ASTRONOMY QUIZ

Philippine Astronomical Society

The Sisters of Mary School – Adlas Inc.
2019/2021
 Astroquiz #1

What phase of the moon is observed when the moon’s far

side is facing the sun and the moon’s near side is in
darkness?

NEW MOON
 Astroquiz #2

What NASA spacecraft broke the record for the closest

approach to the sun?

HELIOS 2
 Astroquiz #3

What unit is equal to the distance of earth from the sun?

ASTRONOMICAL UNIT (AU)

 Astroquiz #4

What are circumpolar stars?

A. Stars that can only be seen from the North Pole

B. Stars that cannot be seen from the North Pole
C. Stars that cannot be seen from the Equator
D. Stars that never set

D
 Astroquiz #5

Which of the following planets has the greatest

eccentricity?

A. Earth
B. Jupiter
C. Uranus
D. Pluto

D
 Astroquiz #6

The largest moon in our solar system has an atmosphere

that is denser than the atmosphere of Mars. What is the
name of this moon?

TITAN
 Astroquiz #7

The word Albedo (pron: al-BEE-doe) refers to which of the

following?

A. The wobbling motion of a planet

B. The amount of light a planet reflects
C. The phase changes of a planet
D. The brightness of a star

B
 Astroquiz #8

Galileo discovered something about Venus with his

telescope that shook the old theories. Which of the following
was Galileo's discovery?

A. Venus was covered in clouds

B. Venus had phases like the moon
C. Venus' surface was similar to the earth's
D. Venus had retrograde motion

B
 Astroquiz #9

What is the name of the star closest to our sun?

PROXIMA CENTAURI
 Astroquiz #10

How many people have set foot on the Moon?

12
 Astroquiz #11

When was the last total lunar eclipse happened

particularly in Africa and Central Asia and considered the
longest total lunar eclipse of the century?

https://www.higherperspectives.com/total-lunar-eclipse-blood-moon...

July 27, 2018

 Astroquiz #12

What type of animal was

the first living creature to orbit the earth?

Dog - Laika
 Astroquiz #13

Of the following phases of the moon, which is the one at

which a spring tide occurs?
A. New moon
B. New gibbous
C. First quarter
D. New Crescent

A
 Astroquiz #14

How many impact craters have been identified here on

Earth?

180 impact craters

 Astroquiz #15

What is the orbital speed of earth around the sun?

67, 000 mph / 107, 000 kph

 Astroquiz #16

How large of an angle is the tilt of the Earth's spin axis

from the normal to the ecliptic plane?

23.5 degrees
 Astroquiz #17

How large of an angle is the tilt of the Earth's spin axis

from the normal to the ecliptic plane?

23.5 degrees
 Astroquiz #18
Imagine you’re watching a TV broadcast from the International Space Station, and
you see the astronauts `floating’ around inside the station. Which of the following is
the best explanation of why they seem to be in a `zero-gravity’ environment?
a. Since the astronauts are partway to the Moon, the Moon’s gravitational pull is
cancelling out the Earth’s, thus holding them in a perfect balance, which gives
the illusion of `Zero-G’.
b. As they orbit around the Earth, the astronauts and the space station are `falling’
at the same speed, giving the illusion that there’s no gravity.
c. Because they’ve been launched far out into space, they are beyond the pull of
the Earth’s gravity.
d. There actually is some gravity from the Earth there, but it has gotten so weak
(due to distance from the Earth), that the astronauts can hardly notice it.

B
 Astroquiz #19

How many times brighter is star X than star Y, if star

X is one magnitude brighter than Y?

A.100 times brighter

B. 2.512 times brighter
C.10 times brighter
D.5.152 times brighter

B
 Astroquiz #20
If someone is moving towards you at half the speed of light (i.e.
half of 186,000 miles per second), and they shine a light at you,
what speed will the light have when it hits you?

a. 1.5 times normal light speed, i.e. about 280,000 miles per
second.
b. Normal light speed, about 186,000 miles per second.
c. Twice normal light speed, i.e. about 372,000 miles per second.
d. One-half normal light speed, i.e. about 93,000 miles per
second.
B
 Astroquiz #21

If light takes about 10^(−5) years to reach the Earth from the sun,
and a nearby star is 5 light years away, then the distance from the
sun to the nearest star in astronomical units is most nearly
_______.

5 x 10^(5) AU
 Astroquiz #22

If you live at latitude of 28 degrees North, what is the angle you

observe between the northern horizon and North Celestial pole?

28 DEGREES
 Astroquiz #23

The sun is reddish not blueish at sunset

A. because red light has more energy

B. because red light has shorter wavelengths
C. because red light scatters more than blue
D. because red light scatters less than blue

D
 Astroquiz #24

What will be the phase of the moon about 3 weeks after a

solar eclipse?

A. a new moon
B. a full moon
C. another solar eclipse
D. a third quarter moon

D
 Astroquiz #25

If a planet orbits the sun at a distance of 6AU, what is its

orbital period?

14.7 years
 Astroquiz #26

What are the Geminids, the Perseids and the Leonids?

METEOR SHOWER
 Astroquiz #27

What was the year of the first lunar landing by man?

1969
 Astroquiz #28

What constellation is shown

in the figure?

ORION
 Astroquiz #29

What do you call the tool used to find the location of the
constellation in the night sky and also know as the star
wheel?

PLANISPHERE
 Astroquiz #30

Primary cosmic radiation is characterized by:

A. an intensity which is essentially constant in time

B. isotropic in space
C. very energetic particles
D. all of the above.

D
 Astroquiz #31

It is an imaginary belt in the heavens, extending 8° on each

side of the ecliptic, and passing all round the celestial
sphere as the ecliptic does. The ecliptic is its central line.

ZODIAC
 Astroquiz #32

What is the largest moon of Mars?

PHOBOS
 Astroquiz #33

What moon in the solar system is the MOST volcanically

active?

IO
 Astroquiz #34

What moon of Jupiter has the most impact craters?

CALLISTO
 Astroquiz #35

What moon is known for its size and the most irregular
formed body?

HYPERION - Saturn
 Astroquiz #36

What constellation
is shown in the figure?

DRACO
 Astroquiz #37

What is the coldest KNOWN place in the Universe?

BOOMERANG NEBULA
 Astroquiz #38

Which of the following is the LARGEST known star, which

is 2000 times bigger than the sun?

A. Aldebaran
B. Sirius
C. Betelgeuse
D. Westerlund 1-26

D
 Astroquiz #39

Which physical law describing gravitational motion can

explain the fact that comets spend most of their time far
away from the Sun and little time close to the Sun?

A. Newton’s first law of motion

B. Newton’s second law of motion
C. Kepler’s second law planetary motion
D. Kepler’s third law of planetary motion

C
 Astroquiz #40

The Sun appears in front of a different constellation each

month due to ______?

A. the Sun’s motion around the center of the Milky Way

Galaxy
B. the Earth’s orbital motion around the Sun
C. the precession of the rotation axis of the Earth
D. the Earth’s rotation on its axis

B
 Astroquiz #41

Algol (pron: AL-gall), the Demon star, is a binary star

whose larger component revolves around and regularly
eclipses the smaller, brighter star causing periodic changes
in brightness. The constellation that Algol is in is also
noted for meteor showers that appear annually in August.
Name the constellation where it can be found.

PERSEUS
 Astroquiz #42

The term "Parsec", a unit of measure for interstellar space,

is a contraction of what two words?

PARALLAX SECOND
 Astroquiz #43

Which of the following men was the first to make

systematic use of a telescope in astronomy?
A. Copernicus
B. Tycho Brahe
C. Kepler
D. Galileo

D
 Astroquiz #44

It is a phenomenon where light is bent around a

supermassive object which enables the magnification of
faint light from distant galaxies, much like the mechanism
of magnifying light using a glass lens in order to zoom in
on the image.

Gravitational Lensing
 Astroquiz #45

What is the escape velocity in a planet whose mass is 2.43 x

10^27 kg and a radius of 2.4x10^7m?

1.1x10^5 m/s
 Astroquiz #46

What is the term for the critical radius of a black hole?

SCHWARZSCHILD RADIUS
 Astroquiz #47

The surface of the sphere with radius surrounding a black

hole is called the ___________.

EVENT HORIZON
 Astroquiz #48

Astrophysical theory suggests that a burned-out star

whose mass is five solar masses (1.99E30 kg) will collapse
under its own gravity to form a black hole. If it does, what
is the radius of its event horizon?

1.47E4 m
 Astroquiz #49

The redshift of a galaxy is:

A. The relative speed of the redder stars in the galaxy with

respect to the bluer stars
B. The rate at which a galaxy is expanding in size
C. The recessional velocity of a galaxy, expressed as a fraction of
the speed of light
D. The speed at which a galaxy is orbiting around the Milky Way

C
 Astroquiz #50

Spiral galaxies have spiral arms with a distinct bluish color,

caused by what?

A. Dust and giant molecular clouds

B. Recent and ongoing star formation
C. A very hot interstellar medium
D. Blueshifted supergiant stars

B
 Astroquiz #51

Why is a black hole called “black”?

A. it is so small you can’t see it

B. it’s so deep that only light shining from directly overhead will
illuminate the center
C. light coming from behind shines right through it
D. light can’t escape from it

D
 Astroquiz #52

The Hertzprung-Russell Diagram for stars is a relation between:

A. Distance vs. spectral type or temperature

B. Luminosity vs. radius
C. Apparent brightness vs. distance
D. Luminosity vs. spectral type or temperature

D
 Astroquiz #53

When you hear the pitch (frequency) of a train’s whistle change as

it moves away from you, this is an example of which of the
following:
A. Wien’s law
B. The Doppler effect
C. Time dilation, following the rules of special relativity
D. Parallax

B
 Astroquiz #54

An area that separates terrestrial planets from outer planets is

referred to as the _________.

ASTEROID BELT
 Astroquiz #55

From which Observatory did astronomers discover the closest

star to the Earth after the Sun?

A. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

B. South African Astronomical Observatory
C. Johannesburg
D. Boyden 19

C
 Astroquiz #56

How many meters are there in 3.30Mpc?

1.02E23 m
 Astroquiz #57

What telescope successfully captured the very first image of a

black hole and revealing its silhouette in 2019?

Event Horizon Telescope

 Astroquiz #58

What is the successor of the Hubble space telescope which will be

launched in December 2021?

James Webb Telescope

 Astroquiz #59

What planet was first predicted by mathematics rather than by

empirical observations?

Neptune
 Astroquiz #60

Earth orbits the Sun in 1 year at an average distance

of 150 million kilometers (1 AU). Calculate the Sun’s mass.
G = 6.67x10-11

2 x 10^30 kg
 Astroquiz #61

What Mars rover touched down in February 2021 on the floor of

the 28-mile-wide Jezero crater, which was picked primarily
because previous observations by Mars orbiters suggested that it
hosted a big lake and a river delta in the ancient past?

Perseverance
 Astroquiz #62

What law state that the speed of recession of a galaxy is

proportional to its distance from us?

Hubble Law
 Astroquiz #63

It is the distance at which there is a one-arcsecond (1/3600

degrees) angular separation between two objects 1.50x10^11 m
apart.

1 pc / parsec
 Astroquiz #64

This is an important idea which believed that at any given time,

the universe looks more or less the same, no matter where in the
universe we are.

Cosmological Principle