The following quiz round was submitted by Steve Gardiner from the UK . Thanks again Steve, another stellar round

1. What is the name of an apparatus for representing the positions, motions, and phases of the planets, satellites, etc. in the solar system?

2. Which of the planets in the solar system has the hottest surface temperature?

3. What classification is the Sun as a star?

4. How many planets have rings of ice and dust around them?

5. Which Italian was the first to discover the physical details about the individual bodies of the Solar System, including craters on the moon and sunspots?

6. Which planet has moons named after Shakespearean characters?

7. What are the only two planets in the solar system which do not have moons?

8. To within ten, how many known moons are there revolving the other planets?

9. Pluto and which two other celestial bodies have now been classified as dwarf planets within our solar system?

10. Who wrote the science fiction novel Podkayne of Mars, about a teenager?s trip around the solar system?

ANSWERS

1. An orrery (named after Charles Boyle, Earl of Orrery (1676?1731), for whom it was first made)

2. Venus ? due to greenhouse gases

3. Yellow dwarf star (G2[V]) ? ?V? = main sequence

4. 4 ? Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus (the 4 gas giants)

5. Galileo Galilei

6. Uranus

7. Mercury and Venus

8. 166

9. Ceres and Eris (Eris is larger than Pluto)

10. Robert A Heinlein