Space Facts Quiz

Question 1

How long does light from the Sun take to reach Earth?

Accepted Answer

About 8 minutes

Answer

About 1 second

Answer

About 1 hour

Answer

About 1 day

Question 2

What is a light-year?

Accepted Answer

The distance light travels in one year — about 9.46 trillion km

Answer

A measure of time

Answer

The speed of light

Answer

The time it takes light to cross our galaxy

Question 3

What is the name of our galaxy?

Accepted Answer

The Milky Way

Answer

Andromeda

Answer

The Magellanic Cloud

Answer

The Sombrero Galaxy

Question 4

What is a black hole?

Accepted Answer

A region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing — not even light — can escape

Answer

A very dark region of empty space

Answer

A collapsed neutron star

Answer

The centre of every galaxy

Question 5

How many planets are in our solar system?

Accepted Answer

8

Answer

7

Answer

9

Answer

10

Question 6

What is the Big Bang theory?

Accepted Answer

The universe originated from an enormous explosion about 13.8 billion years ago

Answer

The universe has always existed

Answer

Stars were created by a giant explosion

Answer

Our galaxy was formed from a massive collision

Question 7

Who was the first human to walk on the Moon?

Accepted Answer

Neil Armstrong

Answer

Buzz Aldrin

Answer

Yuri Gagarin

Answer

Michael Collins

Question 8

What is the International Space Station (ISS)?

Accepted Answer

A permanently crewed research laboratory orbiting Earth at ~400 km altitude

Answer

A satellite observatory

Answer

A proposed future Mars base

Answer

A satellite GPS system

Question 9

What is the most abundant element in the universe?

Accepted Answer

Hydrogen

Answer

Oxygen

Answer

Carbon

Answer

Helium

Question 10

How old is the universe, according to current scientific estimates?

Accepted Answer

13.8 billion years

Answer

4.5 billion years

Answer

6.5 billion years

Answer

20 billion years

Question 11

What spacecraft first left our solar system, becoming the most distant human-made object?

Accepted Answer

Voyager 1

Answer

Pioneer 10

Answer

New Horizons

Answer

Voyager 2

Question 12

What is the largest planet in our solar system?

Accepted Answer

Jupiter

Answer

Saturn

Answer

Uranus

Answer

Neptune

Question 13

What is dark matter?

Accepted Answer

An unobserved form of matter that makes up ~27% of the universe and doesn't interact with light

Answer

Black holes and dark nebulae

Answer

The space between galaxies

Answer

The material at the centre of black holes

Question 14

Which planet has the most moons in our solar system (as of 2024)?

Accepted Answer

Saturn

Answer

Jupiter

Answer

Uranus

Answer

Neptune

Question 15

What causes a solar eclipse?

Accepted Answer

The Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, blocking sunlight

Answer

Earth passes between the Sun and Moon

Answer

Sunspots block light from reaching Earth

Answer

Earth's shadow falls on the Moon

Question 16

What is the asteroid belt and where is it located?

Accepted Answer

A region between Mars and Jupiter containing millions of rocky bodies

Answer

A ring of asteroids around Saturn

Answer

A cloud of comets surrounding our solar system

Answer

A belt of asteroids orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune

Question 17

What is the Hubble Space Telescope named after?

Accepted Answer

Edwin Hubble, who discovered that the universe is expanding

Answer

A NASA engineer

Answer

The astronaut who built it

Answer

Hubble, an American military general who funded it

Question 18

What is a neutron star?

Accepted Answer

The extremely dense remnant of a massive star after a supernova, composed mainly of neutrons

Answer

A star made entirely of neutrons

Answer

A star that has no protons in its core

Answer

An early stage in stellar formation

Question 19

Which space agency successfully landed the Mars Curiosity rover on the Red Planet?

Accepted Answer

NASA

Answer

ESA (European Space Agency)

Answer

Roscosmos

Answer

CNSA (Chinese National Space Administration)

Question 20

What percentage of the universe is made up of 'ordinary' (visible, baryonic) matter?

Accepted Answer

5%

Answer

27%

Answer

50%

Answer

75%