How to play
- Press Start. You have 1 minute for all 8.
- Type an answer, in any order. It counts as soon as it matches, with no need to press Enter, and fills in its row.
- Pause whenever you like; the list is hidden while the clock is stopped. If you leave mid-game, it waits, paused, until you come back.
- When the time is up, the ones you missed fill in, marked as missed.
About the planets
There have been eight planets since 2006, when the International Astronomical Union defined what a planet is. The four closest to the Sun are small and rocky; the four outer ones are giants made mostly of gas and ice. All of them but one are named after Roman gods.
More facts (names some answers)
Mercury is the smallest and closest to the Sun, but Venus is the hottest, under a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide. Earth is the only one not named after a god. Mars is red from iron oxide in its dust. Jupiter is the largest, and Saturn is light enough on average that it would float in water. Uranus spins on its side, and Neptune was found in 1846 by mathematics before anyone saw it. A common way to remember the order: “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos”.
What counts
The list follows the International Astronomical Union’s definition of 2006. Dwarf planets, moons and the Sun aren’t answers.
Capitals, accents, spaces and punctuation don’t matter, but the spelling does.
The accepted alternative forms appear here when your quiz ends, so they don’t give any answers away.
No other forms are accepted.
Questions
Why isn’t Pluto a planet any more?
In 2006 the International Astronomical Union decided that a planet must have cleared its orbit of other bodies. Pluto shares its orbit with many icy objects, so it became a dwarf planet.
More to play
- Color Blindness Test: Find the ring hidden in the dots. A quick screening for red–green and blue–yellow color vision differences.
- Countries of the World: Type every country you can before the clock runs out.
- Capitals of the World: Name the capital of every country before the clock runs out.
- Periodic Table: Name every chemical element before the clock runs out.
- Element Symbols: Name the chemical element behind every symbol.
- Flags of the World: Name the country from its flag.
- Scrambled Countries: Unscramble the letters to find the country.
- Scrambled Capitals: Unscramble the letters to find the capital city.
- Greek Alphabet: Name all 24 letters of the Greek alphabet, from their shapes.
- NATO Phonetic Alphabet: Name the code word for every letter, A to Z.
- 100 Most Common English Words: Name the 100 words that turn up most often in classic novels.
- Olympian Gods: Name the twelve gods of Mount Olympus from what they ruled.
- English Monarchs: Name every king and queen of England since 1066.
- Zodiac Signs: Name the twelve signs of the zodiac from their dates.
- Best Picture Winners: Name every film that has won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
- All quizzes
- El Trivia home