get to the other side!

Visualizing the Petabyte InfoGraphic:

You’ve heard of Megabytes and Gigabytes and possibly even Terabytes, but what’s a Petabyte and how much information can it hold? Read the facts!

Find out all you need to about Petabytes in this amazing infographic!