Solar System
Identifying Objects
Celestial Mechanics
General Knowledge 1
General Knowledge 2
100
What is the only planet in our solar system that rotates on its side?
Uranus
100
What is this constellation called?
Ursa Major (The Big Dipper)
100
What is the black hole at the center of our galaxy named?
Sagittarius A
100
What is the closest star to the solar system besides the sun?
Proxima Centauri
100
What is the name of the ring around the black hole?
The event horizon
200
Who discovered Saturn? (Hint: he’s dead)
Galileo Galilei
200
What is this constellation called?
Orion (The Hunter)
200
What parts of an orbit are apogee and perigee?
The max and min distance from the parent body.
200
What small, dark stars are also known as “failed stars”?
Brown Dwarfs
200
What is the definition of an AU?
The distance from the Earth to the sun (around 1.5*10^11 m).
300
What is the closest dwarf planet to the sun?
Ceres
300
What is the LAST element in the fusion process of a star that cannot be fused anymore?
Iron (Fe)
300
What is the position of the Sun relative to the orbit of the Earth called?
Focus Point
300
What spacecraft took the first photo of the great red spot on Jupiter?
Voyager 1
300
What is the name of the orbit which has the same period as one earth rotation?
Geostationary orbit
400
Which planet has the closest gravity to Earth’s?
Neptune
400
What are the orbiting objects?
Exoplanets
400
Calculate the apogee of an orbit with e = 0.8, and Major axis 300 million AU.
Hint: apogee = (1+e)*Semi-major axis
270 million AU
400
What is the star that never moves in our sky? (Hint: It is right above our North Pole)
Polaris (The North Star)
400
How many main rings does Saturn have?
8
500
What year did Pluto become a dwarf planet? (Hint: It’s a few years before any of us were born)
2006
500
Identify the phenomenon in the image:
Gravitational lensing
500
Using the formula T^2 = a^3, where ‘T’ is time to go around the sun in years and ‘a’ is distance from the sun in AU, how long is a year on Jupiter if the planet is 5.2 AU away from the sun?
11.858 years
500
Why is the solution to the 3-body problem famous?
There is no solution.
500
This transfer is the most energy-efficient way to move between two orbits, named after a German engineer.
Hohmann transfer