Solar System Planetary Quiz

Why does Mercury have more craters than any other planet?

• That is false it has less craters

• Mercury has no atmosphere or water on its surface that could erode impact craters over time.

• Mercury has torrid temperatures that it bakes the impression onto its surface

• Because it is a terrestrial planet

Why doesn't Mercury have any moons?

• Mercury doesn't have enough gravity

• Mercury lost them to Venus

• Mercury has planetesimals that orbit the planet but they don't count as moons.

• Because Mercury is too close to the sun and the Sun's gravity is too strong that it will strip Mercury's moons away

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Venus has a thick atmosphere of Carbon Dioxide which traps heat causing a greenhouse effect. This is the reason Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system.

• True

• False

What do scientist believe happened to Venus's oceans?

• The ocean evaporated into the atmosphere

• They were absorbed into its sedimentary rock.

• An impact meteor engulfed Venus early in its evolution and it lost its oceans.

• They were transferred to Earth by ancient beings

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Why is the Earth's moon spherical?

• The motion of rotating through space for millions of years has eroded its shape over time.

• Because the moon is a planetesimal

• A body as massive as a planet or large moon has sufficient gravity to pull its solid rock, liquid oceans, and gaseous atmosphere into the shape of a sphere

• Because of the pull of Mars's gravity.

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Does Mars have enough oxygen to sustain human life?

• No, it's atmosphere is too toxic and will create an atmosphere unconducive to life

• A new study suggests that salty water at or near the surface of the red planet could contain enough dissolved O2 to support oxygen-breathing microbes, and even more complex organisms such as sponges

• It is still under heavy debate in the scientific community

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Which of Jupiter’s moons has the potential to sustain human life?

• Europa

• Pheobe

• Thebe

• Callisto

It is believed Jupiter may have had a role in bringing water to Earth

• True

• False

Why does Saturn have rings?

• Saturn trapped a lot of the asteroid belt into its gravitational sphere

• Saturn was smashed into by a Mars-size object sending a lot of Saturn's crust into orbit.

• They are remnants when Jupiter and Saturn broke apart from each other.

• Saturn's rings are thought to be pieces of comets, asteroids, or shattered moons that broke up before they reached the planet, torn apart by Saturn's powerful gravity

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Why is Uranus tilted sideways?

• Because its north and south poles are constantly flipping causing the planet to tilt drastically

• Many astronomers think that Uranus may have been hit by something really big a long time ago, and was knocked over on its side.

• Because Uranus is a highly electrical planet and its electromagnetic sphere is heavily tilted toward the sun.

• Because Uranus just like being differnt

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