Space Trivia Questions

For any inquisitive mind, Space Trivia Questions sound a powerhouse of knowledge. For the longest times, Space has been the most interesting subject matter. There are millions and billions of components in the Space and the Galaxy that are hardly have been heard of.

71 Space Trivia Questions: Open the Door to Universe and the Infinity

Mankind has always been very intrigued by this topic. There are a number of stunning questions that many people are not aware of even. Here, we have got the most interesting list of Space Trivia Questions that are surely going to open a new horizon of knowledge for you. So, get ready to discover them.

Space Trivia Questions about the Sun

Since the ancient times, the Sun is the only out of the world element that has been worshipped. The Sun is always full of surprises and interesting facts. There are so many unknown things still buried under the deep layers of the Sun. Here, we have showcased some interesting space trivia questions about the mysterious Sun. Surely, these would quench your thirst.

The Sun is the most important part of the Solar system that occupies 98% of the whole solar system mass. The outer layer of the Sun is called the Photosphere which has a temperature of 6000⁰C or 11,000⁰F.

There are altogether 6 layers in the Sun. The outermost layer which is called the Corona, next is Chromosphere, the visible surface called Photosphere, the convective zone, radiative zone, and the inner layer which is called the core.

The core is the hottest part of the Sun mass and the whole Solar system. It is the chamber house of huge pressure. The temperature in the core section can reach more than 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius).

This one question would give you a clear idea about the size and the mass of the Sun. Around 1 million Earth can fit inside the Sun. And, yes! The surface area of the Sun is 11, 990 times the Earth.

Nuclear Fusion is the name. It is the energy that is created when 4 Hydrogen Nuclei is combined into one Helium Nucleus. Here is the basic equation that forms the energy.

₁H² + ₁H² à ₂H³ + ₀n¹ + 3.27 MeV

It is pretty surprising to know that the Sun has already crossed half of its age. Its age is 4.5 billion years as of now and half of its Hydrogen has already been burned. It is expected that the rest of the Hydrogen would be enough to go around 5 billion years.

The Earth follows an Elliptical path around the Sun. So, the distance between them varies a lot. Generally, it lies between 147 to 152 million km.

Unlike the Earth that rotates from East to West, the Sun rotates in the West to East direction.

The Sunspot is a temporary phenomenon which is pretty interesting. It is associated with the Sun’s Photosphere. The Sunspots are zones with reduced surface temperature; it is caused by the concentrations of magnetic field flux which shows convection. These spots usually appear in pair with opposite magnetic polarity.

Extremely hot charged particles which are called Plasma are ejected from the Corona layer. These solar winds can travel with a speed of 450km/s through the solar system.

The sun rays have a speed of the light. They take 8 minutes 20 seconds to reach the surface of the Earth.

Sun is a Yellow Dwarf star. Any star that has 0.84 to 1.15 solar mass and surface temperature that varies between 5,300 to 6,000 K.

The Sun is considered to be almost a perfect sphere. The polar and the equatorial diameters have a difference of 10km which makes anything almost a perfect sphere.

This is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful phenomena on the Earth surface. Solar winds are responsible for these. These are charged particles that travel through the vacuum place through the galaxy. If the Earth atmosphere comes in between, these charged particles react with the atmospheric particles. These collisions excite the atoms of the atmosphere and eventually, the lights come out.

Mercury is the smallest and the innermost planet in the Solar system. So, the Sun from the Mercury looks 2.5 times larger than what it looks from the Earth. Isn’t it a hilarious fact?

The Sun is made of gaseous elements. It has 75% Hydrogen, 25% Helium. There are various metals like 0.1% of the mass of the Sun.

Every day, around One Trillion Tons of water, gets evaporated from the water bodies of the earth. The number is mesmerizing and unbelievable in every way.

In spite of the fact that the distance between the Venus and the Sun is twice as much as that of Mercury, yet it is hotter than the Mercury. Venus has a huge cloud of Carbon Dioxide around it which traps most of the rays of the Sun. And, this phenomena makes its temperature rise up to 465⁰C and eventually has made it the hottest planet in the solar system.

After every 11 years, the magnetic polarity just becomes reversed. So, North Magnetic pole becomes South Magnetic pole and vice versa.

The Solar rotation period is 24.47 days. This is actually sidereal rotation period. If we talk about Synodic rotation, the time period would be 26.24 days.

The gravity of the Sun is 28 times than that of the Earth’s gravity. So, a person who weighs 190 pounds on the Earth surface, would weigh 5320 pounds on the surface of the Sun.

It is called Taiyō in Japanese. And, as we all know that Japan is also called the Land of the Rising Sun.

Well! It was a wrong theory to propose for sure. The famous Greek philosopher Aristarchus was the first person to propose this.

This is a pretty interesting phenomenon that happens on the surface of the Sun. This is actually the sudden flash of increased brightness that is more visible near to the Sunspots. Powerful flares are often accompanied by a coronal mass ejection.

This is a beautiful statement that was made by the most eminent French Statesman and French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

Space Trivia Questions about the Solar System

Our Solar System is another pretty interesting world. The Sun is the king here and every other planet is revolving around it. There can be a number of trivia questions about the Solar family, but we have curated the unique questions only. Get ready to feed your inquisitive mind with some really interesting space trivia questions about the Solar system.

Well! There are 8 planets in the beautiful Solar System which are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Earlier Pluto was included too in the list but now the number has reduced to 8.

Mars is also called the Red Planet because of the abundance of red soils. The rocks and soils of Mars contain a type of dust that has the maximum amount of Iron and very small amount of Chlorine and Sulphur. Over the years, both rock and the soil have been eroded and the dust was spread across Mars by the Volcanoes. All these things altogether form the red cloudy form around Mars.

Saturn has a number of prominent moons, Titan is the biggest of them all. It is such a moon within the Solar system which has a proper atmosphere.

Gas Giants would be the exact name of these planets. There are 4 outer planets which are made of gaseous elements. The names are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. In fact, these planets are bigger than the inner planets.

Both in terms of mass and volume, Jupiter is the largest planet in the whole Solar system. The mass of the Jupiter is 300 times that of the Earth. In fact, the diameter is 11 times than that of the Earth. Surprisingly, Jupiter has a pretty fast rotational period and that is 10 hours.

Oort Cloud is a strange phenomenon of the Solar system. It was named after astronomer Jan Oort. This cloud is basically an extended shell of icy objects. These icy objects can be found in the outermost layers of the Solar system. The shape of this cloud is approximately spherical.

The answer would be Uranus. Scientists are yet to discover the exact reason. But, it is thought that in ancient times, this beautiful blue planet was subjected to one or two collisions.

Olympus Mons is the biggest volcano in the whole solar system and this volcano is located on the planet Mars. The gravity of Mars is pretty low and thus the size of the volcanoes can increase to a huge number.

Venus has the most powerful winds. It is certainly a horrific planet that has a high temperature and a pretty high pressure on the surface area. The wind flow is bizarre on this planet because the speed of the wind is 50 times more than its rotational speed.

Neptune would be the perfect answer. Well! It is surprising that in spite of being at such a distant planet from the Earth, it radiates heat in a bizarre way. Some experts believe that the vast temperature differential might be a reason.

Jupiter is the correct answer. Well! Some theories have led that Jupiter’s strong gravitational force is responsible for that. This force keeps attracting Comets, Asteroids, and other rocky bodies.

Saturn has a two-tone moon. One of its moon named Lapetus has two hemispheres which are light and dark. It is a controversial subject matter indeed. Some suggest that it might be dark patches due to volcanic eruptions.

Mars has a lot of Methane. And, this issue has kind of stirred the scientist’s forum. Because Methane is generally produced by living or natural process. This is such a chapter of Mars that is yet to be discovered properly.

Saturn is the perfect answer. Isn’t it strange? Well! The reasons behind the shape are still unknown, but scientists have found the storm sharing similar features along with Hurricanes.

Mars is would be the right answer. Well! Grand Canyon is nothing in front of Valles Marineris. It is about 4000Km long and is 10 times than the Grand Canyon.

Space Trivia Questions about the Moon

On July 20, 1969, which is around 49 years ago, Nell Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set their first step on the surface of the Moon. We were astonished back then with this feat of the science and technology. Every other day, the scientists are discovering interesting facts about the Moon. Let’s talk about 21 lunar space trivia questions that would indeed quench your thirst.

There is no atmosphere on the Moon like our Earth. As sound needs some media so that it can pass through the particles it. Thus, no sound can be heard on its surface.

The distance is never linear and most importantly, it varies. So, it is better to consider an average distance between the Moon and the Earth. The value is almost 3,84,400 Km.

This is the escape velocity of the Earth to reach the moon; and, this is literally impossible for an airplane to cross this threshold level. But ironically, if the example of Boeing 747 is taken into account which has a speed of 400miles/hr. Then, it would take around 1 month for it to reach the surface of the Moon.

Again, the lack of atmosphere on the surface of the Moon is responsible for that. Without the particles, the sun rays never reach the moon.

It is extremely hot and cold at the same time. When the Sun shines, the temperature can reach up to 260⁰F, which is a few more degrees more than the boiling temperature of the water which is 212⁰F. When there are absolutely no sunrays, the temperature becomes as low as -280⁰F.

Harrison Schmitt was a lunar module pilot on Apollo 17. He was given the responsibility to examine the rocks of different ages in the Sea of Serenity.

Around 600 million people watched the live coverage. The number itself is spectacular. Surprisingly, Australians saw the footage way before the rest of the world.

There are many seas on the surface of the Moon which are actually plains of smooth rocks. Sea of Tranquility is one such which has a high density of craters. Nell Armstrong landed a Lunar module just at that place.

Russian spacecraft Luna 2 was the first to do that, though it was a crash landing. And, it affected the Moon. Specifically, Luna 9 made the first soft landing. After all these unsuccessful attempts, Apollo 11 was the first to land on the surface of the moon successfully and made a return trip back to earth as well.

Basalt is the right answer. Most of the basalts were 3.7 billion years old. These are actually black colored igneous rocks.

There are several theories involved that explain the formation of the Moon. The most popular one is Giant Impact Hypothesis. The early solar system was a violent place. This theory proposes that a body as big as the Mars which is known as Theia collided with our Earth. This event threw vaporized pieces of the planet’s crust to Space. These ejected particles came together due to the gravity. And, this event eventually created the Moon.

It takes 29 days to revolve around the Earth. The exact answer would be 27.322 days.

The temperature varies between 2420 and 2600⁰F. The value is much lower than that of the Earth. It is because of its smaller size.

It is 3474Km. Our Earth has a diameter of 12,742 Km. So, Moon is almost 1/4^th of its size. Moon is not totally a spherical body and thus, there is a difference between the polar and equatorial diameter.

So, there are total 12 American Astronauts who have walked on the Moon. The astronauts returned with more than 800 pounds of Moon rocks and dust.

The density of Moon is almost 60% of Earth’s density. Its density is 3.34g/cm³.

Here, W=120 pounds. And, the mass would be constant in both the cases.

That’s only 19.8 pounds. And, that’s why people feel lightweight on the surface of the Moon.

Yes! That’s indeed an interesting phenomenon which is caused by Earth’s gravitational pull. It happens near about several kilometers beneath the surface of the moon that causes cracks and ruptures.

Surprisingly, it was the USA during the 1950s. It was a part of the Project A119. It was an era when they wanted to show their strength in the space arena.

Well! It’s all because of the gravitational pull of the Moon. The oceans bulge towards the direction of the Moon. Tides occur two times a day as the earth is rotating.

It is basically an additional full moon. It is a seasonal phenomenon that occurs every 2.5 years.

Space Trivia Questions about the Galaxy

Well! It is the Galaxy actually that should always be counted at the first place. It is a huge system that is bounded by a gravitational force. And, the Sun and other stellar components are a part of this huge galaxy. There are a lot of secrets and myths scattered all over the galaxy. We have curated a list of interesting space trivia questions about the galaxy that you would surely love to explore.

Surprisingly, the universe that we talk about is visible. But, in the cosmic world, there is another universe too which is not visible at all. There are approximate, more than 100 billions of galaxies in the whole universe.

Like every other object in the universe, the sizes of the galaxies generally vary between 1000 to 10,000 parsecs in diameter.

The Milky Way is moving through space at the rate of 600Km/s. According to a study, it would collide with the Andromeda Galaxy in around 3.75 billion years.

Galaxies are generally divided into categories according to their appearances. There are generally 3 types of galaxies namely Spiral, Irregular, and an Elliptical Galaxy.

The oldest star in the galaxy is HD 140283. It is also known as Methuselah star and its age is more than 13.6 years billion years.

To date, the most distant galaxy is z8 GND 5296. It is around 13.1 billion light years away. It was discovered in 2013.

Dwarf galaxies are abundant in number. But, they are hard to discover because of their low luminosity and low mass.

It is a component of disc galaxies like spiral galaxies and lenticular galaxies.

It is a spiral galaxy which is about 21 million light years away from the Earth. It was first discovered in the year 1781.

In Greek, the word ‘Galaxy’ means Milk. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way. It is actually a Greek way to describe the night sky.

All these Space Trivia Questions are pretty interesting and full of facts. Whether you are in a gathering or with a group of nerds, these trivia would definitely give you some good times. We are pretty sure that you have already found out the one you are looking for.