The Sun
The Sun’s magnetic activity varies over years. How long is this and what is it called?
The solar cycle lasts about 11 years.
Asteroids and comets are two categories of planetesimals in our solar sytem. Which one of these are mainly in the inner solar system?
Asteroids!
Asteroids are mainly rocky leftover planetesimals of the inner solar system. Comets are mainly ice-rich planetesimals in the outer solar system.
Can you name a telescope that has been used to discover exoplanets?
Kepler Space Telescope/K2, TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), JWST, Spitzer, TRAPPIST (Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope), and more!
Out of red, blue, and yellow stars, this colour of star is the hottest.
Blue stars!
Sun spots occur due to what aspect of the Sun changing?
The magnetic field of the Sun!
What happened to cause the planet formation of our solar system to end?
The Sun 'turned on' and photons and solar wind blew away the remaining gas!
What exoplanet system has 7 known planets orbiting it's host star.
The TRAPPIST-1 system!
It is approximately 40 lightyears away from Earth and 3-4 of the planets are in the habitable zone.
What type of stars change in brightness repeatedly over time?
A variable star!
(One type of these is a Cepheid Variable, but there are many more)
This feature of the Sun is the outer most layer and can be seen during a solar eclipse.
(The name of this feature means 'crown' in Latin)
The corona!
A cloud of dust and gas collapses into what to begin the formation of a planetary system (including our solar system)?
A protoplanetary disk!
What type of exoplanets are very massive and orbit close to their star?
A Hot Jupiter!
υ Orionis is a star in the Orion constellation that is 20x the mass of the Sun. Between υ Orionis and the Sun, which will 'die' first?
υ Orionis
What is the process of overcoming the electrostatic force and joining atomic nuclei together to make new atoms?
Nuclear fusion!
What would have needed to happen differently during the formation of our solar system if today we had a planet like Jupiter in an orbit similar to Venus'?
Planetary migration!
What are two common methods used to discover exoplanets?
The transit method and the radial velocity method (also known as the Doppler spectroscopy or wobble method)!
A star is in what state when there is a stable balance between the inward pull of gravity and the outward push of pressure (from heat and radiation)?
Hydrostatic equilibrium!