Solar System Practice Quiz
What is the temperature of the core of the Sun (Celsius)?
15,999,727 degrees Celsius
What is the temperature of the core of the Sun (Kelvin)?
16,000,000.15 degrees Kelvin
What percent of the Solar System's mass is contributed by the Sun?
99.9%
Where are asteroids found in the Solar System?
Asteroid Belt
Name the Galilean Moons.
Callisto, Io, Europa, Ganymede
Name two asteroids.
Ceres and 704 Interamnia
Name three comets.
Comet Swift-Tuttle 1992, Comet Hyakutake, Comet Hale-Bopp
How was the Solar System formed?
Experts support the idea that the Solar System was formed when a cloud of dust and gas in space was disturbed by the explosion of a supernova. This explosion made waves in space; these waves compressed the cloud of gas and dust.
Who discovered the Galilean Moons?
Galileo Galilei
What elements make up the Sun?
Hydrogen, Helium, Carbon, Nitrogen, and Oxygen
How is Pluto's size different than that of other planets?
It is much smaller.
How is Pluto's orbit different than that of other planets?
It is not very circular, and it is very tilted.
What planet do the Galilean Moons orbit?
Jupiter
Which planet is almost like a star?
Jupiter
What are the three planets with the most moons?
Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus
What is the second smallest planet?
Mars
Which planet (other than Earth) contains water (frozen or liquid)?
Mars
How is our moon different from the satellites of Mars (Deimos and Phobos)?
Mars' moons are much closer to Mars than the moon is to Earth.
What is the smallest planet?
Mercury
Which two planets do not have moons?
Mercury and Venus
List the planets in order of distance from the Sun (closest to farthest)
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Where is the "Dark Spot"?
Neptune
Which planet could float in water?
Saturn
What will happen to the Sun in 5 million years? Explain.
The Sun will begin to die. It will run out of hydrogen, therefore not being able to perform nuclear fusion or create energy. As the Sun expands it will become a red giant star.
Why don't Mercury and Venus have moons?
They are too close to the Sun.
Name two of the Shakespearean Moons.
Titania and Oberon
What planet exhibits "electroglow"?
Uranus
Where are the Shakespearean Moons?
Uranus
Which planet contains sulfuric acid clouds?
Venus
Are the elements that make up the Sun found elsewhere in the Solar System?
Yes
What is the Caloris Basin and where can it be found?
a crater on Mercury
What is a bulge?
a tightly packed group of stars within a larger formation (aka a galaxy)
Where is the Asteroid Belt?
between Mars and Jupiter
How was the Caloris Basin formed?
by the impact of a large meteorite
What is a descriptive nickname for comets?
dirty snowballs
What are the gaseous planets mostly made up of?
hydrogen and helium
What is contained in the Oort Cloud?
icy objects
What happens in the chromosphere of the Sun?
it emits a reddish glow as the heated hydrogen burns off
Where is the Kuiper Belt?
just beyond the orbit of Neptune
What does interstellar mean?
located, taking place, or traveling among the stars
What occurs in the core of the Sun?
nuclear fusion
What are the three main parts of a comet?
nucleus, coma, tail
What does the corona of the Sun appear as?
plumes of ionized gas that flow out into space
What is the Asteroid Belt made up of?
rocky remnants from the early formation of the Solar System
About how many stars does the Milky Way contain?
several hundred billion
What are the terrestrial planets mostly made up of?
silicate rocks or metals
What shape is the Milky Way?
spiral-shaped
Where is the greatest storm in the Solar System?
the Great Red Spot is on Jupiter
What does the Great Red Spot resemble?
the composition of the solar nebula
What is Olympus Mons and where is it?
the largest volcano in the Solar System; on Mars
