Astronomy Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 228
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
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