Science

Charts and visualisations about science.

Elements by Abundance in Earth's Crust

Most abundant elements in Earth's crust ranked by percentage of mass. Oxygen is by far the most plentiful element.

Hardest Minerals

The Mohs hardness scale ranking 10 reference minerals from softest to hardest.

Densest Elements on Earth

The densest elements ranked by density at room temperature. Osmium leads at 22.59 g/cm³ — nearly twice as dense as lead — followed closely by iridium, platinum, and rhenium.

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Largest Stars in the Milky Way

The largest known stars in the Milky Way galaxy, ranked by solar radius (R☉). VY Canis Majoris, VX Sagittarii, and other red supergiants dwarf our Sun by over 1,000 times.

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Brightest Stars Visible from Earth

The 24 brightest stars as seen from Earth, ranked by apparent magnitude. Sirius dominates at magnitude -1.46, shining nearly 4 times brighter than Vega. Six stars shine brighter than magnitude 0, visible even from city skies.

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Most Massive Black Holes Ever Discovered

The 15 most massive black holes ever discovered, ranked by mass in billions of solar masses. Phoenix A leads at ~100 billion solar masses, followed by IC 1101 at ~97.7 billion and TON 618 at 40.7 billion.

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Largest Moons of the Solar System

Ganymede is the solar system's largest moon at 5,268 km across, bigger than the planet Mercury. Jupiter hosts 3 of the 4 biggest moons, while our own Moon ranks 5th at 3,476 km.

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Hottest Planets in the Solar System

Venus is the hottest planet in the Solar System at 464 °C, hotter than Mercury despite being farther from the Sun, all because of its runaway greenhouse effect. This chart ranks all eight planets by mean surface temperature, from a scorching 464 °C on Venus down to a frigid -201 °C on Neptune.

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Largest Meteorites Ever Found on Earth

Hoba, a 60-tonne iron meteorite in Namibia that has never been moved from where it fell, is the heaviest ever found. Cape York's Ahnighito fragment (30.9 t), Campo del Cielo's Gancedo (30.8 t) and Aletai's Armanty (28 t) follow, and every one of the 20 heaviest specimens on record is an iron meteorite.

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