Astronomy Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 49
What is the term for a galactic cloud of dust and gas, derived from the Latin word for 'cloud'?
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nebula
Which constellation features a line from Merak to Dubhe that directs you to Polaris, the North Star?
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ursa major
What was the outermost planet known before the discovery of Uranus in 1781?
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saturn
Which planet in the solar system is the only one smaller than Earth's moon?
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pluto
Which country's Nozomi spacecraft was scheduled to enter Mars' orbit in December 2003?
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japan
Which Danish astronomer discovered a supernova in the constellation Cassiopeia in 1572?
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tycho brahe
According to Japanese astronomer Naomasa Nakai, which galaxy is cigar-shaped rather than spiral as commonly believed?
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milky way
What planet was discovered as a result of a 25-year search initiated by Percival Lowell?
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pluto
Which outer planet, discovered by William Herschel, has a 98-degree axial tilt and experiences solstices 42 years apart?
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uranus
Which planet has a moon named Titan that is larger than two other planets?
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saturn
Which celestial body has more similarities with Triton, Neptune's largest moon, than with any other planets in our solar system?
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pluto
Which planet has an orbit tilted 17 degrees off the plane of the sun's equator?
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pluto
Which planet's name did Johann Bode propose based on a mythological father?
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uranus
What does the asteroid Ida have, photographed by the Galileo probe in 1993, that is named Dactyl?
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moon
What shape is the Andromeda galaxy (M 31) and the Milky Way?
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spiral
Which icy planet takes 248 years to complete an orbit around the sun?
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pluto
What astronomer observed and described the star known as Tycho's Star in 1572?
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tycho brahe
Which planet is approximately 1.5 times farther from the Sun than Earth?
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mars
During which phase of the Moon is its illuminated side completely hidden from observers on Earth?
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new moon
Which planet is the closest to Earth and is similar in size?
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venus
Which space telescope did astronauts successfully repair while in orbit on December 10, 1993?
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hubble space telescope
What planet has a cloudy atmosphere that reflects sunlight so well it is the third brightest object in the sky?
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venus
What is the only planet that has not yet been encountered by a space probe?
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pluto
Which planet, discovered in 1846, had its moon Triton found a few weeks later?
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neptune
What planet's two moons were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall in 1877?
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mars
Which planet has features that include a mountain ridge called Aphrodite and a crater called Cleopatra?
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venus
Miranda is a moon of which planet that was the first moon not named after a god or spirit?
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uranus
What color of the visible spectrum does the galactic light shift toward, indicating that the universe is expanding?
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red
Which planet has its closest moon about 85,000 miles away and its farthest moon about 8 million miles away?
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saturn
What is the star that has The Pup, the first white dwarf to be discovered, as its lesser component?
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sirius
Which planet was closer to the Sun than Neptune until March 15, 1999?
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pluto
What type of minor planet was photographed up close by the Galileo probe in 1991, with the photo featuring Gaspra?
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asteroid
In which constellation can the Big Dipper be found?
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ursa major
What is the name given to the cloud of hydrogen gas that can be seen between the stars of Orion's sword, also identified as M42?
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nebula
What is the name of the planet discovered in 1846 that has not yet completed one full orbit around the sun?
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neptune
Which planet is named after a mythical sea god?
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neptune
Which planet in our solar system has Ganymede as one of its four Galilean moons?
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jupiter
On August 10, 1990, the Magellan spacecraft arrived at which planet after being launched on May 4, 1989?
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venus
In what language are the scientific names of all constellations written?
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latin
James W. Christy discovered Charon, a moon orbiting which distant planet, on June 22, 1978?
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pluto
Which planet has a moon named Triton that has a thin nitrogen atmosphere?
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neptune
Which planet's main moons can be remembered with the mnemonic 'Met Dr. Thip,' where Titan is represented by the second T?
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saturn
Which planet had a fifth satellite discovered by E.E. Barnard in 1892, with the previous satellites discovered by Galileo?
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jupiter
What celestial body is known for its prominences, which are clouds, tubes, and tongues of gases?
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sun
Hidalgo, one of what type of objects, reaches the orbit of Saturn, but most are confined to a belt between Mars & Jupiter?
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asteroid
Which Danish astronomer discovered a 'new star' when Shakespeare was only 8 years old?
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tycho brahe
What astronomical object, discovered by Giovanni Donati in 1858, has a tail approximately 45 million miles long?
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comet
Which planet has Callisto as its outermost Galilean moon?
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jupiter
Which British astronomer was the first to state in 1718 that stars had individual motions?
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edmond halley
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