Facts You Probably don’t Need
- Martin Van Buren was both the first president to be born in the United States and the only president to speak English as his second language.
- Surface temperatures on Venus are about 900 degrees Fahrenheit, making it the hottest planet in our solar system.
- When the Roman Colosseum was built in 80 A.D., the Great Pyramid of Giza was 700 years older than the Colosseum is now.
- Venus is the second brightest object in the night sky, behind the moon. It is referred to as the evening star and the morning star as it is brightest during sunset and sunrise.
- The State of Washington was named Washington instead of Columbia so that it wouldn’t be confused with the District of Columbia, as it was commonly known at the time.
- Venus is the only planet in the solar system that spins clockwise. On Venus, the sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
- If sound could travel through space, the roar of the sun would theoretically be over 100 decibels even though it’s 93 million miles away.
Facts by Sean McVeigh, factologist.
