Solar System

45 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.How long will the Sun's total main-sequence life span be?
- A. About 1 billion years
- B. About 4.6 billion years
- C. About 10 billion years
- D. About 100 billion years
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About 10 billion years
Did you know? The Sun is close to halfway through its 10-billion-year life.
2.Which moon has lakes of liquid methane on its surface?
- A. Titan
- B. Europa
- C. Io
- D. Triton
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Titan
Did you know? Titan's methane lakes make it the only moon with standing liquid.
3.Which crater on the Moon shows bright rays across the near side?
- A. the Herschel Crater
- B. the Caloris Basin
- C. the Tycho Crater
- D. Barringer Crater
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the Tycho Crater
Did you know? Tycho's rays made it a target for early telescopic mapmakers.
4.Which dwarf planet is a reddish dwarf planet of the Kuiper Belt?
- A. Eris
- B. Makemake
- C. Pluto
- D. Haumea
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Makemake
Did you know? Makemake was found in 2005 at Palomar Observatory and named after the Rapa Nui creator god.
5.Which moon is so large that Pluto and it orbit a point between them?
- A. Pan
- B. Triton
- C. Janus
- D. Charon
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Charon
Did you know? Pluto and Charon are mutually tide-locked to each other.
6.Which moon feature is the loose crushed soil covering the Moon?
- A. the Lovell Telescope
- B. Chandrayaan-1
- C. Chang'e 4
- D. lunar regolith
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lunar regolith
Did you know? Lunar regolith is made of jagged, sharp-edged grains.
7.Which planet has the fastest winds in the solar system, topping 2,000 km/h?
- A. Earth
- B. Uranus
- C. Mars
- D. Neptune
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Neptune
Did you know? Voyager 2 measured Neptune's supersonic winds during its 1989 flyby.
8.Which planet feature is the six-sided jet stream circling the planet's north pole?
- A. the Moon's far side
- B. the rings of Jupiter
- C. Saturn's hexagon
- D. the Great Dark Spot
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Saturn's hexagon
Did you know? Saturn's hexagon spans about the width of two Earths.
9.Which solar feature hurls billions of tons of plasma into space?
- A. the heliopause
- B. a coronal mass ejection
- C. the Carrington Event
- D. the corona
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a coronal mass ejection
Did you know? CMEs aimed at Earth can spark strong geomagnetic storms.
10.How massive is the asteroid belt, compared with the Moon?
- A. About half of the Moon
- B. About twice the Moon
- C. About 4 percent of the Moon
- D. About the same as the Moon
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About 4 percent of the Moon
Did you know? Despite thousands of members, the belt stays remarkably light.
11.Which crater on Mercury is a giant impact basin ringed by mountains?
- A. the Caloris Basin
- B. Barringer Crater
- C. the Tycho Crater
- D. the Herschel Crater
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the Caloris Basin
Did you know? The Caloris Basin spans about 1,500 kilometers across.
12.Which dwarf planet is an egg-shaped dwarf planet spinning very fast?
- A. Ceres
- B. Eris
- C. Haumea
- D. Makemake
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Haumea
Did you know? Haumea's rapid spin stretches it into an elongated shape.
13.Which moon tumbles chaotically on an unpredictable rotation axis?
- A. Hyperion
- B. Ariel
- C. Iapetus
- D. Amalthea
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Hyperion
Did you know? Hyperion's sponge-like surface is dotted with deep pits.
14.Which planet feature was Neptune's storm system photographed by Voyager 2?
- A. the Great Dark Spot
- B. Saturn's hexagon
- C. the Moon's far side
- D. the rings of Jupiter
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the Great Dark Spot
Did you know? The Great Dark Spot had vanished when later telescopes looked.
15.Which solar feature was the great solar storm of 1859?
- A. the Carrington Event
- B. the photosphere
- C. the chromosphere
- D. a solar flare
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the Carrington Event
Did you know? The Carrington Event set telegraph wires sparking.
16.Which five bodies does the IAU count as dwarf planets?
- A. Pluto, Charon, Ceres, Eris and Io
- B. Pluto, Eris, Quaoar, Sedna and Ceres
- C. Pluto, Eris, Ceres, Haumea and Makemake
- D. Pluto, Eris, Titan, Ceres and Vesta
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Pluto, Eris, Ceres, Haumea and Makemake
Did you know? The IAU list has stayed at five since Makemake joined in 2008.
17.Which crater gives Saturn's moon Mimas a Death Star look?
- A. Barringer Crater
- B. the Caloris Basin
- C. the Herschel Crater
- D. the Tycho Crater
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the Herschel Crater
Did you know? The crater spans about a third of Mimas's diameter.
18.Which moon is the largest of Jupiter's irregular outer moons?
- A. Phoebe
- B. Himalia
- C. Titania
- D. Europa
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Himalia
Did you know? Himalia's distant orbit tilts far off Jupiter's equator plane.
19.Which planet feature are faint dusty rings found by Voyager 1?
- A. the Moon's far side
- B. the Great Dark Spot
- C. the rings of Jupiter
- D. Saturn's hexagon
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the rings of Jupiter
Did you know? Jupiter's faint rings came to light in 1979.
20.Which solar feature is the boundary where the Sun's bubble meets interstellar space?
- A. a geomagnetic storm
- B. a solar flare
- C. the heliosphere
- D. the heliopause
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the heliopause
Did you know? Beyond the heliopause lies true interstellar space.
21.How long does the Sun take to spin once at its equator?
- A. About 11 days
- B. About 90 days
- C. About 25 days
- D. About 365 days
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About 25 days
Did you know? The Sun's poles lag behind, taking about 35 days.
22.Which moon was the first moon found orbiting an asteroid?
- A. Himalia
- B. Dactyl
- C. Charon
- D. Hyperion
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Dactyl
Did you know? The Galileo spacecraft spotted Dactyl beside asteroid Ida in 1993.
23.Which solar feature is the fusion furnace at the Sun's heart?
- A. a coronagraph
- B. the solar core
- C. the Carrington Event
- D. a coronal mass ejection
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the solar core
Did you know? The solar core's temperature reaches about 15 million °C.
24.Which moon has cliffs that may be the tallest known in the solar system?
- A. Deimos
- B. Dactyl
- C. Epimetheus
- D. Miranda
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Miranda
Did you know? Miranda's Verona Rupes may rise up to about 20 kilometers.
25.Which solar feature is the reddish layer just above the Sun's visible surface?
- A. the chromosphere
- B. helioseismology
- C. the solar core
- D. the heliopause
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the chromosphere
Did you know? The chromosphere flashes into view during total eclipses.
26.Which moon is a small irregular moon buried deep in Jupiter's grip?
- A. Europa
- B. Janus
- C. Callisto
- D. Amalthea
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Amalthea
Did you know? Amalthea orbits closer to Jupiter than the four Galilean moons.
27.Which moon shares an orbit with Epimetheus around Saturn?
- A. Janus
- B. Phoebe
- C. Callisto
- D. Miranda
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Janus
Did you know? When they approach, their mutual gravity swaps their orbits.
28.Which moon has one of the most eccentric orbits of any moon?
- A. Nereid
- B. Charon
- C. Proteus
- D. Tethys
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Nereid
Did you know? Nereid's distance from Neptune varies enormously.
29.Which moon shows one dark hemisphere and one bright icy hemisphere?
- A. Iapetus
- B. Dione
- C. Callisto
- D. Miranda
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Iapetus
Did you know? Iapetus's two-tone look puzzled astronomers for centuries.
30.Which moon is the darkest of Uranus's major moons?
- A. Umbriel
- B. Telesto
- C. Callisto
- D. Titania
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Umbriel
Did you know? Umbriel's ancient surface reflects little sunlight.
31.Which moon is the brightest of Uranus's major moons?
- A. Deimos
- B. Mimas
- C. Titania
- D. Ariel
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Ariel
Did you know? Ariel's surface shows wide valleys and fresh-looking ice.
32.Which moon is an icy Saturnian moon almost pure water ice by mass?
- A. Hyperion
- B. Tethys
- C. Pan
- D. Amalthea
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Tethys
Did you know? Tethys has a giant trench system called Ithaca Chasma.
33.Which moon shares its orbit with the larger moon Tethys?
- A. Telesto
- B. Epimetheus
- C. Charon
- D. Tethys
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Telesto
Did you know? Telesto is a Trojan moon, hovering at a stable point ahead of Tethys.
34.Which solar feature is a huge glowing loop of plasma anchored in the Sun's surface?
- A. a prominence
- B. the corona
- C. sunspots
- D. a coronagraph
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a prominence
Did you know? Prominences can arc hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
35.Which is the largest impact basin on the Moon?
- A. Mare Imbrium
- B. the South Pole-Aitken Basin
- C. the Tycho Crater
- D. the Caloris Basin
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the South Pole-Aitken Basin
Did you know? The South Pole-Aitken Basin spans some 2,500 kilometers.
36.Which moon orbits inside a gap it carves in Saturn's rings?
- A. Himalia
- B. Janus
- C. Iapetus
- D. Pan
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Pan
Did you know? Pan's equatorial ridge gives it a walnut-like shape.
37.Which solar feature studies the Sun's interior through its surface oscillations?
- A. the solar core
- B. the photosphere
- C. helioseismology
- D. a solar flare
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helioseismology
Did you know? Sound waves ringing through the Sun reveal its hidden layers.
38.Which mountain's peak on asteroid Vesta rivals the tallest known?
- A. Olympus Mons
- B. Rheasilvia
- C. Verona Rupes
- D. Mauna Kea
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Rheasilvia
Did you know? Vesta's Rheasilvia central peak rises about 22 kilometers.
39.Which moon orbits Saturn backwards far beyond its main rings?
- A. Dactyl
- B. Europa
- C. Phoebe
- D. Iapetus
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Phoebe
Did you know? Phoebe's backwards orbit suggests it was captured.
40.Which solar feature is an instrument that blocks the Sun's disk to reveal the corona?
- A. a coronagraph
- B. a prominence
- C. sunspots
- D. a coronal mass ejection
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a coronagraph
Did you know? Coronagraphs let astronomers study the corona without an eclipse.
41.Which planet's faint rings were spotted during a 1977 star occultation?
- A. the rings of Uranus
- B. the rings of Mercury
- C. the rings of Jupiter
- D. the rings of Neptune
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the rings of Uranus
Did you know? Uranus's rings came to light before Voyager 2 ever arrived.
42.Which moon is Neptune's second-largest moon, dark and irregular?
- A. Ariel
- B. Tethys
- C. Proteus
- D. Dione
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Proteus
Did you know? Proteus is about as large as a body can be while staying irregular.
43.Which solar feature is the vast magnetic bubble the Sun blows around itself?
- A. the heliosphere
- B. a prominence
- C. the heliopause
- D. the corona
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the heliosphere
Did you know? Voyager 1 crossed the heliosphere's boundary in 2012.
44.Which moon swaps orbits with Janus every four years?
- A. Pan
- B. Mimas
- C. Europa
- D. Epimetheus
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Epimetheus
Did you know? The two co-orbital moons never collide as they trade paths.
45.Which moon shows wispy ice cliffs across its trailing side?
- A. Iapetus
- B. Nereid
- C. Dione
- D. Pan
Show answer
Dione
Did you know? Dione orbits Saturn in sync with its neighbor moons.

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