Our lives are capable of changing in just a moment. This article may bring that moment for you. Did you know that unlike how we were taught in school, the Sun is not really stationary at one point and that the Earth does not really revolve around the Sun even though it appears so, or that the Great Wall of China is not really visible from space? This list of ten facts that will change your perspective about the world around us and can bring about a major paradigm shift.

1 There are actual castles in real life that are less expensive to buy than an apartment in New York City.

Living in castles is considered to be a privilege for the filthy rich or the royals. That is not always true. A lot of mind-blowing and historic castles are up for sale in beautiful locations in countries like Spain, Ireland, Scotland, France, and England. Many of them have stunning views and age-old architecture giving them a high aesthetic value. A lot of these castles can be bought for less than one million dollars.

A 17th-century castle, McDermott’s Castle in Ireland, is an island unto itself and is available for 100,000 US dollars. A two-floor castle next to the sea in Scotland named “Breachacha Castle” is for sale for 497,227 US dollars. These prices are less than the price of an apartment of around 500 square feet in New York City which will cost at least a million dollars. (source)

2 There are planets in the universe without suns that are hurtling through space in absolute darkness.

Imagine wandering about in space like that! These Jupiter-sized, rogue planets are not gravitationally drawn to any star and are orbiting around a center in the galaxy. They do not belong to any planetary system, and some of them could have been ejected from a system of which they were once a part. These rogue planets were first talked about in 2011 in a study of microlensing (a technique used to detect objects in space regardless of the light they emit) published by astrophysicist Takahiro Sumi of Osaka University in Japan and his team. They found 474 incidents of microlensing in the Milkyway, and ten were discovered to be Jupiter-sized, rogue planets.

There are about 75 billion rogue planets in the universe that are roaming in the Milkyway alone, lost and sun-less, according to the latest analysis published in the Nature Astronomy journal. Eight years ago, it was believed that there were two rogue planets for every star in our galaxy. However, that was proved incorrect. (1, 2)

3 Balto, the dog, only ran the last leg of the 1925 serum run to save the people of Nome, Alaska. The dog that ran the longest and the most treacherous parts of the route that night was named “Togo.”

Balto, a Siberian husky became famous after the 1925 serum run to Nome (also called the “Great Race of Mercy” and the “Serum Run”) in Alaska in which diphtheria antitoxin was transported when an epidemic broke out in the town. There was no other way to have the medical supplies reach the town in winter except through the Iditarod Trail that passed through several mountains and the vast interior of Alaska starting from the port of Seward. In 1925, the only way the trail could be traveled was by using sled dogs. The Great Race of Mercy was a total of 674 miles from Nenana to Nome. Balto ran the last leg of the run on this trail for 55 miles, but he became the most famous canine.

The dog that deserved fame was Togo, musher Leonhard Seppala’s Siberian husky. They picked up the serum in Shaktoolik after a three-day trip from Nome and then headed back. Togo and his team went across the treacherous Norton Sound and climbed the 5,000 feet of the Little McKinley Mountain. He also saved his team and the driver, swimming through floating ice sheets in -34° C.

He ran the most difficult part of the run for 200 miles. The serum was then passed to musher Charlie Olsen who then passed it to Balto and his musher Gunnar Kaasen. A total of 20 mushers and 100 dogs relayed the antidote to Nome. (1, 2)

4 The deepest mine is about 2.5 miles. If Earth was an apple, humans haven’t even drilled deep enough to completely pierce the skin. The Earth’s inner core is at a depth of around 3,900 miles.

Mponeng Gold Mine in South Africa’s Gauteng Province is the world’s deepest mine from ground level. Its depth is 2.5 miles below the surface, and it takes about an hour to travel to the surface to its deepest level. That said, let’s look at the structure of the Earth. The lithosphere ends at the depth of about 37 miles, from where begins the uppermost part of the mantle. The mantle goes as deep as 1,790 miles after which begins the outer core. When the outer core ends at a depth of 3,160 miles, the inner core begins which ends at 3,954 miles. The depth we have been able to dig in mines so far is only 0.00063% of Earth’s total depth up to the core. This is the same to not having drilled deep enough to pierce an apple’s skin if Earth was likened to an apple. (1, 2)

5 A 12-ounce can of Coke has about 9-1/3 teaspoons of sugar in it.

We have been saying that soda contains sugar, and we should limit our intake of it. If we check the ingredients list, we don’t see the words “sugar” listed. In the United States, Coke is made with high fructose corn syrup which a cheaper alternative to sugar. The American Heart Association (AHA) states that women should not have more than 6 teaspoons of sugar in a day which equals to about 25 grams of sugar, and men should not have more than 9 teaspoons a day which equals to about 38 grams of sugar. A 12-ounce (340 grams) can of Coke has about 39 grams of sugar which, is equal to 9-1/3 teaspoons, more than the recommended amount of sugar intake by the AHA. (source)