I See the Moon Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ferdinand

Ferdinand was first seen by a group of four American astronomers in August 2001 and found again the following month, before the team lost sight of it. It was rediscovered by another American, Scott Sheppard, in 2003 along with another moon. Ferdinand's name comes from 'The Tempest', with the character being the man Miranda falls in love with at first sight. Miranda herself gives her name to another moon of Uranus, but was discovered in 1948.

Answer: Rhea

Rhea was discovered by Cassini, who had already identified Iapetus in 1671 and went on to discover two further moons of Saturn, Tethys and Dione in 1684. Rhea is named for the mother of the gods, one of the Titans from Greek myth. Cassini had originally named the four moons in honour of King Louis XIV of France, and the moon was not officially called Rhea until 1847.

Answer: Amalthea

Amalthea was the fifth moon of Jupiter to be discovered, many years after the first four had been identified and named in the seventeenth century. Barnard made his discovery at Lick Observatory, California, using a (large) telescope, the last time any moon was found by this method, before photography and digital images took over. Amalthea's name comes from the nymph who cared for the young Zeus in mythology.

Answer: Naiad

Naiad was the final moon to be discovered during Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune in 1989. It was found during analysis of the images taken by the spacecraft. Naiad was one of six moons of Neptune discovered by Voyager 2, with the others being Proteus, Despina, Galatea, Larissa and Thalassa. Naiads are nymphs associated with fresh water in Greek mythology.

Answer: Charon

Charon was discovered in 1978 following study of photographs taken at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station in Arizona. Charon is one of the largest moons in the Solar System compared to the planet or dwarf planet with which it is associated.

The name of Charon in myth relates to the ferryman who takes the dead over the river Styx to their final resting place. Styx is the name of the fifth moon of Pluto, discovered in 2012.

Answer: Io

Io is one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, so named as Galileo was the first man to positively identify them as being moons - the others are Callisto, Ganymede and Europa. Io is the closest moon to Jupiter, and the third largest of the four. It has hundreds of volcanoes, created by its position between Jupiter and the other large satellites.

The moon was named for one of Hera's priestesses, one of Zeus's many conquests in Greek myth.

Answer: Sinope

Sinope was designated Jupiter IX, and was discovered by Seth Nicholson, an American astronomer. It forms as group with Pasiphae, Carme and Ananke, about 23 million km (14 million miles) from the planet. The name of Sinope comes from Greek myth and is also the derivation of the name of a town in Turkey.

Styx is a moon of Pluto, Sao of Neptune and Surtur of Saturn.

Answer: Calypso

Calypso is closely associated with Tethys, another moon of Saturn, sharing the same orbit and is sometimes referred to as Tethys C. The name is taken from the Greek nymph, who kept Odysseus with her for seven years while his wife, Penelope, was waiting for his return. The Caribbean reference is to the style of music associated with Trinidad and Tobago.

Answer: Oberon

Herschel discovered both Oberon and Titania, the largest moon of Uranus, on the same day. They are named for the king and queen of the fairies from Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', although they were not given these until 1852, when the next two large moons, Ariel and Umbriel, were discovered by William Lassell. Mab is also a moon of Uranus, but wasn't discovered until 2003.

Answer: Francisco

Did you spot the hints I gave you? 'Initially' and 'spell it out' pointed to the first letter of the correct answers of questions one to nine spelling this final answer for you. Francisco was discovered in 2003 by a group of astronomers from America and Canada.

It is classed as an irregular moon due to the eccentricity of its orbit. In common with many of the moons of Uranus, the name of Francisco is taken from Shakespeare's play 'The Tempest'.