Astronomy Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 42
Which 7-star constellation, found on an ancient Chinese chart, is still well-known today?
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big dipper
Sagitta is a constellation that represents what item, located near the constellation Sagittarius?
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arrow
Which planet's Great Red Spot has decreased to half its size since the turn of the century?
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jupiter
What planet was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh on February 18, 1930, using photos he took the month before?
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pluto
Which planet is 1,047 times less massive than the sun?
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jupiter
What is the second largest planet in our solar system?
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saturn
Which planet in the solar system has an orbit that takes approximately 248 Earth years to complete?
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pluto
In astronomy, which phase of the moon is indicated by a darkened circle?
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new moon
What is the largest of the terrestrial planets and also has one of the largest satellites?
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earth
What is the minimum number of lenses required to construct a simple refracting telescope?
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2
What is the 4.5 billion-year-old G2 type star closest to where you're standing?
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sun
Which planet's rings did Giovanni Cassini discover a main division in, along with four of its satellites?
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saturn
What planet is associated with the adjective 'Jovian'?
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jupiter
What celestial body gets millions of tons lighter every second and supplies most of the energy the Earth receives?
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sun
Which planet in our solar system requires a telescope to see and cannot be viewed with ordinary binoculars?
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pluto
What is the gas that the sun spends its days and nights converting into helium?
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hydrogen
What celestial object, named for Johann Franz Encke, has an orbital period of 3.3 years?
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comet
Which planet is known for its reddish hue due to the presence of oxidized iron on its surface?
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mars
Which planet in the solar system, when at its brightest, can be seen during daylight?
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venus
What is the temperature at the central region of the Sun, measured at about 27,000,000� F?
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core
Which outer, smallest planet's surface features cannot be revealed even by the Hubble Space Telescope?
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pluto
Which planet has an equatorial diameter that is only about 400 miles less than Earth's?
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venus
According to The '97 World Almanac, which red planet will be visible in the sky all year long and is often linked with the idea of invasions?
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mars
What term, often preceded by 'dirty', is used to describe comets mainly composed of dust and ice?
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snowball
Which planet in our solar system is, on average, about twice as far from the Sun as Mercury?
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venus
Which planet's moons, Phobos and Deimos, were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall in 1877?
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mars
Which planet is known for its Great Red Spot?
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jupiter
Which planet discovered in 1846 had its satellite Triton found 17 days later by William Lassell?
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neptune
Which celestial object can possess a plasma tail made of ionized gas, a dust tail, or both?
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comet
What element does the sun convert into helium at a rate of about 4 million tons per second?
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hydrogen
On average, the Earth is approximately 93 million miles away from what celestial body?
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sun
What planet, known for being the hottest in the solar system, is second from the Sun?
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venus
Which part of a comet can be up to 100 million miles long and a million miles wide?
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tail
In 1979, Voyager I photographed volcanoes erupting on Io, a moon of which large planet?
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jupiter
On which neighboring celestial body were 4.6 billion-year-old rocks found, suggesting the Earth is over 4.5 billion years old?
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moon
How many planets in our solar system are smaller than the Earth?
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4
On March 5, 1998, what astronomical body did scientists report having ice at both poles?
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moon
During what astronomical event can Baily's Beads, bright spots along the rim of the moon, be observed?
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eclipse
In 1997, which planet transitioned from being a morning star until May to becoming an evening star for the remainder of the year?
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venus
What has a length of less than 10 hours on Jupiter?
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day
Which ruddy-colored planet did Johann Kepler study to develop his laws of planetary motion?
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mars
In which galaxy does our solar system reside, situated on one of its spiral arms?
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milky way
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