Science31 Trivia Questions8 Easy · 12 Medium · 11 Hard

Astronomy Trivia: 31 Diamond Stars, Raspberry Nebulae & Cosmic Wonders

Skip the grade-school planet drills—explore 31 mind-bending cosmic wonders spanning diamond stars, sideways planets, and seared-steak spacewalks.

On which planet is a single day longer than a year?

Question 1 of 31Easy

1.On which planet is a single day longer than a year?

What does the giant cosmic dust cloud Sagittarius B2 smell like?

Question 2 of 31Medium

2.What does the giant cosmic dust cloud Sagittarius B2 smell like?

What bizarre geometric shape swirls around Saturn's north pole?

Question 3 of 31Medium

3.What bizarre geometric shape swirls around Saturn's north pole?

What nickname did Jocelyn Bell Burnell's team give the first pulsar signal?

Question 4 of 31Hard

4.What nickname did Jocelyn Bell Burnell's team give the first pulsar signal?

What happens when two uncoated pieces of identical metal touch in space?

Question 5 of 31Easy

5.What happens when two uncoated pieces of identical metal touch in space?

After which Beatles song did astronomers nickname a giant crystallized diamond star?

Question 6 of 31Hard

6.After which Beatles song did astronomers nickname a giant crystallized diamond star?

Why wouldn't hikers standing atop Mars's giant Olympus Mons see its base?

Question 7 of 31Medium

7.Why wouldn't hikers standing atop Mars's giant Olympus Mons see its base?

What color is a sunset on the rusty red planet Mars?

Question 8 of 31Easy

8.What color is a sunset on the rusty red planet Mars?

Who suggested the name 'Pluto' for our solar system's ninth world?

Question 9 of 31Hard

9.Who suggested the name 'Pluto' for our solar system's ninth world?

What powers the four hundred erupting volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io?

Question 10 of 31Medium

10.What powers the four hundred erupting volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io?

What did astronomers name the official average color of our universe?

Question 11 of 31Hard

11.What did astronomers name the official average color of our universe?

After whose literary characters are the moons of sideways-spinning Uranus named?

Question 12 of 31Medium

12.After whose literary characters are the moons of sideways-spinning Uranus named?

What slowly erases Apollo astronaut bootprints on the airless Moon?

Question 13 of 31Easy

13.What slowly erases Apollo astronaut bootprints on the airless Moon?

What did Nobel laureates Penzias and Wilson first blame for Big Bang static?

Question 14 of 31Hard

14.What did Nobel laureates Penzias and Wilson first blame for Big Bang static?

What liquid fills the rivers, lakes, and rainstorms on Saturn's moon Titan?

Question 15 of 31Medium

15.What liquid fills the rivers, lakes, and rainstorms on Saturn's moon Titan?

What happened to telegraph machines during the massive 1859 Carrington solar storm?

Question 16 of 31Hard

16.What happened to telegraph machines during the massive 1859 Carrington solar storm?

How long does a photon take to bounce out of the Sun's core?

Question 17 of 31Medium

17.How long does a photon take to bounce out of the Sun's core?

Which famous author arrived and departed life alongside Halley's Comet?

Question 18 of 31Easy

18.Which famous author arrived and departed life alongside Halley's Comet?

Roughly how wide is the eerie galaxy-starved region called Boötes Void?

Question 19 of 31Hard

19.Roughly how wide is the eerie galaxy-starved region called Boötes Void?

Which icy moon shoots giant saltwater geysers into Saturn's outer E-ring?

Question 20 of 31Medium

20.Which icy moon shoots giant saltwater geysers into Saturn's outer E-ring?

Why is NASA's Psyche spacecraft visiting the strange asteroid 16 Psyche?

Question 21 of 31Hard

21.Why is NASA's Psyche spacecraft visiting the strange asteroid 16 Psyche?

What surprising aroma clings to astronauts' spacesuits right after a spacewalk?

Question 22 of 31Easy

22.What surprising aroma clings to astronauts' spacesuits right after a spacewalk?

How did the Event Horizon Telescope capture history's first black hole image?

Question 23 of 31Medium

23.How did the Event Horizon Telescope capture history's first black hole image?

What exotic precipitation falls miles deep inside ice giants Neptune and Uranus?

Question 24 of 31Hard

24.What exotic precipitation falls miles deep inside ice giants Neptune and Uranus?

Whose love-struck brainwaves were recorded onto NASA's interstellar Voyager Golden Record?

Question 25 of 31Medium

25.Whose love-struck brainwaves were recorded onto NASA's interstellar Voyager Golden Record?

Why is the distant dwarf planet Haumea shaped like a squashed rugby ball?

Question 26 of 31Hard

26.Why is the distant dwarf planet Haumea shaped like a squashed rugby ball?

When Andromeda and the Milky Way collide, how many stars will crash?

Question 27 of 31Easy

27.When Andromeda and the Milky Way collide, how many stars will crash?

Why does the James Webb Space Telescope hide behind a five-layer sunshield?

Question 28 of 31Medium

28.Why does the James Webb Space Telescope hide behind a five-layer sunshield?

Why do astronomers know Neptune's giant moon Triton was kidnapped from space?

Question 29 of 31Hard

29.Why do astronomers know Neptune's giant moon Triton was kidnapped from space?

What was Alabama resident Ann Hodges doing when a meteorite bruised her hip?

Question 30 of 31Medium

30.What was Alabama resident Ann Hodges doing when a meteorite bruised her hip?

What is the official astrophysical term for black hole tidal stretching?

Question 31 of 31Easy

31.What is the official astrophysical term for black hole tidal stretching?