Science & Space
Planets, stars, elements and the extremes of the measurable universe.
28 lists in this topic.
Top 10 Chemical Elements by Highest Melting Point
The ten elements with the highest melting points, per the Royal Society of Chemistry periodic table: tungsten (3414 °C) leads rhenium and osmium, with technetium tenth.
chemistryTop 10 Densest Chemical Elements by Density
The ten densest chemical elements by measured room-temperature density, per the Royal Society of Chemistry periodic table: osmium (22.5872 g/cm³) edges iridium, with tantalum tenth.
materialsTop 10 Mohs Scale Reference Minerals by Hardness
The ten reference minerals that define the Mohs hardness scale, from diamond at 10 down to talc at 1.
scienceTop 10 Largest Planets and Dwarf Planets in the Solar System by Diameter
The eight planets plus the two largest dwarf planets, Pluto and Eris, ranked by diameter from Jupiter (142,984 km) down to Eris (2,326 km).
chemistryTop 10 Most Abundant Elements in Earth's Crust
The ten most common chemical elements in Earth's continental crust by mass, per the CRC Handbook: oxygen alone is 46.1%, silicon 28.2%.
scienceTop 11 Most Luminous Stars by Bolometric Luminosity
R136a1, at about 7.2 million times the Sun's luminosity, tops the list; 11 stars appear because two tie at 4 million L☉.
scienceTop 10 Planets and Dwarf Planets by Number of Moons
The ten planets and dwarf planets in our Solar System with the most confirmed moons, ranked by the number of known natural satellites in orbit.
scienceTop 10 Planets and Dwarf Planets by Shortest Orbital Period
Mercury circles the Sun in 0.241 Earth years (88 days); Neptune needs 164.79 years and Pluto 247.94. The ten shortest years among the Solar System's planets and dwarf planets.
spaceTop 10 Rockets by Payload Capacity to Low Earth Orbit
The ten rockets with the largest rated payload to low Earth orbit among rockets that have flown successfully, led by the Saturn V at 140 tonnes.
scienceTop 14 Strongest Earthquakes Ever Recorded by Magnitude
The 1960 Valdivia earthquake in Chile, magnitude 9.5, is the strongest ever recorded; this list has 14 entries because five earthquakes tie at magnitude 8.6.
spaceTop 10 Planetary Rovers of All Time by Distance Driven
The robotic and crewed rovers that have driven farthest across the Moon and Mars, ranked by total odometry in kilometers.
spaceTop 10 Largest Satellite Constellations in the World by Active Satellites in Orbit
The ten biggest satellite networks in orbit as of September 2026, ranked by the number of working satellites each one operates.
spaceTop 10 Most Massive Black Holes in the Universe by Mass
The ten most massive black holes ever found, ranked by estimated mass in billions of solar masses.
archaeologyTop 10 Largest Pyramids in the World by Volume
Ranked by estimated structural volume, from Cholula's 4.45 million cubic meters down to Teotihuacan's Pyramid of the Moon.
spaceTop 10 Most Distant Human-Made Spacecraft from Earth
The farthest human-made objects in space, ranked by distance from the Sun in astronomical units.
spaceTop 10 Largest Known Galaxies by Diameter
The ten largest known galaxies by diameter, from the immense IC 1101 down to the Triangulum Galaxy.
spaceTop 10 Largest Radio Telescopes by Dish Diameter in the World
The ten largest single-dish radio telescopes in the world, ranked by aperture diameter, from China's massive 500-meter FAST to the 64-meter Parkes Observatory in Australia.
spaceTop 10 Largest Confirmed Exoplanets by Radius
The ten largest known exoplanets with confirmed radii, from ultra-puffy gas giants larger than 1.5 Jupiter radii down to the edge of the giant planet category.
scienceTop 10 Brightest Stars in the Night Sky by Apparent Magnitude
The ten stars that shine brightest to the naked eye, ranked by apparent visual magnitude — the inverted, logarithmic scale where the most negative number wins.
spaceTop 10 Closest Known Exoplanets to Earth by Distance
The ten nearest confirmed exoplanets all orbit red dwarfs within about 11 light-years of the Sun, led by two worlds circling Proxima Centauri.
scienceTop 10 Largest Asteroids by Diameter
The ten biggest bodies in the asteroid belt, ranked by mean diameter from spacecraft, adaptive-optics imaging, and stellar occultation data.
scienceTop 10 Largest Impact Craters on Earth by Diameter
The ten biggest confirmed asteroid and comet scars on Earth, ranked by the diameter of the impact structure they left behind.
scienceTop 10 Largest Meteorites Found on Earth by Mass
The ten heaviest individual meteorite masses ever recovered on Earth, ranked by estimated mass in tonnes, from Namibia's 60-tonne Hoba giant down through the great irons of Argentina, China, and Greenland.
spaceTop 10 Largest Optical Telescopes by Mirror Aperture
The biggest eyes on the sky: the ten largest operational ground-based optical telescopes, ranked by effective primary mirror aperture.
spaceTop 5 Most Distant Human-Made Spacecraft from Earth
The five spacecraft on escape trajectories out of the Solar System, ranked by how far they now sit from the Sun.
scienceTop 8 Largest Planets in the Solar System by Diameter
All eight planets ranked by equatorial diameter, from the gas giant Jupiter down to tiny Mercury, per NASA's Planetary Fact Sheet.
scienceTop 10 Largest Moons in the Solar System by Diameter
The ten biggest natural satellites orbiting the Sun's planets, ranked by mean diameter using NASA/JPL figures.
scienceTop 10 Nearest Star Systems to Earth by Distance
The ten closest stellar systems to the Sun, ranked by distance in light-years from Gaia DR3 and RECONS parallax measurements.