What reaction involving atomic nuclei is the source of the Sun’s energy?

Which planet is nearly Earth’s twin in size and mass?

Which planet is named after one of the greatest of the Greco-Roman gods but has moons named after characters in plays by William Shakespeare?

Which of these planets is not a Jovian planet?

What surface features, thought by early observers to be large bodies of water, form the facial features of “the man in the Moon”?

What is the largest known asteroid in the solar system, discovered by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi and named after the Roman goddess of agriculture?

Which constellation contains the stars Rigel (left leg of the hunter), Betelgeuse (the hunter’s shoulder), and Bellatrix (meaning “the female warrior”)?

What was the world’s first artificial satellite?

What type of dark object may form when interstellar cloud matter contracts but does not generate the thermonuclear reactions typical of luminous stars?

Before the Sun dies, what will its outer envelope expand to create?

What is thought to cause the powerful radio and X-ray emissions from the galaxy Virgo A and the disk of hot, ionized gas at its centre?

Which planet has two continent-size highlands called Ishtar Terra and Aphrodite Terra?

What is albedo?

What is measured in parsecs?

What appear transiently on the surface of the Sun and exist mostly in sets of two or more?

How long does it take for the Sun to complete one rotation at its equator?

What planet is closest to the Sun and appears low in the sky as an evening star or morning star?

In 2011 a planet completed its first revolution of the Sun since it was discovered in 1846. Which planet is this?

What is on top of Mount Palomar, in California, that allows access to space?

Which celestial object, located in the southern constellation Centaurus, is the brightest globular star cluster in the sky?

Which branch of astronomy has used electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths from about one micrometre to one millimetre to gather information on star formation and on interstellar gas and dust?

What is the term for the visible surface of the Sun?

At current rates of energy expenditure, what is expected to last another 10 billion years?

What zodiacal constellation is represented by a ram?

What term signifies the measure of the brightness of a star or other celestial body?

Which planet owes its deep blue colour to the absorption of red light by methane gas in its atmosphere?

What is the largest moon of Saturn?

What suddenly flares brightly in the night sky, can be seen by the naked eye, and is often mistaken for a new star before fading to its previous level of luminosity?

What is the only planet among the four terrestrial planets to have a strong magnetic field?

The gravitational force felt on the Moon is what fraction of the force felt on Earth?

Which planet is named after the Roman god of agriculture?

Which discipline is concerned with the geologic aspects of all solid bodies in the solar system, including the major planets and their satellites, asteroids, comets, and meteorites?

What astral formation is created by a dark cloud of dust rising in front of an illuminated cloud of ionized gas?

What does a light-year measure?

Which star is nearest to Earth’s solar system?

What theory proposes that the universe expanded rapidly from a highly compressed primordial state?

Which are the only two planets of the solar system that do not have any natural satellites?

Which planet has the strongest magnetic field?

What term denotes the time taken for the solar system to revolve once around the Milky Way Galaxy?

What planet is the brightest in the sky?

What is the name of the storm system on Jupiter that was once about 48,000 km (30,000 miles) in length?

What dwarf planet was once classified as a planet?

Who discovered Uranus?

Which constellation has three bright stars in the hunter’s belt and a nebula in his sword?

Once used to denote any astronomical object that was “misty” or “cloudy” rather than sharp and clear, what term now refers more exclusively to the gas and solid particles of the interstellar medium?

What is the colour of blood and has satellites named Fear and Terror?

When the Moon enters both umbra and penumbra, what has it done?

What was known to the ancients as the Dog Star and today is known for having a companion white dwarf star?

What kind of cosmic body is presumed to be at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy?