Planets and Solar System One Liner MCQs

The Solar System is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the objects that orbit it, either directly or indirectly,[b] including the eight planets and five dwarf planets as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Of the objects that orbit the Sun directly, the largest eight are the planets, with the remainder being smaller objects, such as dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies. Of the objects that orbit the Sun indirectly, the moons, two are larger than the smallest planet, Mercury.

Solar System

• The solar system is the family of the sun, planets revolving around it, the satellites of the planets and the asteroids or meteoroids and comets etc.
• There are eight planets in the solar system.
• Starting from the sun there are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
• All the planets revolve around the sun in their orbits.
• Meteorite analysis shows that the age of solar system is about 4530 million years.
• The sun is not the largest star of the Milky Way; rather it is an average sized star.
• It is not at the centre of the galaxy but shifted towards a side.
• The diameter of the sun is 1, 392, 140 km and its mass is 2 * 1027 tonnes.
• The outermost layer of the sun is called photosphere, has an average temperature of 5570 0C.
• The photosphere rotates at a rate of 25.38 days per turn.
• At the centre of the sun hydrogen is undergoing nuclear fusion reaction which provides energy for the heat and light so sun.
• The planets of the solar system as well as the moons get light and sometimes heat from the sun.
• The four inner planets of the solar system are called terrestrial plants because of their rocky nature.
• The outer planets are called gaseous planets because they don’t have solid surface and are composed of gases.

Mercury

• One of the earliest records of Mercury comes from the Sumerians around 3,000 BC. Since Mercury never travels far from the sun in the sky, it is more difficult to see and was probably discovered later than brighter planets like Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
• Its distance from Sun is 58 million kms.
• Its revolution period is 88 days.
• Its rotation period is 58 days, 15 hours and 30 minutes.
• It has no moon.
• It is the nearest planet to the sun.
• It is also the smallest planet of the solar system.
• It is the fastest planet.
• Its radius is 2,433 kms and diameter is 4,878 kms.
• It is covered with holes called Craters.
• It has no atmosphere.
• The temperature on mercury vary between 420 0C (7900F) in the day and -180 0C (-2900F) at nights.

Venus

• Venus is one of the planets visible with the unaided eye. Because it has always been easy to see, it's impossible to say who discovered Venus. In fact, after the Moon and the Sun, Venus is the brightest object in the sky – it's likely ancient people thousands of years ago knew about it.
• Apart from the moon, Venus is the brightest object in the sky. Venus can be seen with naked eye in the morning or in the evening. Following are the main characteristics of the Venus.
• Its distance from the Sun is 108 million kms.
• Its revolution period is 224.7/225 days.
• Its rotation period is 243 days and 14 hours (longest day)
• It has no moon.
• It is the nearest neighbour of the earth in the solar system.
• It is the brightest planet.
• It is also the hottest planet.
• Its diameter is 12,102 kms.
• It is wrapped in thick clouds of CO2 gas.
• It rotates from east to west as opposite to most other planets.

Earth

• The earth is the largest and the densest of the four terrestrial planets. It is the most wonderful planet of the solar system. Following are the features of the Earth.
• Its distance from the Sun is 150 million kms.
• Its revolution period is 365 ¼ days.
• Its rotation period is 23 hours, 56 minutes, 40 seconds.
• It has one moon.
• It is the densest planet.
• It is also the watery and bios planet.
• Its diameter is 12756 km (7927 miles equatorial and 7900 miles polar diameter)
• It has atmosphere which contains 78% Nitrogen, and 21% Oxygen.
• Its two-thirds surface is covered with oceans.
• The earth’s surface is rich in Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminium, Iron, Calcium.

Mars

• Because of this, we don't know who exactly discovered Mars. We do know it was named after the Roman god of war, because its reddish color reminded people of blood. In 1659, Christian Huygens discovered a strange feature on the surface of the Red Planet. It was later called the Syrtis Major.
• We do know it was named after the Roman god of war, because its reddish color reminded people of blood. In 1659, Christian Huygens discovered a strange feature on the surface of the Red Planet. It was later called the Syrtis Major. We have been scared of Martians ever since.
• Distance form sun 228 million kms.
• Revolution period 687 days.
• Rotation period 24 h, 37 min and 22 sec.
• It has two moons Phobos and Deimos.
• Its diameter is 6794 kms.
• Mars is covered with red dust.
• It has an atmosphere composed almost entirely of CO2.
• Its average temperature is -53 0C.

Jupiter

• In 1610, Galileo Galilei discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter—Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto (now known as the Galilean moons)—using a telescope; thought to be the first telescopic observation of moons other than Earth's.
• Its distance from sun is 778 million kms.
• Revolution period 12 years.
• Rotation period 9h, 50min, and 30 sec. (smallest day)
• It has 63 moons.
• It is the largest planet of the solar system.
• It has the largest number of satellites.
• Its diameter is 1, 24,800 kms.
• Its diameter is eleven times greater than the earth’s diameter.
• It has a dense, cloudy atmosphere of hydrogen and helium.
• It has a rock-iron-ice core about 15, 000 km (9,000 miles) thick.
• Jupiter radiates 67% more heat than it receives from the sun. this is mainly due to dissipation of the primordial heat of the planet.

Saturn

• In 1610, Galileo became the first person to look at Saturn through telescope.
• Distance from Sun 1427 million kms.
• Revolution period 30 years.
• Rotation period 10h, 14 mins.
• It has 62 moons.
• The largest moon of Saturn is the Titan and it is the second-largest moon in the solar system. Titan is larger than the planet Mercury.
• It is the second largest planet.
• It has a magnificent system of rings.
• Its diameter is 1, 20, 000 km.

Uranus

• Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. When sky is very dark and very clear Uranus can be seen with the naked eyes. The planet was discovered by William Herschel in March 1787.
• Its distance from Sun is 2869.9 million kilometres. 
• Revolution period is 84 years.
• Rotation period is 16h, and 10 minutes.
• It has 27 moons.
• Titania is the largest moon of Uranus.
• It has an atmosphere which is dominated by hydrogen and helium.
• Its diameter is 52, 400 km.

Neptune

• Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third-largest by mass. Among the gaseous planets in the Solar System, Neptune is the most dense Neptune was discovered by the German astronomer Johann Galle.
• Distance from Sun 4496, 6 million kms.
• Revolution period 165 years (largest year)
• Rotation period 18 hours.
• Neptune has 13 moons that we know of. The largest moon is Triton.
• It is the coldest planet.
• It is the slowest to move around the sun.
• Its diameter is 49,100 kms.
• It is known as the twin of Uranus due to their similarity of size, mass and

Pluto

• Pluto discovered by Clyde William Tombaugh was an American astronomer in February 18, 1930. 
• Pluto is the second-most massive known dwarf planet, after Eris. 
• It is the largest object in the Kuiper belt and possibly the largest known trans-Neptunian object.
• The International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term "planet" formally in 2006
• Pluto is the largest and second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System,
• Pluto is primarily made of ice and rock
• It has a moderately eccentric and inclined orbit during which it ranges from 30 to 49 astronomical units or AU (4.4–7.4 billion km) from the Sun.
• On July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft became the first spacecraft to fly by Pluto.
• In September 2016, astronomers announced that the reddish-brown cap of the north pole of Charon is composed of tholins, organic macromolecules for the emergence of life, and produced from methane, nitrogen and other gases.
• The name Pluto, after the god of the underworld, was proposed by Venetia Burney (1918–2009), an eleven-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford, England, who was interested in classical mythology.
• In 1978, the discovery of Pluto's moon Charon allowed the measurement of Pluto's mass for the first time: roughly 0.2% that of Earth
• Pluto's diameter is 2376.6±3.2 km[5] and its mass is (1.303±0.003)×1022 kg, 17.7% that of the Moon (0.22% that of Earth).[115] Its surface area is 1.779×107 km2, or roughly the same surface area as Russia.