Solar system quiz: How well do you know our cosmic neighborhood?

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Test your knowledge on our solar system, from the biggest and smallest planets to the behemoth mountain on Mars.

illustration of the solar system from Earth, with the sun in the top right and the planets in the distance
How much do you know about our solar system? Take our quiz to find out! (Image credit: rbkomar/Getty Images)

Earth isn't alone in orbiting our sun; it's joined by a bunch of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets that we collectively call our solar system. But how much do you know about our home among the stars?

The solar system is primarily comprised of our sun — which makes up the vast majority of its mass — and the eight planets, which are split into three subcategories. First up are the rocky inner planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars; followed by the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn; then we reach the outmost planets, the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.

Depending on how many rotations around the sun you've seen, you might remember a time when we thought there were nine planets in our solar system. Our order of the solar system mnemonics were forever ruined when poor Pluto was unceremoniously booted out of the planetary club back in… actually, we're not telling you the year, because that's part of the quiz.

More science quizzes

—Black hole quiz: How supermassive is your knowledge of the universe?

—Constellations quiz: Can you name all the animals, objects and mythological figures hiding in the night sky?

—Moon landing quiz: How quickly can you name all 12 Apollo astronauts that walked on the moon?

—Equator quiz: Can you name the 13 countries that sit on Earth's central line?

Ian Stokes
Contributor

Ian is a freelance science and technology writer, and formerly the Tech and Entertainment Editor at Live Science & Space.com. With a degree in biology, a PhD in chemistry, and his previous role at Institute of Physics Publishing, Ian is taking a world tour through the different scientific disciplines. He's seeing how long they let him keep this profile photo.