aster bru

Question 1

What is astronomy and what does it include?

Answer 1

The study of celestial objects: anything that exists outside of Earth.

This includes objects such as: Planets, Moons, Asteroids, Comets, Stars, Black Holes, Galaxies, and the entire universe as a whole

Question 2

What is science?

Answer 2

Science is not a body of knowledge, It’s a method for obtaining and verifying knowledge about our universe.

Question 3

“It is known that the model of the universe that we have right now is 100% correct.” True or false?

Answer 3

False. There are still things our model does not explain (for example, dark matter), but more importantly, in science, nothing is ever considered the absolute and final truth, and we are always ready to replace any model if a better one provides a better match to experimental data.

Question 4

What is a scientific model called before it is verified experimentally?

Answer 4

A hypothesis.

Question 5

What happens if the results of experiments disagree with the predictions of a scientific theory?

Answer 5

The theory is no longer considered correct, and we need to find a better one.

Question 6

What is a challenge that astronomy has, which other sciences generally don’t have?

Answer 6

In astronomy, since we are studying objects that are extremely far away, we cannot do experiments in a lab. We can only observe these objects from afar using telescopes.

Question 7

A famous astronomer wrote a paper with a new theory. The theory has not been tested experimentally, but the astronomer is VERY famous. Can we assume that the theory is correct?

Answer 7

No. While the astronomer may call this idea colloquially a “theory”, it is still just a hypothesis, and must be confirmed in multiple experiments before it is considered correct (and even then, it could still be replaced with a better one later). It doesn’t matter how famous you are, you are never exempt from this rigorous scientific process.

Question 8

What was the new class of astronomical objects predicted by Einstein’s theory of relativity?

Answer 8

Black holes.

Question 9

Is the number 3×107 smaller or larger than the number 6×105?

Answer 9

Larger. The first number is 30,000,000 and the second number is 600,000, which is clearly smaller. In general, the number with the larger exponent will always be the larger number.

Question 10

What is a light-year?

Answer 10

It’s the distance light travels in a year, or approximately 9.5×1012 kilometers.

Question 11

“A fast race car can reach speeds of up to 10% of the speed of light.” True or False?

Answer 11

False. The speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second. 10% of that is 30,000 kilometers per second. Have you ever seen a car that can travel 30,000 kilometers (around 9 times the distance from Toronto to Vancouver) in 1 second?

Question 12

Which is longer, a meter or a kilometer?

Answer 12

A kilometer. A kilometer is equal to 1,000 meters.

Question 13

I observed a supernova (an exploding star) in the sky this year. The distance to the supernova was 12,000 light-years. How long ago did the star actually explode?

Answer 13

12,000 years.

Question 14

What does the Earth have that no other planet in the solar system has?

Answer 14

As far as we can tell, it is the only planet in the solar system where sentient life has evolved.

Question 15

How many planets are in the solar system? Can you name all of them?

Answer 15

There are 8 planets. From closest to farthest from the Sun, these are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. To remember them, you can use the mnemonic: “Many Very Educated Men Just Screwed Up Nature.”

Question 16

Which planet is the closest to the Sun? Which planet is the farthest away from the Sun?

Answer 16

Mercury is the closest, Neptune is the farthest.

Question 17

What’s the difference between a planet and a star?

Answer 17

A star produces its own light, a planet doesn’t.

Question 18

What is the closest star to the Sun? How far is it? How long does it take light from that star to get to us?

Answer 18

Proxima Centauri is the closest star, at 4.2 light-years away, which means light takes 4.2 years to get to us from that star.

Question 19

“There are several million stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.” True or false?

Answer 19

False, there are hundreds of billions of stars in the galaxy.

Question 20

Is the Sun at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy?

Answer 20

No, it is not. We are not the center of the universe! Our Sun is around 30,000 light-years away from the center of the Galaxy.

Question 21

Have astronomers been able to take photos of the Milky Way Galaxy from outside the galaxy?

Answer 21

No, this is impossible, as it would require sending a spaceship thousands of light-years away from the galaxy. Even if we had the technology to do that, it would take thousands of years before we can receive the photos. We are only able to take photos of the Milky Way from the inside, since we are inside it.

Question 22

Is Andromeda the nearest galaxy to us?

Answer 22

No, it is the nearest LARGE galaxy to us. There are smaller galaxies that are closer to us. (The nearest galaxy is called the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy.)

Question 23

What is the name of the cluster of galaxies that the Milky Way belongs to?

Answer 23

The Local Group.

Question 24

What is the name of the supercluster that this The Local Group cluster belongs to?

Answer 24

The Virgo Supercluster.

Question 25

“Oxygen is the most abundant chemical element in the universe.” True or False?

Answer 25

False. Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element. This is because it’s the lightest simplest element, with just 1 proton in each atom.

Question 26

What are the 3 types of subatomic particles that atoms are made of?

Answer 26

Protons and neutrons make up the nucleus, and electrons orbit around it. But the protons and neutrons are made of up and down quarks, so the more precise answer is “electrons, up quarks, and down quarks”.

Question 27

“Humans have existed for most of the lifetime of the Universe.” True or False?

Answer 27

False. The universe is 13.8 billion years old; humans have only existed for a few hundred thousand years.

Question 28

“The Earth has existed since the beginning of the Universe.” True or False?

Answer 28

False. In the beginning of the universe there were no planets, stars, or galaxies. (The universe is 13.8 billion years old; Earth is only around 4.5 billion years old. That’s much older than humans, but not nearly as old as the universe itself.)