Q 01/05

The winter solstice is the day with what?

A) The shortest daylight

B) The longest daylight

C) The most rainfall

D) The coldest temperature

Answer · why

A) The shortest daylight

It also has the longest night of the year for that hemisphere.

Q 02/05

In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice falls on about which date?

A) January 1

B) November 30

C) December 21

D) February 2

Answer · why

C) December 21

In the Southern Hemisphere it falls six months later.

Q 03/05

The winter solstice happens when a pole reaches its maximum tilt in which direction relative to the Sun?

A) Toward the Sun

B) Away from the Sun

C) Sideways to the Sun

D) Directly under the Sun

Answer · why

B) Away from the Sun

The opposite pole is having its summer solstice at the same moment.

Q 04/05

What actually causes the seasons on our planet?

A) Its distance from the Sun

B) The 11-year sunspot cycle

C) The phases of the Moon

D) The tilt of its axis

Answer · why

D) The tilt of its axis

The tilt makes the Sun climb higher in one half of the year and stay low in the other.

Q 05/05

Earth's axis is tilted by roughly how many degrees?

A) 45

B) 10

C) 66

D) 23.4

Answer · why

D) 23.4

This tilt is also called the planet's obliquity.