OLYMPUS MONS - Largest Volcano in Solar System

The largest known volcano in our solar system OLYMPUS MONS on the planet Mars. At a height of almost 22 km it is roughly three times as tall as Mount Everest and is the also tallest known mountain in the Solar System.. Olympus Mons had been known to astronomers since the late 19th century as the albedo feature Nix Olympica.

Olympus Mons is the youngest of the large volcanoes on Mars, having formed during Mars' Amazonian Period.  Olympus Mons is the result of many thousands of highly fluid, basaltic lava flows that poured from volcanic vents over a long period of time.

Why Do Stars Twinkle ??

Stars (except Sun) appear as tiny dots in the sky. As their light travels through the many layers of the Earth's atmosphere, the light of the star is bent (refracted) many times and in random directions. This random refraction results in the star winking out . It looks as though the star moves a bit, and our eye interprets this as twinkling.

Stars would not appear to twinkle if we viewed them from outer space.

Interesting Facts About MILKY WAY GALAXY

Our Milky Way Galaxy

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky. Here are some interesting facts about our Galaxy :-

1. Most galaxies have a black hole at the center. Ours is no exception. The center of our galaxy is called SAGITTARIUS A, and it houses a black hole with a mass of 40,000 Suns that is 14 million miles across.

2. Milky way galaxy contains of more than 200 billions stars.

3. Diameter of our galaxy is approximately 100,000 light years. The largest neighboring galaxy to Milky Way is Andromeda galaxy.

4. The oldest star in Milky way galaxy is 13.2 billion years old which is known as HE 1523. it is almost as old as the Universe itself.

Interesting Facts About HALLEY'S COMET

Halley's Comet is the best-known of the short-period comets, and is visible from Earth every 75 to 76 years.Halley is the only short-period comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the only naked-eye comet that might appear twice in a human lifetime. Here is list about some interesting facts about these comets :-

1. Halley’s Comet is named after English astronomer Edmond Halley who first determined its period of orbit. It was the first comet to be recognized as having a periodic orbit.

2. It last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986 and will return again sometime in 2061.

3. Records of humans observing Halley’s Comet go back thousands of years, with appearances noted by Babylonian, Chinese and European star gazers.

4. The tail and fuzzy glow you see around Halley’s Comet is known as a coma. It occurs when the comet gets close to the Sun and compounds such as frozen water and carbon dioxide sublime (rapidly change from solid to gas) from its surface.