Astro-Quiz:

Sky Facts!


1. Which of the following is not the English name of a constellation?
(a) The Crow
(b) The Eagle
(c) The Peacock
(d) The Pelican

2. Algol the "Demon Star" was given this nickname because
(a) it is devilishly hard to see
(b) its surrounding nebulosity resembles a devil's head
(c) it is a naked-eye eclipsing variable that mystified medieval observers
(d) it is the remnant of a supernova that terrified medieval observers

3. What is the first letter of the alphabet which is not the initial letter of the name of any constellation?
(a) E
(b) F
(c) I
(d) J

4. The dark and light bands on Jupiter and Saturn are believed to be caused by
(a) chemical and temperature differences between adjacent bands
(b) refraction of sunlight by the planets' rings
(c) volcanic dust which is spread around the planets by high winds
(d) debris from Jupiter's Great Red Spot and Saturn's Great White Spot

5. The reason that eyepiece lenses usually have multiple elements is
(a) for greater strength—layered glass is less likely to shatter
(b) to increase magnification
(c) to minimize internal reflections
(d) to minimize chromatic aberration

6. Which of the following statements is true about the Moon?
(a) The Moon rotates on its axis about once a day.
(b) The Moon rotates on its axis about once a week.
(c) The Moon rotates on its axis about once a month.
(d) The Moon doesn't rotate on its axis at all.

7. The Trojan asteroids are located
(a) in Mars's orbit
(b) between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
(c) in Jupiter's orbit
(d) outside the orbit of Jupiter

8. Astronomers were led to the discovery of Neptune by
(a) its effect on the orbit of the planet Uranus
(b) its effect on the orbit of Halley's Comet
(c) its noticeable shift on hand-drawn sky charts
(d) its streaked appearance on photographic plates

9. The letters OBAFGKM pertain to
(a) the rings of Saturn, from the innermost to the outermost
(b) the temperatures of stars, from the hottest to the coolest
(c) the sizes of the known exoplanets, from the largest to the smallest
(d) the sizes of lunar craters, from the smallest to the largest

10. Which stars constitute the "Summer Triangle"?
(a) Arcturus, Regulus, and Spica
(b) Betelgeuse, Rigel, and Sirius
(c) Aldebaran, Castor, and Pollux
(d) Altair, Deneb, and Vega

11. How far away is the Andromeda Galaxy?
(a) 250 thousand light-years
(b) 2.5 million light-years
(c) 250 million light-years
(d) 2.5 billion light-years

12. When Mars is as close as possible to Earth, about how long does it take a radio signal to travel from one planet to the other?
(a) 3 seconds
(b) 30 seconds
(c) 3 minutes
(d) 30 minutes

13. A planetary nebula is
(a) a cloud of dust in the process of contracting to form a planet
(b) a cloud of dust surrounding an aged planet
(c) a cloud of gas in the process of contracting to form a star
(d) a cloud of gas surrounding an aged star

14. The constellation that contains a well-known sickle-shaped asterism is
(a) Aquarius
(b) Hercules
(c) Leo
(d) Sagittarius

15. For the most part, globular clusters are located
(a) in the plane of the galaxy, within the spiral arms
(b) in a spherical halo surrounding the center of the galaxy
(c) in the plane of the galaxy, between the spiral arms
(d) in intergalactic space, among the other dwarf galaxies