Astronomy Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 39
What astronomical event, despite its name meaning 'new star', is actually just a star that rapidly increases in brightness?
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nova
What celestial body's coronas can be observed using the coronagraph invented by Bernard Lyot?
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sun
What is the name of the triple star system that includes the closest star to Earth after the sun, and is the 3rd-brightest star in the heavens?
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alpha centauri
In 1930, which planet was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh, who passed away in 1997 at the age of 90?
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pluto
What is the central region where the sun's energy is produced?
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core
What Jovian feature is abbreviated as GRS?
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great red spot
Which heavenly body was first photographed by chemist John William Draper around 1840?
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moon
What planet is at its closest point to Earth, only 26 million miles away?
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venus
What is the celestial object that a planet or other body is closest to at its perihelion?
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sun
Which celestial object was discovered in 1930 after a 25-year-long telescope search?
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pluto
Which planet has a moon named Titan that is larger than Mercury and has an atmosphere?
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saturn
During which winter month is the Earth closest to the sun?
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january
What celestial body, a whopping 2,160 miles in diameter, orbits the Earth and is larger than it appears?
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moon
In 1999, which celestial body will pass Neptune to become the last planet in our solar system?
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pluto
What type of celestial object, last seen in 1997 and not expected to return for another 2,400 years, is Hale-Bopp?
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comet
Which planet was the last of the 9 planets to be discovered?
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pluto
What type of star typically reaches its peak brightness within 2 to 50 hours after an explosion?
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nova
What is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor?
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polaris
What is the name of the atmospheric storm on Jupiter large enough to fit 2 Earths inside it?
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great red spot
How many planets in our solar system are larger than Earth?
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4
Which dwarf planet in our solar system is smaller than Earth's moon?
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pluto
What celestial body is studied using a spectrohelioscope by astronauts?
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sun
Which planet has a diameter of 7,500 miles, which is only slightly less than Earth's diameter?
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venus
What is the name of the multiple star in the Centaurus constellation that is 4.3 light years from Earth?
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alpha centauri
Which planet, although the next one out from Jupiter, is nearly twice as far from the Sun as Jupiter?
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saturn
In the Northern Hemisphere, what term describes the event that occurs on June 21 or 22, marking the longest day of the year?
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solstice
Which planet's four largest moons are called Galilean satellites, discovered by Galileo in 1610?
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jupiter
Which planet, discovered by William Herschel in 1781 and originally named Georgium Sidus, is now known by a different name?
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uranus
If Earth's mass is represented as 1, which planet's mass is approximately 0.8?
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venus
Which is the largest planet that takes about 12 Earth years to complete one orbit around the Sun?
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jupiter
What is the celestial body that astronomers currently have the least information about?
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pluto
Which scientist was nearly accurate in predicting that the comet seen in 1682 would return in 1758, when it actually returned in 1759?
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edmond halley
What type of massive exploding star event formed the Crab Nebula in 1054?
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supernova
Which star is famously known as the nose of the constellation Canis Major?
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sirius
Ceres, the largest and first minor planet discovered, orbits among the asteroids just beyond which planet?
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venus
What planet has a thick cloud cover that causes temperatures at its equator and poles to be about the same?
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venus
Who served as the editor of Icarus, the international journal of solar system studies, from 1969 to 1979?
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carl sagan
Which planet was discovered to have two braided rings by Voyager 1 in 1980?
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saturn
What small outer planet may be a low-density ice ball?
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pluto
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