Q 01/05

Which moon is the only one in the Solar System larger than Titan?

A) Ganymede

B) Callisto

C) Europa

D) Io

Answer · why

A) Ganymede

Ganymede. It is wider than Titan by only about 2 percent, and Titan's thick haze made it look the bigger of the two until a spacecraft flew close enou...

Q 02/05

Titan is closest in size to which planet?

A) Mercury

B) Mars

C) Venus

D) Earth

Answer · why

A) Mercury

Mercury. The planet is slightly narrower than Titan yet well over twice as massive, because it is mostly iron and rock while the moon is built of much...

Q 03/05

Christiaan Huygens, who discovered Titan in 1655, came from which country?

A) Denmark

B) Germany

C) Switzerland

D) Netherlands

Answer · why

D) Netherlands

The Netherlands. Huygens and his brother Constantijn built their own telescopes, and with them he also worked out that Saturn's baffling shape was rea...

Q 04/05

What Latin name did its discoverer give Titan?

A) Saturni Luna

B) Stella Saturni

C) Sidus Batavum

D) Luna Nova

Answer · why

A) Saturni Luna

Saturni Luna, also written Luna Saturni, is just Latin for Saturn's moon, since it was the only one known. Cassini later wanted the four he found name...

Q 05/05

Who gave Titan its name in the 1800s?

A) Giovanni Cassini

B) Urbain Le Verrier

C) John Herschel

D) William Herschel

Answer · why

C) John Herschel

John Herschel proposed it while naming all seven of Saturn's then-known moons, which until then had gone by numerals. His father William had discovere...