Solar System

1. Who gave the expanding universe hypothesis? SSC Stenographer 11/12/2024 (Evening) (a) Galileo Galilei (b) Edwin Hubble (c) James Clerk Maxwell (d) CV Raman

1.(b) Edwin Hubble. The most popular argument regarding the origin of the universe is the Big Bang Theory. It is also called the expanding universe hypothesis. Edwin Hubble, in 1920, provided evidence that the universe is expanding. As time passes, galaxies move further and further apart. Galileo Galilei is known for his contributions to astronomy, particularly with the use of the telescope.

2. Geoid is the ________ of earth. SSC CHSL 01/07/2024 (1st shift) (a) orbit (b) axis (c) colour (d) shape

2.(d) shape. The Earth looks spherical in shape, but it is not a perfect sphere. It is slightly flattened at the top and bottom (near the South and North Poles) and bulges at the Equator due to the outward force caused by the rotation of the Earth. The Geoid shape is not perfectly spherical.

3. Which is, by far, the closest dwarf planet orbiting at only 2.8 times Earth’s distance from the sun ? SSC CHSL 01/07/2024 (2nd shift) (a) Ceres
(b) Makemake (c) Eris (d) Pluto

3.(a) Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it is the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system. It was the first member of the asteroid belt to be discovered when Giuseppe Piazzi spotted it in 1801.

4. A ________ is a cloud of dust and gas inside a galaxy. SSC CHSL 02/07/2024 (1st shift) (a) black hole
(b) photosphere (c) nebula (d) chromosphere

4.(c) nebula. A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases. Originally, nebula was a name for any diffuse astronomical object, including galaxies beyond the Milky Way.

8. Which of the following is the second nearest star to Earth? SSC CHSL 04/07/2024 (1st shift) (a) Proxima Centauri (b) Polaris (c) Sirius
(d) Delta Velorum

8.(a) Proxima Centauri. It is the closest star to the sun, at a distance of 4.24 light - years. A light - year is the distance light travels in one year, which is about 9.461 x 1012
kilometers. Polaris
(North Star) is located nearly directly above Earth's North Pole along its rotational axis. Sirius (Dog Star) is the brightest star in Earth's night sky. Delta Velorum is a triple star system in the southern constellation of Vela.

9. Which of the following statements most accurately describes the planet Saturn? SSC CHSL 04/07/2024 (3rd shift)
constellation best seen in the northern hemisphere during the summer and fall months around September is: SSC CHSL 02/07/2024 (4th shift) (a) Cygnus
(b) Ursa Major (c) Pegasus (d) Cassiopeia

5.(a) Cygnus. It is a northern constellation on the plane of the Milky Way, deriving its name from the Latinized Greek word for swan.

6. The colour of the surface of Mars is red because of the presence of large amounts of chemical compounds in it. What is the name of that compound ? SSC CHSL 03/07/2024 (2nd shift) (a) Magnesium oxide (b) Tin oxide (c) Iron oxide
(d) Nitrogen oxide

6.(c) Iron oxide. Mars appears reddish due to the presence of ferric iron in the form of red hematite (Fe2
(a) It is a gas giant made up mostly of hydrogen and helium and the density is less than that of water
(b) Its surface is reddish in colour. (c) It was the seventh planet discovered in the Solar System.
(d) Its cloud-like outer regions consist of methane in the gaseous form and ammonia in crystalline form.

7. Which dwarf planet orbits the sun in 310 years at a distance between 38.5 to 53 AU ? SSC CHSL 03/07/2024 (4th shift) (a) Eris (b) Ceres (c) Makemake (d) Pluto

7.(c) Makemake. It is the third-largest and second-brightest known dwarf planet. It was discovered in 2005. Pluto was discovered in 1930. It was initially classified as the ninth planet of the Solar System but was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. Pluto has a natural satellite named 'Charon'.

10. Which of the following is NOT a moon of Jupiter ? SSC CHSL 04/07/2024 (4th shift) (a) Callisto
(b) Europa (c) GanymedePinnacle
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95.32% carbon dioxide, with methane
and sulfur dioxide. Uranus is the coldest
planet. The coldest planet in the Solar
System is Uranus.

13. Which of the following is one of the
largest spiral galaxies?
SSC CHSL 05/07/2024 (3rd shift)
(a) NGC 6872
(b) Milky Way
(c) Cygnus A
(d) Maffei 1

13.(a) NGC 6872, which is one of the
largest spiral galaxies, spanning 522,000
light-years across, approximately five
times the size of the Milky Way. It is
located 212 million light-years from Earth
in the southern constellation Pavo.

14. The length of a day on ______ is
approximately 16 hours.
SSC CHSL 05/07/2024 (4th shift)
(a) Venus
(b) Mercury
(c) Mars
(d) Neptune

14.(d) Neptune. Planet and Day
Length in hours: Mercury (1,408), Venus
(5,832), Earth (24), Mars (25), Jupiter
(10), Saturn (11), Uranus (17). Mercury is
nearest to the sun. It takes only about 88
days to complete one round along its
orbit.

15. Who was the first to develop a
mathematical predictive heliocentric
model of the solar system ?
SSC CHSL 08/07/2024 (1st shift)
(a) Nicolaus Copernicus
(b) Galileo Galilei
(c) Pierre-Simon Laplace
(d) Immanuel Kant

15.(a) Nicolaus Copernicus.
Although Aryabhatta (5th century A.D.)
hinted at astronomical ideas, Copernicus
(1473 - 1543) developed the first
mathematical heliocentric model, where
planets revolved around a fixed Sun.
Galileo supported this model, and
Johannes Kepler later refined it by
introducing elliptical orbits, now known
as Kepler's laws.

16. Who calculated the approximate
location of the planet Neptune by
studying gravity- induced disturbances in
the motion of Uranus?
SSC CHSL 09/07/2024 (1st shift)
(a) John Couch Adams
(b) Percival Lowell
(c) Johann Gottfried Galle
(d) Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier

16.(d) Urbain - Jean - Joseph Le
Verrier. He was a French astronomer and
mathematician. Neptune is the eighth
and most distant planet in our solar
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system, and it is the second coldest
planet. It was discovered in 1846. It is the
windiest planet in our solar system. One
day on Neptune takes about 16 hours.

17. The point in the orbit of an object
(such as a satellite) orbiting the earth
that is at the greatest distance from the
centre of the earth is known as:
SSC CHSL 09/07/2024 (2nd shift)
(a) perigee
(b) apogee
(c) perihelion
(d) aphelion

17.(b) Apogee. Perigee: The moon's
orbit closest to the Earth. Perihelion: The
Earth closest to the Sun on 3rd January.
Aphelion: The Earth farthest from the
Sun on 4th July.

18. A flat ring of small, icy bodies that
revolve around the sun beyond the orbit
of the planet Neptune is called:
SSC CHSL 09/07/2024 (3rd shift)
(a) Oort Cloud
(b) Bow Shock
(c) Asteroid Belt
(d) Kuiper Belt

18.(d) Kuiper Belt, named after
Gerard Kuiper, is a region beyond
Neptune in the outer solar system,
proposed by him in 1951. The asteroid
belt lies between the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter.

19. The Big Dipper is an asterism
formed by the seven brightest stars in
the constellation:
SSC CHSL 09/07/2024 (4th shift)
(a) Ursa Major
(b) Cassiopeia
(c) Leo Major
(d) Orion

19.(a) Ursa Major (Great Bear) is the
third - largest constellation in the sky and
the largest constellation in the Northern
Hemisphere. Orion is three bright stars
close together in an almost-straight line.
Cassiopeia is a large constellation
located in the northern sky. The Leo
constellation lies in the northern sky.

20. A constellation of the northern sky
easily recognised by a group of five
bright stars forming a slightly irregular
‘W’ is called:
SSC CHSL 10/07/2024 (1st shift)
(a) Cassiopeia
(b) Orion
(c) Ursa Major
(d) Cygnus

20.(a) Cassiopeia. It is a prominent
constellation in the northern sky. It is
visible during winter in the early part of
the night. It looks like a distorted letter W
or M.

21. Which planet is the second largest
planet in our solar system and also has
the biggest and the brightest rings
around it ?
SSC CHSL 10/07/2024 (2nd shift)
(a) Saturn (b) Jupiter (c) Earth (d) Uranus

21.(a) Saturn. Our Solar System has
eight planets which orbit the sun. In order
of distance from the sun they are:
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Largest to
smallest: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury.
Saturn moon Titan is the second largest
moon after Ganymede (Jupiter’s moon).

22. _________ oblong orbit overlaps the
orbit of Neptune.
SSC CHSL 10/07/2024 (3rd shift)
(a) Jupiter’s (b) Pluto’s (c) Venus’ (d) Mars’

22.(b) Pluto’s. Neptune is the
outermost Jovian planet in the solar
system. Until 2006 Pluto was the farthest
planet from the Sun. In 2006, The
International Astronomical Union (IAU)
downgraded the status of Pluto to that of
a dwarf planet. The Jovian planets are
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune,
which are also known as the gas giants.

23. Which of the following statements
about planet Saturn is true?
SSC CHSL 11/07/2024 (1st shift)
(a) Saturn is the fourth planet from the
Sun and the largest planet in our solar
system.
(b) Satellites like Enceladus and Titan of
Saturn are home to internal oceans,
could possibly support life.
(c) Saturn's environment is conducive to
life.
(d) Saturn is a massive ball made up
mostly nitrogen.

23.(b) Saturn is the second largest
planet, composed of hydrogen and
helium. It has 146 moons. Titan - It is the
largest moon of Saturn and the second
largest moon in our solar system.
Enceladus - It is the second nearest of
the major regular moons of Saturn and
the brightest of all its moons. It was
discovered in 1789 by the English
astronomer William Herschel. It is found
that Titan has methane in its atmosphere
and Enceladus has a liquid ocean with
erupting plumes of gas and water.

24. Which star is also known as the
‘Pole Star’ ?
SSC CHSL 11/07/2024 (4th shift)
(a) The East star (b) The South star
(c) The West star (d) The North star

24.(d) The North star. Polaris, also
known as the North Star, is located
almost directly above Earth's north pole
along our planet's rotational axis. The
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imaginary line that runs through the Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole is called the Earth's axis of rotation. The Earth rotates around this axis, similar to how a top spins around its spindle.

25. In 1905, who concluded with Thomas Chamberlain that the planets of the Solar System originated from an encounter between the Sun and another star? SSC CPO 27/06/2024 (2nd shift) (a) James Hutton (b) Inge Lehmann (c) Charles Lyell (d) Forest Moulton

25.(d) Forest Moulton. He was an American
astronomer and
mathematician known for his contributions to celestial mechanics. He co-developed the Chamberlin-Moulton planetesimal hypothesis, which proposed a model for the formation of the solar system. According to this hypothesis, planets formed from smaller bodies called planetesimals through the process of accretion.

26. Perihelion is when Earth is ______. Graduate Level 24/06/2024 (Shift - 3) (a) under the sun (b) farthest from the sun (c) nearest to the sun (d) above the sun

26.(c) nearest to the sun. On 3rd January, the earth is the nearest to the sun (147 million km). Aphelion is the point of the Earth’s orbit that is farthest away from the Sun.

27. Which is the most widely accepted model to explain the formation and evaluation of the solar system? SSC CPO 03/10/2023 (Morning) (a) Cloud hypothesis (b) Gas hypothesis (c) Nebular hypothesis (d) Solar hypothesis

27.(c) Nebular hypothesis - The planets were formed out of a cloud of material associated with a youthful sun, which was slowly rotating. The theory was developed by Immanuel Kant. But Mathematician Laplace revised it in 1796. Other Hypothesis: Big Bang Theory - Propounded by George Lamaitre related to the origin of the universe.

28. Terrestrial planets are composed of _______. SSC CPO 03/10/2023 (Evening) (a) metals and air (b) rocks and metals (c) metals and gas (d) rocks and gas

28.(b) Rocks and metals. Terrestrial www.ssccglpinnacle.com
Planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. They are categorised into the following: Silicate Planets, Iron Planets, Coreless Planets, Carbon (diamond) Planets.

29. Which trend is found about the distance between the galaxies? SSC CPO 04/10/2023 (Evening) (a) Unpredictable (b) Decreasing (c) Constant
(d) Increasing

29.(d) Increasing. In 1929, Edwin Hubble announced that almost all galaxies appeared to be moving away from us. He found that the universe was expanding - with all of the galaxies moving away from each other. This phenomenon was observed as a redshift of a galaxy's spectrum.

30. On which planet has a rotating oval of clouds, twice as wide as Earth, called the 'Great Red Spot' been observed for more than 300 years ? SSC CHSL 08/08/2023 (1st shift) (a) Neptune
(b) Mercury (c) Jupiter (d) Venus

30.(c) Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. It is made mostly of hydrogen and helium.

31. Which scientist thought of the concept of the steady state of the universe? SSC CGL 14/07/2023 (1st shift) (a) Harold Jeffrey (b) Edwin Hubble (c) Fred Hoyle
(d) Pierre - Laplace

31.(c) Fred Hoyle. Steady - State Theory : It is a theoretical model in which the Universe is constantly expanding but with a fixed average density. The theory was put forward by three scientists Sir Hermann Bondi, Thomas Gold, and Sir Fred Hoyle in 1948.

32. Cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the Sun are known as_______. SSC MTS 16/05/2023 (Morning) (a) Meteors
(b) Star (c) Meteorites (d) Comets

32.(d) Comets. Meteors are bits of rock and ice that are ejected from comets as they move in their orbits about the Sun. Meteorites - When a meteoroid survives its trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite. Meteorites typically range between the size of a pebble and a fist.

33. What is the radius of the earth? SSC CHSL 09/03/2023 (4th Shift)
(a) 7456 km (c) 5619 km
(b) 6371 km (d) 4728 km

33.(b) 6371 km. Earth Distance from the Sun (150 million km), Surface area: 510.1 million km², Land area: 149 million km², Gravity: 9.8 m/s².

34. Each orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) takes _____minutes . SSC CHSL 13/03/2023 (2nd Shift) (a) 80 - 82 (b) 85 - 87 (c) 90 - 93 (d) 83 - 86

34.(c) 90-93. In 24 hours, the space station makes 16 orbits of Earth, traveling through 16 sunrises and sunsets.

35. In approximately how much time does Mars complete one spin on its axis? SSC CHSL 15/03/2023 (1st Shift) (a) 16 hours
(b) 8 hours (c) 1 day 18 hours (d) 1day

35.(d) 1 day. One spin on the axis of other planets (approximate) : Earth (1 day - 23 hours 56 min), Jupiter (9 hours 56 minutes), Saturn (10 hours 40 minutes), Uranus (17 hours 14 minutes) and Neptune (16 hours 7 minutes).

36. Which among the following is not a type of solar eclipse? SSC CHSL 15/03/2023 (4th Shift) (a) Annular
(b) Partial (c) Penumbral (d) Total

36.(c) Penumbral (Lunar eclipse). A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. Types of solar eclipse: Total (Completely blocking the face of the Sun), Hybrid (the Moon is farther away from Earth, it appears smaller than the Sun and does not completely cover the Sun) and Annular (when Sun is at or near its farthest point from Earth).

37. In early 1610, who discovered with his newly invented telescope that Jupiter has four moons? SSC CGL 06/12/2022 (4th Shift) (a) Simon Marius (b) Tycho Brahe (c) Galileo Galilei (d) Johannes Kepler

37.(c) Galileo Galilei. He was an Italian astronomer and scientist. He described the rings of Saturn, the phases of Venus, sunsets, and the bumpy lunar surface. The four moons he discovered were: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

38. Who was the first to accurately describe the rings of Saturn as a disc around the planet in 1655? SSC CGL 06/12/2022 (4th Shift)
(a) Hideki Yukawa (b) Galileo Galilei (c) Christiaan Huygens (d) Giovanni Cassini

38.(c) Christiaan Huygens. His other inventions include the pendulum clock, centrifugal governor, and magic lantern.

39. The moon completes _________ rotation on its axis as it completes one revolution around the Earth. SSC CPO 09/11/2022 (Morning) (a) 3 (b) 2 (c) 1 (d) 4

39.(c) 1. The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite circling the planet at an average distance of 384,400 kilometers. The Moon's presence helps stabilize our planet and moderate our climate. The radius of the Moon is 1.74 × 106 m. Huygens is the Moon's tallest mountain.

40. Which of the following statements regarding the moon is correct? I. The size of the illuminated part of the moon visible from the Earth increases each day after the new moon day. II. After the full moon day, the sunlit part of the moon visible from the Earth decreases in size every day. SSC CPO 11/11/2022 (Afternoon) (a) Both I and II
(b) Only I (c) Neither I nor II (d) Only II

40.(a) Both I and II. When there are two full moons within a month, the second full moon is called a Blue Moon, When a full moon occurs at its perigee (the moon is closest to the earth) it is called a Supermoon.

41. The ______ radiation belts are giant swaths of magnetically trapped highly energetic charged particles that surround Earth. SSC CGL 13/04/2022(Morning) (a) Van Allen
(b) Aurora (c) Kuiper (d) Chinook

41.(a) Van Allen. An aurora is a natural phenomenon which is characterized by a display of a natural-coloured (green, red, yellow or white) light in the sky.

42. In which of the following periods is the meteor shower named Quadrantids generally visible from Earth? SSC MTS 20/10/2021(Afternoon) (a) August/September (b) October/November (c) May/June (d) December/January

42.(d) December / January. Quadrantids are best viewed in the
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Northern Hemisphere during the night and predawn hours. They are also known for their bright fireball meteors. The Quadrantids can produce over 100 meteors per hour in a moonless sky.

43. In which of the following months may the meteor shower named Lyrids be seen from Earth? SSC MTS 20/10/2021(Afternoon) (a) April (b) February (c) June (d) August

43.(a) April. The radiant point for the Lyrid meteor shower is near the constellation Lyra, which has the bright star Vega in the east.

44. How many degrees does the Earth rotate about its own axis in one hour? SSC CGL 06/03/2020(Afternoon) (a) 10 (b) 20 (c) 24 (d) 15

44.(d) 15. On its axis, the earth rotates 360 degrees every 24 hour