On 12 April 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first person to travel in space, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1.Gagarin orbited the Earth once on this historic flight, which lasted 1 hour an…
Before it was formed, the Sun and the rest of the solar system was a huge mass of hot gas and dust called a solar nebula. This nebula spun faster and faster until the clouds of gases, dust and ice p…
> Mauna Loa in Hawaii is the highest volcano on Earth. It rises about 4 kilometres above sea level; below that, it extends to 5 kilometres down before it reaches the seabed. Its massive weight has pushed the volcano down a further 8 kilometres below the seabed! So Mauna Loa is 17 kilometres (56,000 feet) from its base to its summit.
> The Pacific Ocean is the world’s largest and deepest ocean. It has an average depth of over 4,000 metres (13,100 feet). It has the world’s deepest trench – the Mariana Trench near Japan. The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the deepest point on Earth– about 11,033 metres (36,200 feet) deep.
> The Nile is the longest river on Earth. It flows for 6,695kilometres (4,184 miles).
> All the planets rotate from west to east on their axes, apart from Venus, which spins in the opposite direction. On the surface of Venus, the Sun appears to rise in the west and set in the east. The planet might have been hit by a huge space rock, reversing the direction of its spin.
> All the planets are named after Roman gods. Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love. The surface features of Venus are also named after various goddesses.