Olympiad Test: Stars & the Solar System - UPSC MCQ

One light year is the distance travelled by light in one year, i.e. 9.46×10¹²km.

The sun is a part of the solar system. Proxima Centauri is about 4.3 light years from the earth and nearest to the solar system.

Constellation is a group of stars that appear to form some kind of pattern.

36, 000 km is the approximate height of a geostationary satellite from the earth.

India joined the space club on April 19, 1975 On June 19, 1979, Bhaskara 1, India's second satellite was put into orbit successfully.

Jupiter is the largest planet and it is made up of gas.

Stars appear to move from east to west. This is because the earth rotates on its axis from west to east.

Orion is the name of a constellation which means the hunter.

The great red spot on Jupiter's surface is actually a huge storm.

A spy-satellite is an earth observation satellite (or) communication satellite deployed in a low-earth orbit, for military (or) intelligence applications.

Ceres is an asteroid that was first discovered and it is also the largest.

The moon is not a star. It is the only natural satellite visible to us on the earth.

The only moon in the solar system with active volcanoes is lo.

Ganymede, one of the many moons of Jupiter, is the largest satellite in our solar system.

Mercury, Mars, Venus and Jupiter can be seen with the naked eye.

Natural satellites e.g., moon revolve around the earth in an elliptical orbit. Geostationary satellites revolve around the earth in circular orbits.

The largest of the 88 recognized constellations is Hydra. It is best seen from the southern hemisphere. The smallest constellation is Crux.

Ozone is made up of oxygen.

Johannes Kepler proved that the planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits. He also formulated the laws of planetary motion, which have been named after him.

Between 1979 and 1999, the farthest planet from the sun was Neptune.