The weirdest things in space

The universe is far stranger than science fiction makes it seem. From planets where it rains glass to stars that behave like enormous cosmic magnets, these bizarre facts reveal just how weird our universe really is.

• Glass Rain – On the exoplanet HD 189733b, scientists believe sideways rain made of tiny glass particles may whip through the atmosphere at incredible speeds. The glass is thought to be made from silicate particles.
• A Diamond World – The exoplanet 55 Cancri e is thought to have an extremely unusual composition and may contain a carbon-rich interior. Early studies even suggested it could be rich in diamond-like material, although its exact composition remains uncertain.
• Space Has A Smell – Astronauts have reported that spacesuits can smell strangely metallic after spacewalks. The odor has been compared to hot metal or even burnt steak and is likely related to chemical reactions involving particles brought back from space.
• A Cosmic Whirlpool – Some galaxies contain enormous supermassive black holes at their centers that consume surrounding matter. As this material spirals inward, it can form a blazing disk brighter than the entire galaxy around it.
• Stars Can Shatter – Neutron stars are incredibly dense remnants of exploded stars. Their crust can experience enormous “starquakes,” releasing vast amounts of energy in a fraction of a second.
• A Day Longer Than A Year – On Venus, one rotation takes about 243 Earth days, while one trip around the Sun takes about 225 Earth days. That means a Venusian day is actually longer than its year!
• The Universe Is Silent – Explosions in movies sound dramatic, but outer space is essentially silent because sound needs a medium such as air to travel through. A real explosion in the vacuum of space would not produce the familiar booming sound.
• Black Holes Aren’t Cosmic Vacuums – A black hole does not automatically suck everything nearby into it. If the Sun were replaced by a black hole with exactly the same mass, Earth would continue orbiting it—the problem would be the complete loss of sunlight.
• There Are Rogue Planets – Some planets appear to wander through space without orbiting a star. These “rogue planets” may have been ejected from their original planetary systems and now travel through the darkness alone.
• The Universe Has A Ghostly Echo – The cosmic microwave background is faint radiation left over from the early universe. It gives astronomers a kind of ancient snapshot of the universe when it was only about 380,000 years old.