Moonstruck! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Uranus

Many people might be surprised to learn that the planet Uranus has 27 moons. Unlike other moons in our solar system, these moons derive their names from literary works by Alexander Pope and William Shakespeare. The first two moons of Uranus were discovered by famous astronomer William Herschel in 1787. He named them Oberon and Titania. Uranus has nine irregular moons that were not discovered until the Voyager probes started doing flybys at the end of the twentieth century. These moons are much further away from the planet than most moons are.

This photo is of the moon Miranda, believed to be made of ice, which was discovered in 1948.

Answer: Pluto

The dwarf planet Pluto has five moons, named Charon, Nix, Hydra, Styx, and Kerberos. The largest moon, Charon, was not discovered until 1978, while the last four were not discovered until the 21st century. Charon appears to have no atmosphere and may have cryo-geysers. We know very little about the moons of Pluto but with the fast advancing field of astronomy, we stand to learn something new about them at any time.

This image shows Pluto with Charon and helps to give an idea of how large Charon is when compared to Pluto.

Answer: False

This statement is false, as Venus has no moons. Venus and Mercury are the only planets in our galaxy that do not have at least one moon. The reasons why they have no moons, or if they ever had moons, have been a topic of much debate amongst astronomers for years.

There are those who suggest that Mercury may have been a moon of Venus that broke away. Who knows what the future will teach us about our galaxy?

Answer: Saturn

Titan, the largest of the 50+ moons of Saturn, is so large that it affects the orbits of many of the smaller moons. It is the second largest moon in the solar system, and is thought to have a nitrogen rich atmosphere, with traces of methane. This is similar to the atmosphere of the Earth before biology took hold.

The atmosphere of the Earth extends about 37 miles (60km) into space, while Titan's extends ten times that far. This image shows the Earth, our moon, and Titan (bottom left), to give an idea of how truly large this moon is.

Answer: Greek Sea gods and nymphs

By the start of the 21st century we had discovered 13 moons orbiting the frozen planet Neptune. All have been named after lesser gods of the sea, and nymphs. The largest of Neptune's moons is Triton which is the only large moon in the solar system that orbits in a direction opposite to the planet's rotation, also known as a retrograde orbit. The only other moons known to do this are very small. It is this unusual orbit that leads astronomers to believe that Triton may have once been an independent object that was captured by the gravity of Neptune. Triton was the first moon of Neptune's to be discovered, just 17 days after the planet itself was discovered in 1846.

This wonderful image is an illustration of the planet Neptune as seen from the moon Triton.

Answer: Phobos and Deimos

Among the smaller moons in our solar system, Deimos and Phobos are the moons orbiting the planet Mars. Astronomer Asaph Hall named the moons for the mythological sons of Ares, the Greek counterpart of the Roman god Mars. Phobos means fear or panic while Deimos means flight. He thought these were fitting names for the sons of a God of war. Both of these moons are heavily cratered and irregularly shaped. These moons are thought to be covered with loose rocks and dust. Some astronomers believe they may actually be captured asteroids.

This image shows some of the massive craters found on these moons.

Answer: Europa

Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, became the center of a lot of study at the end of the 20th century. Europa has a smooth surface that is believed to be mostly solid water ice. It is unusually smooth and criss-crossed by fractures. It takes about 3.5 Earth days for Europa to rotate once. If it does have abundant liquid water and tidal heating, Europa is thought by many to be the best place in our solar system to look for life beyond our planet. If Europa is proven to have a water ocean, it would have more than twice the amount of water found on our planet.

Answer: True

Ganymede is the largest planet orbiting Jupiter. In fact, it is larger than both the planet Mercury and the dwarf planet Pluto. It is also the only moon known to have its own internally generated magnetic field. This moon is believed to have a metallic iron center, covered by a shell of rock. This is all surrounded by a thick shell of ice that may be as much as 497 miles (800km) thick. Ganymede was discovered in 1610 by Galileo and was the first moon, other than our own, to be found orbiting another planet.

This image shows a chain of impact craters that are believed to be about 120 miles (193 km) long.

Answer: Craters

These are just three of the hundreds of craters to be found on our moon. They are all located in the Mare Tranquillitatis or Sea of Tranquility. Lunar mare or maria are simply large dark plains on the moon made of basalt rock. The word comes from the Latin for "sea".

When it comes to our moon, the darker the location the lower the altitude and vise-versa. There are numerous mares/seas and even more impact craters. The lighter colored areas are the highlands.

Answer: Eris

The dwarf planet Eris is named for the Greek goddess of discord or strife. Its tiny moon, Dysnomia, was named for Eris daughter, the demon goddess of lawlessness. These are fitting names as the discovery of this dwarf planet and its moon led to much discord within the field of astronomy and eventually led to Pluto being reclassified as a dwarf planet.

As this moon was only discovered in 2005, very little is known. It is thought that it may have been formed after an impact split it from Eris, but even this is not known for sure.