Information about the universe

� The theory of the expanding Universe was proposed by Edwin Hubble in 1929.

� The biggest galaxy seen by man is the Elliptical M87. It is 50 million light years away.

� A drop of 2% in the temperature of the Sun�s surface would plunge the Earth into another major ice age such as the one that took place 11000 years ago.

� Light takes about 8.3 minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth.

� The Sun gets lighter by 400 million tones every second as it generates nuclear energy from hydrogen.

� In 5000 million years the Sun will become so bright that it will be difficult for life to exist on our Earth.

� Astronomers discovered that Uranus was not keeping to the expected path. Two mathematicians, Adams and Le Verrier, suspected that this must be due to the pull of gravity of another undiscovered planet.

� The existence of Pluto had been predicted by calculation by Percival Lowell in 1915. This was because the American astronomer felt that Uranus was being affected by the gravity pull of just not Neptune but also another undiscovered planet.

� Some of the planets can be easily seen with the naked eye. Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are all very bright in the sky. You can differentiate the planets from the stars, as they do not twinkle.

� Astronomers have discovered two more planets beyond Pluto.

� Asteroids were first discovered in 1801 by the Italian astronomer, Giuseppe Piazzi.