... that, if the Voyager spacecraft travelled at its current speed in the direction of Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun, it would take around 80,000 years to arrive?

... that the one of the largest known star, VY Canis Majoris, is nearly 1800 times bigger than our Sun?

... that our galaxy is estimated to contain 200-400 billion stars, more than the number of humans that have ever lived?

... the brightest stellar event in recorded history was a supernova in the year 1006, which was bigger and brighter than Venus for three months?

... Sirius's name probably comes from a Greek word meaning “sparkling”, or “scorching”?

... the Great Red Spot — a storm on Jupiter that has been going on for 300 years — is so big that dozens of Earths would fit into it?

... Earth is the only planet not named after a Roman or Greek god?

... the temperature on Mercury varies so extremely that it will rise up to 430 °C during the day and drop as low as -140 °C at night?

... a neutron star has such density that a pinhead of its matter would weigh more than biggest of supertankers?

... the Sun loses 360 million tonnes of material each day, yet it will glow for 5 billion more years?

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