Which telescope first spotted the planetary-mass companion 2M1207b in 2004?
Answer
Very Large Telescope
80 Exoplanets Trivia Questions with Answers
80 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?
Exoplanet trivia reaches beyond the Solar System to the planets, stars, telescopes, and detection methods used to find distant worlds. Questions may cover the directly imaged companion 2M1207b, the habitable zone where liquid water could exist, and the PDS 70 system, where astronomers observed a moon-forming disk around a young planet.
The category also includes landmark discoveries: Kepler-11's compact system of transiting planets, Gliese 876 b's orbit around a red dwarf, Kepler-452b's year-length orbit, and official names assigned to unusual worlds such as Iota Draconis b. This topic suits astronomy students, science classrooms, space-themed pub quizzes, and players fascinated by how planets are detected and characterized.
Kepler-452b orbits its star in roughly how many Earth days?
Answer
385 days
LHS 1140 b was discovered in 2017 by which ground-based exoplanet survey?
Answer
MEarth Project
About how many Earth days does Kepler-186f take to orbit its star?
Answer
129.9 days
Which detection method finds exoplanets by measuring Doppler shifts in a star's spectrum?
Answer
Radial velocity
Which detection method finds exoplanets by watching a star dim as a planet crosses in front?
Answer
Transit photometry
What class of close-orbiting gas giant is 51 Pegasi b the prototype for?
Answer
Hot Jupiter
Which official IAU name belongs to the pulsar planet PSR B1257+12 c?
Answer
Poltergeist
Gliese 667 Cc orbits which star in a triple-star system?
Answer
Gliese 667 C
About how many Earth days is Kepler-62f's orbital period?
Answer
267 days
TRAPPIST-1 is classified as what kind of small, cool star?
Answer
Ultra-cool red dwarf
What is the official IAU name of 51 Pegasi b?
Answer
Dimidium
What word does the first T in NASA's TESS mission name stand for?
Answer
Transiting
Which exoplanet orbits the orange giant star Gamma Cephei A?
Answer
Gamma Cephei Ab
Which pulsar planet has the official name Draugr?
Answer
PSR B1257+12 b
Which exoplanet was the first whose rotation rate was measured directly?
Answer
Beta Pictoris b
Which exoplanet is nicknamed Osiris?
Answer
HD 209458 b
Which star was the first Sun-like star known to have a multiplanet exoplanet system?
Answer
Upsilon Andromedae
Which detection method finds exoplanets by using a foreground star's gravity as a lens?
Answer
Gravitational microlensing
What is the official IAU name of the exoplanet 55 Cancri e?
Answer
Janssen
Which star is orbited by the ultra-short-period planet 55 Cancri e?
Answer
55 Cancri
What type of exoplanet is more massive than Earth but lighter than Neptune?
Answer
Super-Earth
Exoplanets trivia — quick answers
What are good exoplanet trivia questions?
Good exoplanet questions cover discovery telescopes, direct imaging, transit measurements, orbital periods, host-star types, habitable zones, and planet formation. Examples include asking about 2M1207b, PDS 70b, Kepler-11, Gliese 876 b, Kepler-452b, or the official proper name of Iota Draconis b.
How hard is exoplanet trivia?
Exoplanet trivia is usually intermediate to advanced because it combines astronomy concepts with specific discovery records and catalog names. Basic questions define a habitable zone or transit, while harder ones ask about particular systems, direct-imaging milestones, circumplanetary disks, host stars, and exact orbital periods.
What is an exoplanet?
An exoplanet is a planet beyond our Solar System that orbits a star other than the Sun. Astronomers find exoplanets using methods including transits, which measure a star's dimming as a planet passes in front of it, and radial velocity, which detects a star's motion caused by an orbiting planet.
What is the habitable zone?
The habitable zone is the region around a star where conditions could allow liquid water to exist on a planet's surface, assuming a suitable atmosphere and other necessary factors. It is sometimes called the Goldilocks zone because it is neither too hot nor too cold for surface liquid water under those assumptions.
How are exoplanets discovered?
Most exoplanets are discovered indirectly. The transit method detects repeated dips in a star's brightness when a planet crosses its disk, while the radial-velocity method measures tiny shifts in a star's spectrum caused by the planet's gravitational pull. Direct imaging can capture light from some planets, particularly large, young, widely separated worlds.