Astronomy & the Universe Quiz

1. What is a light-year?

1. One million kilometres
2. The distance between the Sun and Neptune
3. The distance light travels in one year (~9.46 trillion km)
4. The time it takes light to travel from the Sun to Earth

2. What is the Big Bang Theory?

1. Stars collide to create new galaxies
2. The universe began about 13.8 billion years ago from an extremely hot, dense state and has been expanding ever since
3. The universe began as an explosion of a star
4. The universe has always existed in its current form

3. What is a black hole?

1. A collapsed star so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape its gravity
2. A hole between two universes
3. A region of space where nothing exists
4. A type of dark nebula

4. Our solar system is located in which galaxy?

1. Andromeda Galaxy
2. Large Magellanic Cloud
3. Milky Way Galaxy
4. Triangulum Galaxy

5. What is a nebula?

1. A cloud of gas and dust in space, often a star-forming region
2. A dead star
3. A moon around a gas giant
4. A type of galaxy

6. What type of star will our Sun eventually become when it exhausts its fuel?

1. A black hole
2. A neutron star
3. A supernova remnant
4. A white dwarf

7. What is the closest galaxy to the Milky Way (and destined to merge with it)?

1. Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
2. Centaurus A
3. Large Magellanic Cloud
4. Triangulum Galaxy (M33)

8. What causes a star to shine?

1. Burning of hydrogen like a fire
2. Friction as gas clouds collapse
3. Nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium, releasing enormous energy
4. Reflection of light from nearby stars

9. What is the cosmic microwave background (CMB)?

1. Background radiation left over from the Big Bang, now cooled to microwave wavelengths
2. Radiation from active galaxies
3. The collective light from all stars in the universe
4. The radiation of the Milky Way's black hole

10. What is a pulsar?

1. A rapidly rotating neutron star emitting beams of electromagnetic radiation
2. A star that explodes as a supernova
3. A type of black hole
4. A very bright galaxy nucleus

11. What is dark matter?

1. Dark-coloured interstellar gas
2. Invisible matter that makes up about 27% of the universe, detected only by gravitational effects
3. Matter between galaxies
4. Matter found in black holes

12. What is the speed of light in a vacuum?

1. 150,000 km/s
2. 199,792 km/s
3. 299,792 km/s
4. 300,000 km/s exactly

13. A supernova is:

1. A galaxy merger
2. A new star being born
3. A star with many moons
4. The explosive death of a massive star, briefly outshining entire galaxies

14. What is the Hubble Space Telescope?

1. A ground-based observatory
2. A NASA spacecraft that landed on Mars
3. A space telescope launched in 1990 providing remarkable images of deep space
4. The telescope used to discover Neptune

15. What is the approximate age of the universe?

1. 10 billion years
2. 13.8 billion years
3. 20 billion years
4. 4.5 billion years

16. What phenomenon did Edwin Hubble discover about distant galaxies?

1. They are all moving toward us
2. They are all the same size
3. They are moving away from us — the universe is expanding
4. They contain no stars

17. What is an exoplanet?

1. A dwarf planet like Pluto
2. A moon of a gas giant
3. A planet in our solar system beyond Neptune
4. A planet orbiting a star other than the Sun

18. What is the event horizon of a black hole?

1. The boundary beyond which nothing can escape the black hole's gravity
2. The outer edge of the accretion disc
3. The point where a black hole begins to form
4. The visible glow around a black hole

19. Which space probe has travelled furthest from Earth and is now in interstellar space?

1. New Horizons
2. Pioneer 10
3. Voyager 1
4. Voyager 2

20. What is 'dark energy'?

1. A mysterious force causing the universe to expand at an accelerating rate, making up about 68% of the universe
2. Energy from stars in dark nebulae
3. Energy released by black holes
4. The energy of dark matter