Fun Facts About Our Solar System Quiz

Answer: Venus

Besides Neptune, Venus is the other planet that rotates clockwise. It is the slowest spinning planet in our solar system, taking 243 Earth days to complete one rotation on its axis. This is longer than a year on Venus, which only takes 225 Earth days.

Answer: One-sixth

The surface gravity on the moon is about 1.62 meters per second squared (m/s2) compared to 9.8 m/s2 on Earth. This means that objects on the moon weigh about 16.6%, about one-sixth of the equivalent weight on Earth. A rock can be easily thrown a lot further on moon with less effort, and astronauts can float slightly on the moon.

The gravitational pull by the moon on Earth helps to keep Earth steady, preventing the Earth from wobbling, which in turn prevents climate swings and extreme temperature shifts. It is also a major factor on the tides on Earth, as the moon's gravitational pull causes the oceans to bulge out on both the side closest to the moon and the side farthest from the moon. The tides in the Earth's various bodies of water are caused by this movement.

Answer: Ethyl formate

In 2009, astronomers made a surprise discovery that the cloud was packed with ethyl formate. It is a clear and colorless liquid with a pleasant odor that smells like rum.

Ethyl formate can be found in some fruits, juices, and plant oils, and is partially responsible for the flavor of raspberries. It is also used as a preservative, disinfectant, larvicide, fungicide, and solvent for cellulose.

Answer: Jupiter

Jupiter has the largest magnetosphere in the Solar System. It is the fastest spinning planet and has a very strong magnetic field. Its magnetosphere is filled with plasma from its volcanically active moon, Io.

Jupiter's magnetic field is roughly 20,000 times greater than that of Earth. The solar wind is slower and less dense on Jupiter than Earth which results in a very sizeable Jovian magnetosphere. If it glowed in wavelengths visible to the eye, it would appear two to three times the size of the Sun or Moon to viewers on Earth.

Answer: Neptune

Neptune was discovered in 1846. It takes 165 years to complete one full orbit around the Sun. This means that Neptune only finished its full post-discovery orbit in 2011. However, this is not even close to demoted planet, Pluto. Pluto has still to complete one full orbit around the Sun since its discovery in 1930. It takes 248 years to complete one revolution round the Sun.

Answer: Uranus

Although Neptune is the furthest planet from the Sun, it is not the coldest planet in our Solar System. Uranus is an ice giant planet made of water, ammonia, methane. As the methane is in a supercritical phase of matter known as "ice" or volatiles, the lowest minimum temperature is -224 °C ( -371 °F).

Uranus takes 84-Earth years to orbit around the Sun which means its poles get 42 years of continuous sunlight followed by 42 years of continuous darkness.
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Answer: Ganymede

The ocean in Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede, is estimated to be 100 km thick, buried under a 150 km crust of mostly ice. It is made up of rough equal parts of silicate rock and water. It is estimated to contain more water than all of Earth's oceans combined.

Beside Ganymede, two of Jupiter's, moons Europa and Callisto, also contain water. Two of Saturn's moon Enceladus and Titan are thought to have underwater seas. The combined total amount of water vapour in the five moons is about 140 trillion times the volume of water in Earth's oceans.

Answer: Ceres

In order of distance from the Sun, the dwarf planets are Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris. Pluto, discovered in 1930, was demoted from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006. Ceres is in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It became the first dwarf planet to be visited by a spacecraft in 2015. Haumea was discovered in 2004, while Makemake and Eris were discovered in 2005.

Answer: Neptune

Neptune has the fastest wind with speeds of over 2,000 km/h. Winds on Uranus can reach up to 900 km/h. Peak wind speed on Saturn is around 1,760 km/h in the equatorial upper atmosphere. On Jupiter, the fastest winds are at the poles, reaching 1,440 km/h. On Earth, the most powerful winds are about 400 km/h, with the average velocity of about 9 m/s.

Answer: Uranus

Uranus has the highest percentage of methane at about 2.3% of its atmosphere. The atmosphere of Uranus consists about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and trace amounts of ammonia, which contains elements of nitrogen and hydrogen. The methane gas in the atmosphere gives Uranus its blue-green color.