Mercury Is Shrinking — the Whole Planet Is Getting Smaller
As its giant iron core cools, Mercury contracts, wrinkling its crust into cliffs hundreds of kilometers long. The planet has lost up to 14 km of diameter.
Solar System Secrets
Mars Has a Volcano So Big You Couldn't See It While Standing On It
Olympus Mons is nearly three times the height of Everest and the size of an entire country — so wide its slopes would hide beyond your horizon.
It Literally Rains Diamonds Inside Neptune and Uranus
Thousands of kilometers below the clouds of the ice giants, extreme pressure squeezes carbon into diamonds that fall like hail toward the core.
Saturn Has a Perfectly Hexagonal Storm Bigger Than Earth
At Saturn's north pole sits a six-sided jet stream 30,000 km across that has held its geometric shape for over 40 years. Nothing else like it exists.
A Single Day on Venus Lasts Longer Than Its Entire Year
Venus takes 243 Earth days to spin once but only 225 to orbit the Sun. On Venus, your birthday comes around faster than sunrise.
Venus Is Hotter Than Mercury — Even Though Mercury Is Closer to the Sun
Mercury sits twice as close to the Sun, yet Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system. The reason is a runaway greenhouse effect gone mad.