Moons of Neptune and Beyond Trivia Quiz

Answer: Neptune

Triton was discovered by British astronomer William Lassell on October 10, 1846. With a diameter of 2,700 km (1,680 mi) it ranks as the seventh largest moon in the Solar System. Triton is in a retrograde orbit around Neptune, which is unusual as most moons travel around their parent planet in the same direction as its rotation. Because of this, Triton is believed to have originated in the Kuiper Belt and was captured by Neptune's gravity at some point in its history. Triton is believed to be geologically active as scientists have discovered it has nitrogen based geysers on its surface.

Answer: Neptune

Nereid was the second moon of Neptune to be discovered - on May 1, 1949 by Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper, the man for whom the Kuiper Belt is named. Nereid is an irregular shaped moon with an average diameter of approximately 350 km (217 mi). Nereid was named after a group of sea spirits from Greek mythology, known as nymphs.

Answer: Neptune

Proteus was discovered on June 16, 1989 by a team of NASA scientists led by Stephen Synnott. The moon was found by analyzing images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft as it made its flyby of Neptune. Despite being discovered later, Proteus was determined to be the second largest known moon of Neptune with an average diameter of 420 km (260 mi).

Answer: Neptune

Galatea is among a group of Neptunian moons discovered via images taken by Voyager 2 in 1989. It is an irregular satellite with an average diameter of approximately 175 km (109 mi). The other satellites in this group include the aforementioned Proteus along with Despina, Thalassa and Naiad.

The moon Larissa was also grouped with the Voyager moons, however it was actually discovered in 1981 via a land based telescope.

Answer: Neptune

Hippocamp was the fourteenth moon of Neptune to be discovered. It was found by a team of NASA scientists led by Mark Showalter on July 1, 2013, using images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Hippocamp is a tiny moon, with an approximate diameter of 35 km (22 mi). It was named after a creature from Greek mythology with the head of a horse and the body of a fish.

Answer: Pluto

Charon was discovered by American astronomer James Christy on June 22, 1978. It is the largest moon of the dwarf planet Pluto. Charon has a diameter of approximately 1,170 km (727 mi) which is nearly half the size of Pluto itself. It is so large relative to its parent that scientists have stated that Charon does not orbit Pluto, but rather both Pluto and Charon orbit around a common center of gravity.

Answer: Pluto

Nix was discovered on May 15, 2005, using images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It has an approximate diameter of 50 km (31 mi). Nix was named after the Greek goddess of night and is actually the second object in our Solar System to be named after her. An asteroid discovered in 1980 was was given the name 3908 Nyx, which is an alternate spelling of the name.

Answer: Pluto

Hydra was also discovered using photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on May 15, 2005. It was named after the multi-headed dragon-like creature from Greek mythology. Hydra is slightly larger than Nix, but not by much. Both Nix and Hydra were studied in greater detail when the New Horizons probe flew by Pluto in July, 2015.

Answer: Pluto

Kerberos was discovered on June 28, 2011 by Mark Showalter's science team and was found by analyzing images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It was named after the three-headed dog from Greek mythology who is associated with Hades (Greek counterpart of Pluto). Kerberos is a small moon, with an estimated diameter of less than 19 km (12 mi).

As with Nix, Kerberos uses an alternate spelling of the name as Cerberus was previously used as the name of an asteroid discovered in 1971.

Answer: Pluto

Styx was also discovered by Mark Showalter on June 26, 2012. As with Kerberos, Styx was discovered by analyzing images collected by the Hubble Space Telescope. Styx is estimated to be slightly smaller than Kerberos with a diameter of less than 16 km (10 mi). Styx was named after the famous "river of the dead", which was controlled by Hades.

Answer: Kuiper Belt

Dysnomia is a moon of the dwarf planet Eris in the Kuiper Belt. It was discovered by an astronomy team led by Caltech astronomer Michael Brown on December 10, 2005. They were the same group that discovered Eris itself nearly a year before. Eris and Dysnomia were the objects that sparked the debate regarding the planetary status of Eris, Pluto and other objects like them. Dysnomia itself is fairly large, with an estimated diameter of 700 km (435 mi)

Answer: Kuiper Belt

Vanth is a moon that orbits the dwarf planet Orcus. As with many Kuiper Belt objects, it was also discovered by Michael Brown's team in 2005. Orcus itself was discovered by Brown's team in 2004. Orcus and Vanth have been observed interacting with each other the same way that Pluto and Charon do. Orcus has an estimated diameter of 910 km (570 mi), while Vanth is nearly half the size with an estimated diameter of 440 km (273 mi).

Answer: Kuiper Belt

Namaka is one of two known moons of the football shaped dwarf planet Haumea, the other being Hi'iaka. Namaka is the smaller of the two with an estimated diameter of 170 km (105 mi). Hi'iaka has an estimated diameter of 310 km (193 mi). Haumea (2004), as well as both moons (2005) were discovered by Michael Brown's team and all three bodies were named after goddesses from Hawaiian folklore.

Answer: Kuiper Belt

Weywot orbits the dwarf planet Quaoar in the Kuiper Belt and has an estimated diameter of 170 km (105 mi). It was discovered on February 22, 2007 by Michael Brown's team. Quaoar, which was discovered in 2002, was one of the earliest of the new breed of dwarf planets to be discovered in the Kuiper Belt. Quaoar and Weywot's names come from deities belonging to the Native American Tongva tribe, who once lived in southern California, where Michael Brown's science team was based.

Answer: Kuiper Belt

Xiangliu is a moon of the dwarf planet named Gonggong, in the Kuiper Belt, which was discovered on September 18, 2010. Gonggong itself was another of the many Kuiper Belt objects discovered by Michael Brown's science team (2007). However, credit for Xiangliu's discovery went to an astronomy team led by Gabor Martin. Xiangliu has a diameter of less than 100 km (62 mi).

The names for Xiangliu and Gonggong come from Chinese mythology.