Chapter- 1: Our Solar System

Important Facts on Our Solar System:

 The Solar System has Eight Planets.

 The eight planets include Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune.
 The Solar System formed 4.6 Billion years ago.
 The Solar System is part of The Milky Way.
 The eight planets are divided into the inner planets which contain Mercury, Venus, Earth
and Mars and the outer planets which contain Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
 There are 181 moons in The Solar System.
 Neptune was the last planet to be discovered in The Solar System.
 The planets of the solar system move around the Sun in elliptical orbits.
 Uranus is the only planet named after a Greek god.
 Our nearest planetary system is 4.24 light-years away.
 All planets are named after Roman gods except Uranus, Earth.
 The name “Earth” is derived from the old English/German word for “ground” or “soil”.
 Jupiter is the biggest planet in the Solar system.
 Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar system.
 Venus is the hottest planet in the Solar system.
 Earth is the only planet with surface water and life.
 Neptune is the coldest planet in the Solar system.
 Mercury is the hardest naked-eye planet.
 Mercury and Venus have their own natural satellites.
 Mercury has the least mass in the solar system.
 Venus is the brightest planet in the Solar system.
Some Important MCQs on Our Solar System:

1. Who was the first scientist who discovered that the earth revolves round the sun?
a) Einstein
b) Newton
c) Dalton
d) Copernicus

Answer: d) Copernicus

2. Which of the planet is also known as ‘Earth’s twin’?

a) Venus
b) Jupiter
c) Saturn

d) Mercury
Answer: a) Venus

3. Who discovered Uranus?

a) Copernicus
b) William Herschel
c) William Henry

d) Sir Isaac Newton

Answer: b) William Herschel

7. Our solar system is a part of which galaxy?

a) Milky Way
b) Andromeda
c) Triangulum
d) Bode’s
Answer: a) Milky Way

4. Which one of the following was discovered first in the chromosome of the sun?
a) Helium
b) Xenon
c) Argon
d) Neon

Answer: a) Helium

5. The asteroids are found between which two planets?

a) Mars and Jupiter
b) Earth and Mars
c) Jupiter and Saturn

d) Saturn and Uranus

Answer: a) Mars and Jupiter

6. How many kilometers and represented by 1° of latitude?

a) 91 km
b) 111 km

c) 211 km
d) 321 km
Answer: b) 111 km

6. Which of the following planets contains a moon called “Ganymede”?

a) Saturn
b) Jupiter
c) Mars
d) Venus

Answer: b) Jupiter

8. The Circle of illumination divides Earth into two hemispheres known as:
a) Summer and Winter
b) North and South

c) Day and Night

d) East and West
Answer: b) North and South

9. Due to which phenomenon the advanced sunrise and delayed sunset are found in the sky?
a) Point

b) Line along north-south

c) Vertical plane
d) Horizontal plane
Answer: c) vertical plane

10. Due to which phenomenon, the summer and winter seasons in a year are caused?

a) Revolution of the Earth on its inclined axis

b) Rotation in solar insolation
c) Variation in solar insolation
d) Aphelion (farthest) and Perihelion (nearest) positions of the Earth from the Sun during the
annual revolution
Answer: a) Revolution of the Earth on its inclined axis.
11. Which of the following planets takes the least time to complete one rotation on its axis?
a) Jupiter
b) Earth

c) Neptune
d) Mercury
Answer: a) Jupiter

12. How long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun?
a) About 24 hours

b) About 24 minutes
c) About 8 minutes
d) About 4 minutes
Answer: c) About 8 minutes

13. Which of the following regarding the duration of day and night is correct?

a) Difference is maximum at the Tropics and progressively decreases towards the Equator and
poles.
b) Difference is least at the Tropics and progressively increases towards the Equator and poles.
c) Difference is maximum at the Equator and progressively decreases away from it.

d) Difference is least near the Equator and progressively increases away from it.
Answer: d) Difference is least near the Equator and progressively increases away from it.

14. Which of the following planets of our solar system has the least mass?
a) Mercury
b) Mars

c) Neptune
d) Jupiter
Answer: a) Mercury

15. The shortest day length that occurs in the Northern hemisphere is on:
a) 22nd December

b) 22nd November
c) 23rd September
d) 21st March
Answer: a) 22nd December

16. Which of the following statements is not correct?

a) Solar noon occurs at different times at locations with the same latitude.
b) Solar noon occurs simultaneously at locations with the same longitude.
c) One meridian, which is directly under the sun, experiences solar noon at a given time.
d) Places having the same longitude experience solar noon at different times.
Answer: d) Places having the same longitude experience solar noon at different times.

17. Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission is:

a) A spacecraft launched by the USA.
b) A spacecraft launched by India.
c) A collaborative project of ISRO and NASA.
d) A collaborative project of NASA and the European Space Agency.
Answer: a) A spacecraft launched by the USA.

18. Which of the following regarding the variations in the length of daytime and nighttime from
season to season is correct?
a) The Earth’s revolution round the sun in an elliptical manner.

b) Revolution of the Earth on a tilted axis.

c) The Earth’s rotation on its axis.
d) Latitudinal position of the place.
Answer: a) The Earth’s revolution round the sun in an elliptical manner.

19. Due to which optical phenomenon eclipses occur?

a) Diffraction
b) Refraction
c) Reflection
d) Rectilinear propagation
Answer: a) Diffraction

20. The twinkling of stars is due to:

a) The atmospheric refraction of sunlight
b) The variation in the intensity of light emitted by it with time.
c) The transit of other celestial objects across the line of sight
d) The variation in the composition of stars with time.
Answer: a) The atmospheric refraction of sunlight

21. Who among the following was the first to explain that the rotation of the Earthy on its own
axis accounts for the daily rising and setting of the sun?
a) Brahmagupta

b) Aryabhatta
c) Varahamihira
d) Bhaskara
Answer: b) Aryabhatta

22. On average, air contains how much percent of water vapor?

a) 7%
b) 5%
c) 3%
d) 1%
Answer: c) 3%

23. Day and night are equal at:

a) Poles
b) Antarctic
c) Prime Meridian
d) Equator
Answer: d) Equator

24. The Earth is on maximum distance from the Sun on:

a) January 30th
b) July 4th
c) September 22nd
d) December 22nd

Answer: b) July 4th

25. The Earth is nearest to the Sun on:

a) January 3rd
b) March 21st
c) July 4th

d) September 23rd
Answer: a) January 3rd

26. What is the measure of 1° of the circumference of the Earth?

a) 175 km
b) 151 km
c) 111 km
d) 100 km
Answer: c) 111 km

27. How many numbers of planets revolve round the Sun?

a) 5
b) 6
c) 7
d) 8

Answer: d) 8

28. Which is the brightest planet in the Solar system?

a) Mercury
b) Venus
c) Mars

d) Jupiter
Answer: b) Venus

29. The rate of decrease of temperature in the troposphere is:

a) 7.4 ° C
b) 7 ° C

c) 6.4 ° C
d) 5.4 ° C
Answer: c) 6.4 ° C

30. What is the name of the largest moon of Saturn?

a) Titan
b) Tethys
c) Enceladus
d) Mimas

Answer: a) Titan

Additional Question and Answers on Our Solar System:

1. How did the Solar system originate?

Answer: The Solar System originated 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a
giant interstellar molecular cloud.

2. What does the solar system consist?

Answer: Our Solar system consists of the Sun, four smaller inner planets surrounded by a belt of
mostly rocky asteroids, and four giant planets surrounded by the Kuiper belt of mostly icy
objects.

3. Which is the hottest planet?

Answer: Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system.

4. What is the coldest planet?

Answer: Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system.

5. Which is the red planet in the solar system?

Answer: Mars is known as the Red Planet because iron minerals in the Martian soil oxidize, or
rust, causing the soil and atmosphere to look red.

6. Which planet has the longest day?

Answer: Venus has the longest rotation period (day) of all the major planets in the Solar System.
It takes 243.16 'Earth days' to spin once through 360 degrees.

7. What is the biggest star?

Answer: UY Scuti is known as the largest star in the universe with an estimated radius of 1.188
billion kilometers.

8. Which planets rotate the fastest?

Answer: The planet Mercury rotates the fastest in 58d 16h at the speed of 10.83 km/h.

9. Which planet has the shortest day?

Answer: Jupiter has the shortest day amongst all the planets in our Solar System with a period of
rotation of only 10 hours.

10. What is the solar system made up of?

Answer: The solar system is made up of the sun, eight planets, at least 138 moons, comets,
asteroids and many space rocks.