Q 01/05

On which planet do sunsets glow blue around the Sun, because fine dust hanging in the air filters the daylight?

A) Neptune

B) Mars

C) Jupiter

D) Mercury

Answer · why

B) Mars

Mars has butterscotch daytime skies that turn blue near the setting Sun, the reverse of Earth, and its Sun looks only two-thirds as wide.

Q 02/05

Which planet, called both the morning star and the evening star, spins backwards so the Sun rises in the west there?

A) Mercury

B) Jupiter

C) Saturn

D) Venus

Answer · why

D) Venus

Venus turns clockwise, the opposite way to most planets, and so slowly that one spin takes 243 Earth days, longer than its entire year.

Q 03/05

About how many sunrises do astronauts aboard the International Space Station see each day as they circle Earth?

A) 1

B) 5

C) 16

D) 50

Answer · why

C) 16

16 sunrises and sunsets pass the station every day because of its orbital speed, so the windows are covered during sleep periods to fake a night.

Q 04/05

Which country's native name is written with characters meaning the sun's origin?

A) Japan

B) China

C) Vietnam

D) Thailand

Answer · why

A) Japan

Japan adopted the name Nippon after an envoy to the Tang court said he disliked the older label for his country, a tenth-century history records.

Q 05/05

Which prehistoric monument in southern England is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice?

A) Stonehenge

B) Avebury

C) Silbury Hill

D) Skara Brae

Answer · why

A) Stonehenge

Stonehenge works in reverse too: the same axis that frames the midsummer sunrise points to the sunset on the shortest day of the year.