Space Facts Quiz: How Many Of These 16 Insane Things About The Universe Do You Know?

QUIZ: How Much Do You Really Know About The Universe?

Space, as someone once said, is big.

So it wouldn't be that surprising if some of its stranger elements had escaped your attention to this point.

But with the space race finally reaching the UK, and with more of the universe finally making itself available for exploration, tourism and (eventually) participation in some sort of football tournament (we assume), it's time to wise up.

We've collected 16 of our favourite space facts into this quick quiz, below. It shouldn't take you more than 90 seconds, but it could lead to a lifetime of factoids with which to irritate your dumb friends in the pub.

(Answers after the slideshow below - no cheating!)

1. The universe is 13.7 billion years old

2. 96% of the matter in the universe is made up of invisible dark matter, dark energy or other invisible stuff we don't understand

3. The Moon is moving away from the Earth by about 4cm a year, slowing the rotation of the planet

4. Uncoated metal instantly fuses together in space. All the metal used on the space station is pre-coated.

5. 100 million 1-megaton bombs per second

6. Mercury has no atmosphere, so its dark side is much colder than Venus, where the atmosphere is thick. It gets down to a chilly -280 degrees F on Mercury.

7. Project A119 was intended to nuke the Moon

8. It's 0.02 seconds, and it's held by Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev

9. Including planets, dwarf planets and Moons there are at least 90 worlds in the solar system, possibly more if you count large asteroids beyond the orbit of Pluto.

10. Most rocks burn up in the atmosphere. About 500 reach the surface a year, though only about 5-6 are large enough to show up on radar.

11. We have confirmed around 2,000 exoplanets so far, with more being found all the time

12. There are around 400 billion stars in the galaxy

13. Just a movie, sorry. Anyway, it was an asteroid.

14. It's Ganymede

15. Jupiter

16. 12

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