40 Space Trivia Questions for Kids

1. Which shape best describes the whole Sun?

2. What is a sudden bright burst of energy from the Sun called?

3. What moves upward in the bright centers of the Sun's small surface cells, called granules?

4. How many stars orbit one another in a binary star system?

5. Compared with the Sun, a typical red dwarf star is what?

6. What do astronomers call a great cloud of gas and dust where stars can form?

7. What makes a faraway star appear to twinkle when seen from the ground?

8. What type of star is the orange-red Betelgeuse in Orion?

9. What is the loose layer of dust and broken rock covering much of the Moon called?

10. A full Moon usually rises at about which time?

11. What does a gibbous Moon look like?

12. What lights the dim part of a crescent Moon during earthshine?

13. Which statement about seeing the Moon is true?

14. Which statement about the Moon's far side is correct?

15. What made most of the Moon's round craters?

16. During a lunar eclipse, whose shadow falls across the Moon?

17. How many official constellations divide up the whole sky?

18. Stars that look next to each other in a constellation can actually be what?

19. Which letter do the five main stars of Cassiopeia often resemble?

20. Which animal does the constellation Leo represent?

21. Which bird is represented by the constellation Cygnus?

22. What do astronomers call a dense, roughly ball-shaped gathering of many old stars?

23. Two identical stars are at different distances from Earth. If no dust or clouds block their light, which looks fainter?

24. The Pleiades are a nearby group of what?

25. Which galaxy type has curved arms like a pinwheel?

26. Which galaxy type can look like a smooth oval without spiral arms?

27. What name describes a galaxy without a clear spiral or oval shape?

28. What type of galaxy is the Milky Way?

29. What is our neighborhood of galaxies, including Andromeda, called?

30. What force holds a galaxy's stars, gas and dust together?

31. Why are tortillas handy for making meals on a space station?

32. How do astronauts usually wash their bodies on the space station?

33. In what form are salt and pepper supplied for use in space meals?

34. Which liquid do astronauts add at the food dispenser to rehydrate a dried meal?

35. What is commonly fitted to an astronaut's drink pouch for sipping?

36. Why do astronauts pack fresh clothes instead of doing ordinary laundry on the station?

37. What can orbit some asteroids, just as a companion orbits a planet?

38. An active comet can have two main kinds of tail: one of gas and one of what?

39. What special name is given to an exceptionally bright meteor?

40. How are most large asteroids spaced within the main asteroid belt?