Very Difficult Sci / Tech Trivia: The Solar System | 10 Questions

Answer: 15 million Kelvins

The extreme temperature and pressure at the sun's core permit the fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei. In a single second, the sun will fuse 700 billion tons of hydrogen into helium.

Answer: True

Because it is so close to the sun, Mercury's atmosphere is very thin, about one trillionth as thick as the Earth's, and contains small amounts helium, hydrogen, sodium, potassium, and oxygen.

Answer: 243 days

Venus takes 225 Earth days to make a complete revolution around the sun. So it holds the distinction of being the only planet in the solar system whose day is longer than its year.

Answer: Lake Baikal

Lake Baikal, located in Eastern Siberia, is also the deepest continental body of water, having a maximum depth of 5,315 feet (1,620 meters), and contains one-fifth of the Earth's freshwater.

Answer: Kinsei

Kinsei is the Japanese name for Venus. Kasei is the Japanese name for Mars. The word kasei can also mean such things as change, growth, and family honor. Ares is Greek, Nergal is Babylonian, and Si-mi-ud is Sumerian.

Answer: True

Jupiter's ring system, which is less than one kilometer in thickness, was not discovered until 1979 by the Voyager spacecraft.

Answer: Christiaan Huygens

In 1610 Galileo saw what he called 'handles' surrounding Saturn. In 1659, Huygens (the Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist who founded the wave theory of light) used an improved telescope and determined that it was actually a ring structure. However, he mistakenly presumed it to be solid and very thick.

Answer: Titania and Oberon

The first moons were discovered by Herschel, who had found Uranus in 1781. The moons were not named until two further moons were spotted in 1851, with Herschel's son, John, naming them Titania and Oberon, from Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and Ariel and Umbriel from Pope's 'The Rape of the Lock'.

Answer: 1,300 mph (2,100 kph)

Neptune is the windiest place in the solar system. Saturn comes in second with winds attaining speeds of 1,050 mph (1,700 kph).

Answer: 7 miles (11 km)

By comparison, the Earth would be an average of 1,075 feet (328 meters) away. Pluto is not always furthest from the sun. Because of its eccentric orbit, between 1979 and 1999 it was actually closer to the sun than Neptune.