Hi, space nerds! Welcome to your new favorite trivia list. We’ve put together a list of 77 challenging and fun planet-related fun facts for you to use at your next trivia night.
With so many facets of our solar system yet to be discovered, it’s impossible to know everything there is to know about the planets. However, if you study this list, you’re 77 steps closer to knowing all there is to know about our galactic neighbors (and the planet we live on, too!).
Keep scrolling to get to our fun planet trivia questions.
1. Question: What was the first NASA mission sent to orbit Mercury?
2. Question: Which of the following isn’t a moon of Jupiter: Ganymede, Galatea, Europa, Callisto? (Bonus: which planet does the outlier orbit?)
3. Question: How many ring arcs does Neptune have?
4. Question: As of January 2023, which two NASA rovers are currently exploring the surface of Mars?
5. Question: When did China first successfully land on Mars? (Bonus: how many nations had landed a mission to Mars before it?)
6. Question: Which two elements primarily make up Saturn and Jupiter?
7. Question: From which direction does the Sun rise on Venus and why?
8. Question: How many Earth years is a year on Pluto?
9. Question: From 2004 to 2017, how many times did NASA’s Cassini orbit Saturn?
10. Question: True or false: A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.
11. Question: What mineral causes Mars’s atmosphere and soil to appear red?
12. Question: When was Pluto first classified as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomic Union?
13. Question: How many of Jupiter’s 80 moons have yet to be given official names by the International Astronomical Union?
14. Question: In days on Earth, how long is a year on Venus?
15. Question: The names of many planets were used to form the names of the days of the week we use today. Which day did Saturn inspire?
16. Question: How many moons does Pluto have?
17. Question: Who was the first person to view Venus through a telescope? (Bonus: when did they view the planet?)
18. Question: True or false: Mars has an especially thick atmosphere.
19. Question: What’s the name of Jupiter’s visible enormous storm that was first seen in the 1600s?
20. Question: What is the temperature of the Sun’s visible surface? (Bonus: what is the temperature of this surface?)
21. Question: Is the first quarter or the last quarter of Earth’s moon’s phases brighter?
22. Question: Which planet is home to the largest volcano ever discovered in our solar system? (Bonus: what’s the name of the volcano?)
23. Question: What is the only planet in our solar system not named after a god or goddess?
24. Question: How many moons does Mars have and what are their names?
25. Question: True or False: The Great Red Spot has been growing in recent years.
26. Question: Which of the following is not the name of a crater on Mercury: Caravaggio, Copernicus, Moody, Shevchenko? (Bonus: which planet does the outlier reside on?)
27. Question: Does Mercury experience weather changes?
28. Question: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are often affectionately referred to as the “gas giants”. What is another word used to classify these planets?
29. Question: True or False: Mercury is hotter than Venus because it is closer to the Sun.
30. Question: Do asteroids qualify as planets?
31. Question: How many rings does Uranus have?
32. Question: Approximately how far away from the sun is Neptune, in miles?
33. Question: How long is a year on Jupiter?
34. Question: How long is a day on Jupiter?
35. Question: What is the most distant planet that can be seen without a telescope?
36. Question: Which planet was the first to be discovered through a telescope?
37. Question: What is the name of the largest moon in our solar system? (Bonus: which planet does it orbit?)
38. Question: Where does Earth’s moon rank in terms of size compared to other moons in our solar system?
39. Question: What is the name of the deepest crater on Mars?
40. Question: When referring to the planet Venus, we often use the word “Venusian.” However, using Latin etymology rules, what word should we say instead?
41. Question: Which is the smallest of the Jovian planets?
42. Question: Which is the densest Jovian planet?
43. Question: What is the technical term for the dusty, loose rock that sits on Mars’s surface? (Bonus: where else can this be found in the solar system?)
44. Question: True or false: all of the eight planets in our solar system travel in circular orbits around the sun.
45. Question: Which planet is the densest one in our solar system and why?
46. Question: What is a term used to describe planets located outside of our solar system?
47. Question: Uranus’s two largest moons are named for Shakespearean lovers. What are their names?
48. Question: True or false: Jupiter has more than three times the mass of all the other planets in our solar system combined.
49. Question: Which of the following isn’t a dwarf planet in our solar system: Pluto, Makemake, Ceres, or Miranda?
50. Question: What is the name of the belt in which Pluto is located?
51. Question: True or false: Saturn’s rings are very thick.
52. Question: What is the geometric shape of the asteroid belt?
53. Question: Why is gravity weaker on the Moon than on Earth?
54. Question: What is a Near Earth Object?
55. Question: What does one astronomical unit equal in kilometers? (Bonus: what significant distance does one astronomical unit represent?)
56. Question: True or false: to be classified as a planet, a mass must be spherical.
57. Question: List the planets in our solar system in order from smallest to largest radius.
58. Question: How many Earth days is one day on Mercury?
59. Question: What chemical compound are the clouds made of on Venus?
60. Question: True or false: Jupiter is the only planet in our solar system with an average density lower than water.
61. Question: Mercury does not have enough gravity to create an atmosphere. What does it have instead?
62. Question: What three elements make up the majority of Mars’s atmosphere?
63. Question: What was the first NASA probe to land on Venus? (Bonus: when did it land?)
64. Question: How many Jupiters could fit inside the Sun?
65. Question: What three chemical compounds make up the ice on Uranus?
66. Question: How long does a season last on Neptune in Earth years?
67. Question: Name the layers of the Earth from innermost to outermost.
68. Question: What is the only NASA mission to make it to Pluto? (Bonus: when did it pass Pluto?)
69. Question: Which planet’s equator is tilted 90 degrees opposite its orbit?
70. Question: When did the Galileo mission explore Jupiter?
71. Question: True or False: Scientists think that another planet may exist in our solar system beyond the Kuiper Belt.
72. Question: What is the coldest known object in our solar system?
73. Question: Which planet has the most moons? (Bonus: how many moons does it have?)
74. Question: How many degrees is Earth tilted on its axis?
75. Question: How many Earth years does it take dwarf planet Makemake to orbit around the Sun?
76. Question: Uranus is named after the Greek god of the sky, but what did astronomer William Herschel originally intend to name it and why?
77. Question: Like Earth’s moon, Venus has phases. In Earth days, how long does it take Venus to complete its phase cycle?
Final Words
Alright, intergalactic friends! You’ve made it to the end of our 77 planetary trivia questions. We hope they’ve whetted your appetite for fun facts about our solar system. And if not, then we’ve got you covered: here are 111 MORE questions about our solar system!
Want even more niche trivia? Check out Trivia Bliss’s own trivia database, which has thousands upon thousands of trivia questions for your personal perusal. And for more themed trivia questions, check out our articles on state name origins trivia, Bible trivia, Harry Potter trivia, Broadway musical trivia, easy movie trivia,and ballet trivia.
Did we miss your favorite planet fact? Tell us in the comments below.
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