Space Explorer

Correct Answer: B) Venus

Although Mercury is closer to the Sun, Venus is the hottest planet with an average surface temperature of about 867°F (464°C). This extreme heat is due to Venus's thick atmosphere which traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect.

Correct Answer: A) Milky Way

Our solar system is located in the Milky Way galaxy, which is a barred spiral galaxy containing between 100-400 billion stars. The Milky Way is approximately 100,000 light-years in diameter.

Correct Answer: B) Jupiter

The Great Red Spot is a persistent high-pressure region in Jupiter's atmosphere, producing an anticyclonic storm that has existed for at least 400 years. It's large enough to contain two or three Earths.

Correct Answer: C) Proxima Centauri

Proxima Centauri is the closest star to our Sun, located about 4.24 light-years away. It's a small, low-mass red dwarf star that's part of the Alpha Centauri star system. In 2016, an Earth-sized exoplanet was discovered orbiting in its habitable zone.

Correct Answer: C) Heliopause

The heliopause is the theoretical boundary where the Sun's solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium. It marks the end of the heliosphere and the beginning of interstellar space. Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft have crossed this boundary.

Correct Answer: B) Saturn

Saturn currently has 83 confirmed moons, surpassing Jupiter's 79. Many of these moons are small, irregular bodies, while others like Titan are substantial. Scientists continue discovering new moons around the gas giants as technology improves.

Correct Answer: C) Atmospheric refraction

Stars twinkle (scientifically called "stellar scintillation") because their light passes through different density layers in Earth's atmosphere, which bends (refracts) the light slightly. This is why stars appear to twinkle more near the horizon, where light passes through more atmosphere.

Correct Answer: D) The distance light travels in one year

A light-year is the distance that light travels in one Earth year, approximately 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers). It's used as a unit of measurement for the vast distances in space, as standard miles or kilometers would result in unwieldy numbers.

Correct Answer: B) Crew Dragon

SpaceX's first crewed spacecraft is called Crew Dragon (officially Dragon 2). It first carried astronauts to the International Space Station in May 2020, marking the first crewed orbital spaceflight by a private company and the return of crewed launches from US soil since the Space Shuttle's retirement.