Pluto and Other Dwarf Planets Trivia Quiz

Answer: Eris

Eris was thought to be larger than Pluto, until the New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto in 2015. Charon (Pluto's moon) is smaller, while Sedna is not located in the Kuiper Belt. Makemake was discovered in 2005.

Answer: New Horizons

New Horizons was launched on January 19th, 2008. It was possible for Voyager 1 to reach Pluto but it was decided to have a flyby of Titan instead. The Mariner probes went to Venus, Mars and Mercury. Cassini went to Saturn.

Answer: Nix and Hydra

Both moons orbit outside the orbit of Charon. Hydra is the outermost and also the brighter of the two. They were discovered in 2005.

Lethe and Styx are two rivers in the Underworld. Persephone was the consort of Hades, while Cerberus was the three headed dog that guarded the entrance. Charon is the name for the ferryman who ferried souls to the Underworld.

Answer: Yes

Both bodies are tidally locked with respect to each other. Hence an observer on the Charon side of Pluto would always see Charon in the same position in the sky. An observer on the other side would never see Charon.

Also, unlike the Earth/Moon system, the center of mass, known as the barycenter, is outside the surface of Pluto, making the two a double planet system rather than a planet/moon system.

Answer: Vesta

Its schedule was to observe Vesta in 2011 before moving on to Ceres. Vesta is the next massive object in the asteroid belt after Ceres, although it is the third largest object.

Answer: Xena and Gabrielle

Eris is the Goddess of Strife and Discord - which seemed appropriate given the arguments about Pluto's declassification. Dysnomia is the daughter of Eris and is the demon of lawlessness (The name is also a nod to Lucy Lawless who played Xena).

Hercules and Iolaus were the hero and sidekick from Xena's parent show, "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys". Abbot and Costello were a real life comedy duo, while Reebo and Zooty were a comedy duo depicted by Penn and Teller on the SF show "Babylon 5".

Eris was discovered on January 5th 2005.

Answer: It is extremely elongated, having an elliptical shape

The shape has not been directly observed but has been calculated from it's light curve. It also has two moons: Hi'iaka and Namaka. Haumea is the goddess of fertility and childbirth and is also the matron goddess of Hawaii, where the dwarf planet was discovered in 2004.

Answer: Ceres

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) and was discovered in 1801. It also has a third of the belt's total mass. Pallas is the second largest in diameter with Vesta coming third.

With Pluto's demotion, Mercury regains its status as the smallest planet.

Answer: Plutoid

Plutoid is the term officially announced on the 11th June 2008. Originally it was going to be Pluton, but that is already taken by geologists for an intrusive igneous body that crystallized from magma. A Plutino is a body that has a 2:3 orbital resonance with Neptune, and Plutonium is a radioactive element.

A Plutoid is basically the intersection of the set of dwarf planets and the set of Kuiper Belt objects.

Answer: nitrogen ice

Spectroscopic analysis of the surface of the dwarf planet has shown that it's made of more than 98% frozen nitrogen, with small amounts of methane and carbon dioxide.