95+ Best Solar System Trivia Questions & Answers

Question: In which month of the year do we see the Perseid meteor shower?

Answer: August

Question: What is the maximom number of solar eclipses which we can see in a year?

Answer: 5

Question: It takes how many minutes for light from the Sun to reach Earth?

Answer: 8 minutes

Question: The Vredefort crater, left over from a meteorite impact, is in which country?

Answer: South Africa

Question: Viking Lander, the first spacecraft to land on Mars, touched down in which year?

Answer: 1976

Question: Total solar eclipses happen on average every how many months?

Answer: 18 months

Question: What is the name for one celestial body passing in front of another?

Answer: Transit

Question: What is the name for areas which appear dark on the surface of the sun?

Answer: Sunspots

Question: What is the name for a planet outside the solar system?

Answer: Exoplanet

Question: Oberon, Titania, and Miranda are moons of which planet?

Answer: Uranus

Question: Which planet do astronomers sometimes call a failed star?

Answer: Jupiter

Question: What is the name for a small body orbiting the sun, made of rock or metal?

Answer: Asteroid

Question: What kind of hole is created when a star collapses?

Answer: Black

Question: NASA's Cassini space probe orbited which planet?

Answer: Saturn

Question: Shooting star is another name for which object?

Answer: Meteor

Question: Which planet is home to Ganymede, the biggest moon in the solar system?

Answer: Jupiter

Question: Triton is the largest moon of which planet?

Answer: Neptune

Question: Which planet has moons called Phobos and Deimos?

Answer: Mars

Question: Which planet has a moon called Triton?

Answer: Neptune

Question: Triton is the moon of which planet?

Answer: Neptune

Question: Which planet is known as 'the ringed planet'?

Answer: Saturn

Question: How many planets in our solar system are classed as gas giants?

Answer: 2

Question: Venus has how many moons?

Answer: 0

Question: How many moons does Mars have?

Answer: 2

Question: How many terrestrial planets do we have in our solar system?

Answer: 4

Question: Which planet in the solar system has more than 75 moons?

Answer: Jupiter

Question: Uranus takes how many Earth years to orbit the sun?

Answer: 84

Question: What is the coldest planet in the solar system?

Answer: Uranus

Question: The hottest planet in the solar system has a surface temperature of how many centigrade?

Answer: 450°C

Question: A year on Mercury is equivalent to how many days on Earth?

Answer: 88

Question: What is the second smallest planet in the solar system after Mercury?

Answer: Mars

Question: Which is the fastest spinning planet in the solar system?

Answer: Jupiter

Question: What is the term for any man-made object orbiting Earth?

Answer: Space Junk

Question: Which country launched the Marsnik 1 space probe in 1960?

Answer: USSR

Question: The Akatsuki mission to explore weather on Venus was launched by which country?

Answer: Japan

Question: What is the name of the NASA mission to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt?

Answer: New Horizons

Question: Which country launched the Hubble Space Telescope?

Answer: United States

Question: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits how many miles above Earth?

Answer: 350 miles

Question: Cassini-Huygens was a space mission launched by NASA, the European Space Agency, and which country?

Answer: Italy

Question: In which year was the Hubble Space Telescope launched?

Answer: 1990

Question: NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover was launched in which year?

Answer: 2011

Question: 92.1% of the sun is made up of which gas?

Answer: Hydrogen

Question: The sun accounts for what percentage of the mass of the solar system?

Answer: 99.80%

Question: The sun is composed of hydrogen and which other gas?

Answer: Helium

Question: How many times bigger than Earth is the Sun?

Answer: 110

Question: What is the approximate diameter of the Sun in kilometers?

Answer: 1.4 million kilometers

Question: What is the primary source of energy for the Sun?

Answer: Nuclear fusion

Question: What is the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere called?

Answer: Corona

Question: What is the average temperature of the Sun's surface in degrees Celsius?

Answer: Around 5,500 degrees Celsius

Question: How long does it take for the Sun's light to reach the Earth in minutes?

Answer: About 8 minutes

Question: What is the process that powers the Sun, where hydrogen atoms fuse to form helium?

Answer: Nuclear fusion

Question: What is the name of the Sun's visible surface?

Answer: Photosphere

Question: What is the Sun's approximate mass compared to the Earth's mass?

Answer: About 333,000 times the mass of the Earth

Question: How many Earths could fit inside the Sun?

Answer: Approximately 1.3 million Earths

Question: What is the Sun predominantly composed of?

Answer: Hydrogen and helium

Question: What is the term for a sudden, bright eruption on the Sun's surface?

Answer: Solar flare

Question: What is the Sun's approximate age in billions of years?

Answer: Around 4.6 billion years

Question: What is the name of the Sun's magnetic field that extends far into space?

Answer: Heliosphere

Question: What is the Sun's approximate rotation period at its equator?

Answer: About 25 days

Question: What is the name for the phenomenon of the Sun appearing completely covered by the Moon during an eclipse?

Answer: Total solar eclipse

Question: In which century was the first asteroid discovered?

Answer: 19th

Question: In which year was Uranus discovered?

Answer: 1781

Question: What celestial body crashing into Earth is thought to have ended the dinosaurs?

Answer: Asteroid

Question: The solar system planets are classed as Gas Giants and which other group?

Answer: Terrestrial

Question: What comes after 'Kuiper' for an area of space beyond Pluto?

Answer: Belt

Question: What is the name for a cloud of dust and gas in interstellar space?

Answer: Nebula

Question: How many general types of galaxies are there?

Answer: 3

Question: How many spiral arms does our galaxy have?

Answer: 4

Question: What is the name for snowballs of frozen gases, rocks, and dust?

Answer: Comet

Question: Which planet is referred to as the 'morning star'?

Answer: Venus

Question: In which year was Pluto reclassified as a dwarf planet?

Answer: 2006

Question: What comes after 'Kuiper' in the name of a solar system feature near Neptune?

Answer: Belt

Question: What comes after 'Swift' in the name of a comet which is visible every 133 years?

Answer: Tuttle

Question: What comes after 'Oort' in the name of a very distant region of the solar system?

Answer: Cloud

Question: What is the name of the theoretical shell of icy objects beyond the Kuiper Belt?

Answer: Oort Cloud

Question: Halley's comet will next pass Earth in which year?

Answer: 2061

Question: In which decade did Halley's comet last pass Earth?

Answer: 1980s

Question: The Kuiper Belt lies beyond the orbit of which planet?

Answer: Neptune

Question: The asteroid belt lies between Mars and which planet?

Answer: Jupiter

Question: Which planet in the solar system has 67 confirmed and named moons?

Answer: Jupiter

Question: William Herschel discovered Uranus in which century?

Answer: 18th

Question: Which was the first planet to be discovered by scientists?

Answer: Uranus

Question: Jupiter's Great Red Spot was first identified in which year?

Answer: 1665

Question: Which moon in our solar system is the largest?

Answer: Ganymede

Question: What is the name of the moon that orbits the planet Mars?

Answer: Phobos and Deimos

Question: Which moon of Jupiter is known for its intense volcanic activity?

Answer: Io

Question: Which moon of Saturn is the only known moon with a substantial atmosphere?

Answer: Titan

Question: What is the largest moon of Neptune?

Answer: Triton

Question: Which moon of Uranus is known for its unique sideways rotation?

Answer: Miranda

Question: Which moon of Saturn has a prominent ridge running along its equator?

Answer: Iapetus

Question: Which moon of Jupiter is famous for its colorful and vibrant surface?

Answer: Europa

Question: What is the name of the largest moon of Pluto?

Answer: Charon

Question: Which moon of Saturn is known for its icy plumes erupting from its south pole?

Answer: Enceladus

Question: Which moon of Neptune is the only known moon to have a retrograde orbit?

Answer: Triton

Question: What is the name of the largest moon of Saturn?

Answer: Titan

Question: Which moon of Uranus has a distinct feature called "The Great Dark Spot"?

Answer: Umbriel

Question: What is the name of the largest moon of Venus?

Answer: None (Venus does not have any moons)

Question: Which moon of Jupiter was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610?

Answer: The Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto)

Question: Which planet is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty?

Answer: Venus

Question: The moon has what proportion of the gravity on Earth?

Answer: Sixth

Question: What is the name of the theoretical boundary at the edge of the solar system?

Answer: Heliopause

Question: How many days does it take the moon to orbit the Earth?

Answer: 27.3

Question: Astronomer Johann Bode, who discovered Uranus, came from which country?

Answer: Germany