Exoplanets Quiz: 10 Questions That Test What You Know
This exoplanets quiz covers the first planets found around other stars, hot Jupiters, the transit and wobble methods, the Kepler and TESS missions, TRAPPIST-1 and the search for habitable worlds. Ten questions test what you know about planets beyond our solar system.
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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds
Definition
What is an exoplanet?
First
Which was the first exoplanet found around a Sun-like star, in 1995?
Transit
How does the transit method find exoplanets?
Wobble
What does the radial velocity method detect?
Kepler
Which NASA telescope found thousands of exoplanets between 2009 and 2018?
Hot
What are hot Jupiters?
TRAPPIST
How many Earth-sized planets orbit TRAPPIST-1?
Zone
What is the habitable zone?
Nearest
Which star hosts the nearest known exoplanet, Proxima b?
Count
Roughly how many exoplanets had been confirmed by 2025?
Your score
0/10
Scroll down to see the explanation for each question.
Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions
- Q1: What is an exoplanet?
Answer: A planet orbiting a star other than the Sun
Thousands have been confirmed since the 1990s.
- Q2: Which was the first exoplanet found around a Sun-like star, in 1995?
Answer: 51 Pegasi b
Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz won the 2019 Nobel Prize.
- Q3: How does the transit method find exoplanets?
Answer: By spotting a star dimming as a planet passes in front
Kepler found thousands this way.
- Q4: What does the radial velocity method detect?
Answer: A star's wobble caused by a planet's pull
It measures shifts in starlight.
- Q5: Which NASA telescope found thousands of exoplanets between 2009 and 2018?
Answer: Kepler
It stared at one patch of sky.
- Q6: What are hot Jupiters?
Answer: Giant planets orbiting very close to their stars
They surprised astronomers.
- Q7: How many Earth-sized planets orbit TRAPPIST-1?
Answer: Seven
Several are in the habitable zone.
- Q8: What is the habitable zone?
Answer: The region where liquid water could exist
It is also called the Goldilocks zone.
- Q9: Which star hosts the nearest known exoplanet, Proxima b?
Answer: Proxima Centauri
It is about 4.2 light-years away.
- Q10: Roughly how many exoplanets had been confirmed by 2025?
Answer: Over 6,000
NASA passed 6,000 confirmations in 2025.
Exoplanets Quiz – Worlds Beyond the Sun
Exoplanets are planets orbiting stars other than the Sun. For centuries their existence was only guessed at, but in 1995 astronomers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz found 51 Pegasi b, a giant planet circling a Sun-like star. Since then, over 6,000 exoplanets have been confirmed.
Astronomers usually detect exoplanets indirectly. The transit method watches for a star dimming as a planet passes in front, and the radial velocity method measures a star's tiny wobble. Missions like Kepler and TESS have found thousands of planets this way.
Exoplanets are surprisingly varied, from hot Jupiters to super-Earths and lava worlds. Systems like TRAPPIST-1 have several Earth-sized planets in habitable zones. The James Webb Space Telescope now studies their atmospheres for water, carbon dioxide and possible signs of life.
What This Quiz Teaches
This quiz is for space fans exploring exoplanets.
- What exoplanets are
- Which was found first
- How the transit method works
- What hot Jupiters are
- What the habitable zone is
Did You Know?
- Some exoplanets orbit two stars.
- 55 Cancri e may be a lava world.
- Rogue planets drift without stars.
- Most stars probably have planets.
- Webb detected CO2 on an exoplanet in 2022.
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