The Solar System
What planet is the hottest in our solar system?
Venus
What type of star is the Sun classified as?
Yellow Dwarf Star
What is the speed of light?
300,000 km/s
What motion of Earth causes the cycle of day and night?
Rotation
Which planet has Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system?
Mars
What is the Sun mainly made of?
Hydrogen and Helium
Who discovered Jupiter’s four largest moons using a telescope?
Galileo Galilei
What motion of Earth defines the length of a year and contributes to the change of seasons?
Revolution
Which planet was the first to be discovered entirely by mathematical prediction rather than direct observation?
Neptune
What is the visible layer of the Sun that we see as its surface?
Photosphere
What type of telescope uses a curved mirror to focus light?
Reflecting telescopes
What is the name of the slow wobbling motion of Earth’s axis that takes about 26,000 years to complete?
Precession
Which planet has the shortest day in the solar system, rotating once in about 10 hours?
Jupiter
What is the hottest region of the Sun where nuclear fusion occurs?
The Core
What scientific method allows astronomers to determine the composition, temperature, density, and motion of stars?
Spectroscopy
What smaller wobbling motion of Earth’s axis is caused mainly by the gravitational effects of the Moon and the Sun?
Nutation
Which planet is classified as an ice giant and famous for its extreme 98° axial tilt?
Uranus
What is the temperature of the Sun’s corona, its outer atmosphere?
About 2 million °C
What discovery did Galileo make about Venus that supported the Copernican heliocentric model?
Phases of Venus
What type of Earth motion is known as the Chandler wobble, involving the movement of Earth’s geographic poles?
Polar Motion