Solar System

1. How many planets are there in our solar

8 planets
system?
2. Which planet has the hottest surface? Venus
3. How many planets have moons? 6
4. The asteroid belt lies between Mars and Jupiter
5. The largest asteroid discovered in the
Ceres
asteroid belt is,
6. Who first suggested the ‘passing star
hypothesis’ to describe the origin of the Louis de Buffon
solar system?
7. How old is our solar system 5 billion years
8. The average distance between the earth
One astronomical unit
and the sun is equal to,
9. Which planet contains Olympus Mons,
Mars
the largest volcano of the solar system?
10. Comets are belived to originate from, Oort cloud

Asteroid
1. What was the first asteroid discovered
in 1801 and named after the Roman Ceres
goddess of harvest?
2. When a new asteroid is discovered, it is
The name chosen by the discoverer
named after,
3. When an asteroid is assigned a number
in front of its name, what additional Its orbit has been calculated
information does that provide?
4. In the asteroid belt, some areas are
almost free of asteroids. These are Kirkwood's gaps
known as,
5. The asteroids that cross the earth's orbit
Apollo objects
are known as,
6. What is the name given to the two
asteroids groups sharing the Jupiter's Trojan asteroids
orbit?
7. Collisions among asteroids will give rise
to an asteroid group sharing similar
Hirayama families
composition and orbits. What is the
name given to these asteroid groups?
Total mass of the asteroid belt is less than 20% of
8. The true statement regarding asteroids,
earth's moon
9. Asteroids which are made up of carbon-
rich material and have low albedos are C-type asteroids
called,
10. The origin of the asteroid belt is
Remnants of planetesimals
believed to have resulted from,

Comet
1. The nucleus of a comet Has an irregular shape
2. How many space crafts flew by the
nucleus of comet Halley during 1985 –
5
1986 period, when it visited the inner
solar system?
3. The coma of a comet is, Can be larger than the diameter of the Sun
4. The dust tail of a comet, Often more curved than the gas tail
5. The gas tail of a comet, Has an emission specturm
6. The TRUE statement about short-period
Comet Halley is an example
comets,
7. The comets are thought to origin from, Both Kuiper belt and Oort cloud
8. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, Impacted on Jupiter
9. Giotto spacecraft was launched in 1985
to study the nucleus of a comet. What Comet Halley
was the name of that comet?
10. Which of these comets was the brightest
Comet Ikeya-Seki (1965)
comet observed in recent history?

Moon
1. How old is the Moon? 4.6 billion years
2. The Moon's mass is about, 1/8 of Earth's mass
3. A person weighing 60kg on the Earth
10 kg on the Moon
would weight,
4. How long is the lunar day (from sunrise
708 hours
to the next sunrise)?
5. Which percent of the surface area of the
59 percent
Moon visible is to the Earth?
6. Which of these statements about the
Moon has no atmosphere
Moon's atmosphere are TRUE?
7. The surface layer of the Moon is called, Regolith
8. Compared to earthquakes,
Are million times weaker
'moonquakes',
9. How many people have walked on the
12 astronauts
moon?
10. A lunar month (a complete cycle of
phases from new moon to the
The Earth moves along its orbit
subsequent new moon) is longer than
the orbital period because,

Planet Mercury
1. Correct statement about Planet Mercury The closest planet to the Sun
2. Planet mercury does not have Active volcanoes
3. Who discovered the slow rotation
Giovanni Schiaparelli
period of Planet Mercury?
4. Which of the following was used to
discover Mercury's rotation period of 59 Arecibo radio telescope
days?
5. When standing on the surface of
176 Earth days
Mercury, one solar day is equal to,
6. What is the CORRECT relationship
between the Mercury's rotation and Rotation = 2/3 orbital period
orbital periods?
7. Which of the following is NOT a feature
Olympus Mons
found on Mercury?
8. Which of these space missions was sent
Messenger
to Mercury?
9. What is the correct statement about
Next Mercury transit is expected on 2016
Mercury transits?
10. The WRONG statement about observing
Mercury does not show retrograde motion
Mercury

Planet Venus
1. Planet Venus Is the brightest planet in the night sky
2. Venus is different from Earth because
No carbon cycle
Venus has,
3. Which of the following is INCORRECT
Has no water vapour
about Venusian atmosphere?
4. Which of these statements DO NOT
Largest crater in the solar system
describe planet Venus?
5. Which of these features is found ONLY
Both arachnoids and farra
on Venus?
6. The WRONG statement about Venus All surface features are named after mythological
geography women
7. Which of these statements is CORRECT
No crater is found smaller than 3km in diameter
about Venusian craters?
8. Rain on planet Venus Composed of sulphuric acid
9. Which of these statements about Venus
Escape velocity is 12.04 km/s
is INCORRECT?
10. Which of these is the INORRECT
Rotational axis is tilted by 23°
statement about Venus?
11. The CORRECT statement about Venus
They occur as pairs separated by 8 years
transits.
12. The Magnetic field of planet Venus Not formed by an internal dynamo effect

Mars
1. Correct statement about planet Mars, Orbit is inside the asteroid belt
2. Mars is called the red planet. What
Iron oxide on its surface
causes this red colour on Mars?
3. Compared to earth, Mars does not have, A magnetic field
4. Which one of these is NOT a Martian
Mimas
moon?
5. Which statement is TRUE regarding
Polar ice caps are mostly made up of water ice
water on Mars?
6. Polar ice caps on Mars are A permanent surface feature
7. Which of these surface features is NOT
Cytherian Mountains
found on Mars?
8. The TRUE statement about Martian
Has a low atmospheric pressure
atmosphere
9. Which of these space missions to Mars
Mars Global Surveyor
was a success?
10. Which of these is INCORRECT regarding
Not visible to naked eye
observing planet Mars?

Jupiter
1. Planet Jupiter Is larger than all other planets combined
2. Composition of Jupiter Closely resembles primordial solar nebula
3. Planet Jupiter Emits more energy than it receives from the sun
4. The WRONG statement about the Atmospheric turbulences are powered by energy
atmosphere of Jupiter from the sun
5. The Great Red Spot of Jupiter Rotates in the counter-clockwise direction
6. Which of these statements is TRUE
Sometimes appear in white colour
about the Great Red Spot?
7. The INCORRECT statement about Jovian
Does not cause auroras
magnetic field
8. Viewed from earth Jupiter appears
Opposition
brightest when it is in,
9. Which of these space crafts reached
Ulysses
Jupiter, but failed to take any
 photographs, because it had no camera
installed?
10. The rings of Jupiter Are made of dust

Saturn
1. Planet Saturn is Sixth planet from the sun
2. Density of Saturn is Lesser than water
3. Which of these statements is FALSE? Saturn has a slow rotational period
4. How long does Saturn take to complete
10,759 earth days
one orbit around the sun?
5. Saturnian atmosphere Has wind speeds exceeding Jupiter
6. The Great White Spot Used to calculate rotational period of Saturn
7. Magnetic field of Saturn Is weaker than the Earth
8. Which of these is not a part of the ring
Kepler gap
system of Saturn?
9. Regarding moons of Saturn Some moons have ring systems of their own
10. Which of these space crafts was not sent
Pioneer 10
Saturn?

Uranus
1. Who discovered planet Uranus? William Herschel
2. Uranus was discovered while, Measuring the parallax of bright stars
3. The name 'Uranus' was suggested for
J. E. Bode
this planet by,
4. The orbital period of Uranus is, 84 years
5. The rotational period of Uranus is
The rotation of its magnetic field
calculated using,
6. What is the largest moon orbiting
Titania
Uranus?
7. Which compound in the atmosphere
Methane
gives Uranus its blue colour?
8. The magnetic field of Uranus is, Tilted to its rotational axis by 60°
9. How many natural satellites have been
27
discovered to orbit Uranus?
10. Which of these space crafts explored
Voyager 2
Uranus?

Neptune
1. Planet Neptune is, Named after the Roman god of the sea
2. What was the first name to be
Janus
suggested for Neptune?
3. Which of these astronomers had
observed Neptune and recorded its
Galileo Galilei
position, but failed to identify it as a
planet?
4. The 'great dark spot' on Neptune was
Voyager 2
discovered by,
5. How long does it take for Neptune to
164 years
complete one orbit around the sun?
6. The number of moons orbiting Neptune
13
is,
7. What is the largest moon orbiting
Triton
Neptune?
8. The ring system of Neptune was
Voyager 2
discovered by,
Astronomers involved in the discovery of the
9. Neptune's rings are named after,
planet
10. The magnetic field of Neptune is similar
Uranus
to that of,

Telescope
1. Who was the first astronomer to use an
Galileo Galilei
optical telescope?
2. The primary mirror or lens that gathers
The objective
and focuses light is called,
3. Catadioptic telescopes use, Both lenses and mirrors
4. The eye piece of the Galilean Telescope
A concave lens
uses,
5. What was Johannes Kepler's
The astronomical telescope
contribution to optical telescopes?
6. Who was the first to suggest a practical
design for a reflecting telescope, in the James Gregory
publication Optica Promota?
7. Which of these improves the angular
Increasing the diameter of primary mirror or lens
resolution of a telescope?
The ratio between focal length and aperture of
8. What is the f-number of a telescope?
primary mirror/lens
9. The light gathering power of an optical
The square of the aperture
telescope is related to,
10. Adaptive optics in optical telescopes is
To reduce atmospheric distortion of light
used,
 Night Sky
1. What is the brightest star in the night
Sirius
sky?
2. What is the brightest planet in the night
Venus
sky?
3. How many constellations are there in
88
the skys?
4. What is the brightest star in the
Regulus
constellation Leo?
5. Name the three stars which make up the
Altair, Deneb, and Vega
summer triangle
6. The ‘big dipper’ is part of which
Ursa major
constellation?
7. In which constellation lies the
Andromeda
andromeda galaxy?
8. What name is used in observational
astronomy to describe galaxies, nebulae Deep sky objects
and star clusters?
9. Lunar eclipse always occurs, On a full moon day
10. Which of these is NOT visible to the
Planet Neptune
naked eye?

Solar Eclipses
1. What is the correct alignment during a
Sun, Moon, Earth
solar eclipse?
2. What is the maximum number of solar
eclipses that can occur during a calendar 5
year?
3. What is the minimum number of solar
eclipses that can occur during a calendar 2
year?
4. Total solar eclipses occur due to a
unique feature common to both the sun Same angular diameter
and the moon. What is this feature?
5. During a solar eclipse, an observer on
the moon, looking at the earth would Earth partially covered by moon's shadow
see,
6. Solar eclipses always occur on, New moon
7. What is the average duration of 'totality'
2 – 3 minutes
in a total solar eclipse?
8. In which type of solar eclipse can the
Total solar eclipse
'diamond ring' effect occur?
9. The same pattern of solar eclipses will
repeat every 18 years 11 days 8 hours. Saros cycle
This is known as the,
10. How often will the same solar eclipse
54 years and 1 month
occur at the same place on earth?

Lunar Eclipse
1. Lunar eclipses always occur during, Full moon
2. What is the maximum number of lunar
eclipses that can occur during a calendar 3
year?
3. A lunar eclipse results when, Moon passes through Earth's shadow
4. What is the correct alignment during a
Sun, Earth, Moon
total lunar eclipse?
5. The umbra of earth's shadow always
Directly away from the sun
points,
6. During a total lunar eclipse, an observer
Moon turning into red colour
on earth would see,
7. During a total lunar eclipse, an observer
Brightly illuminated ring of earth's atmosphere
on the moon would see
8. Which of these is TRUE regarding a
Moon shows no noticeable change in brightness
PENUMBRAL lunar eclipse?
9. The red colour visible during a lunar
Dust in Earth's atmosphere
eclipse is due to,
10. The duration of a lunar eclipses is, Longer than a solar eclipse

Sunspot
1. Sun spots appear in the, Photosphere
2. Who was the first astronomer to
Thomas Harriot
observe sunspots?
3. The average size of a sunspot is about, Twice the diameter of the earth
4. What is the average temperature of a
4200 K
sunspot?
5. Magnetic fields in a sunspot is, Stronger than the rest the sun
6. Which astronomer discovered that
Heinrich Schwabe
sunspots varies in a cycle of 11 years?
7. Early in a solar cycle, sunspots appear, Around middle latitudes
8. Which one of these statements is TRUE
Sunspots appear in pairs
about sunspots?
9. Maunder butterfly diagram shows, Sunspot latitude plotted against time
10. Which model explains the reversal of
sun's magnetic field from one solar cycle Babcock model
to another?

History of Astronomy
1. Ancient Greeks believed, the earth to be
the centre of the universe. What do we Geocentric universe
call this model?
2. Who first suggested that the earth
Aristarchus
rotated on its axis?
3. Ancient astronomers used 'epicycles' to
Retrograde motion
explain,
4. In the model proposed by Nicolaus
Copernicus', which object was at the Sun
centre of the universe?
5. Which of these statements is correct
First to observe moons around jupiter
about Galileo Galilei?
6. Tycho Brahe's biggest contribution to
Accurate observations of stars and planets
astronomy was,
7. Astronomer Johannes Kepler, Suggested elliptical orbits for planets
8. Ancient astronomers believed that the
No parallax was observed in the stars
earth did not move because,
9. Which of these evidences supported a
Phases of venus
Copernican model of the solar system?
10. Correct pairing of
astronomer/mathematician and their Nicolaus Copernicus – Heliocentric universe
contribution?

Astrobiology
1. Life on earth is based on, Carbon
2. Genetic information in cells are stored
and passed on to the next generation DNA
through,
3. Who was the famous scientists to
conduct an experiment to simulate the
conditions of primitive earth and
Stanley Miller
demonstrate that amino acids, fatty
acids and urea could be formed in
nature?
4. What are 'stromatolites'? Fossil structures made by bacteria
5. Apart from the earth, what is the most
likely place to find life in our solar Mars
system?
6. A planet orbiting a small star cannot
The life zone is too close to the star
harbour intelligent life because,
7. Planets around a binary star system is
not suitable for development of Have unstable orbits
intelligent life because the planets,
8. What is the definition of a life zone Temperature range in which water can exist in
around a star? liquid form
9. What is the equation used to estimate
the number of intelligent civilizations in Drake equation
our galaxy?
10. What is the name of the argument
which suggests that the universe is 'fine- Anthropic principle
tuned' to our existance?