Facts You Probably don’t Need
- The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognizes 288 planetary moons orbiting our solar system’s eight planets.
- The Moon is believed to be 4.53 billion years old.
- If you wanted to walk the circumference of the Moon, it would take roughly 206 days.
- The Moon is 238,900 miles from the earth.
- In 1252, Henry III of England was given a polar bear by the King of Norway. He kept it in the Tower of London, on a long chain so that it could swim in the Thames.
- Brazil has the biggest Japanese community outside of Japan.
- Fez, currently the second-largest city in Morocco, is believed to have been briefly the largest city in the world during the 12th century.
- There have been many copies of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa but the Prado Mona Lisa, located in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, is thought by experts to have been painted by a direct pupil of da Vinci. It is believed to be the earliest known replication of the iconic painting.
Facts by Sean McVeigh, factologist.
