astronomy quiz

Question 1

solar flares

Answer 1

Areas near sunspots caused by rapidly changing magnetic fields of sunspots. Do not last long.

Question 2

Granules

Answer 2

Convective cells formed by heated matter rising, cooling, and sinking on the sun’s surface

Question 3

sunspots

Answer 3

darker, cooler areas on the sun caused by a disturbance in the sun’s magnetic field.

Question 4

Solar prominences

Answer 4

Slow ejections of gas that travel through the corona

Question 5

Core

Answer 5

Hottest part of the sun, centre, up to 15 million degrees C, particles collide with each other and join together (nuclear fusion)

Question 6

nuclear fusion

Answer 6

particles colliding and joining in the sun’s core

Question 7

radiative zone

Answer 7

area surrounding the core, energy from nuclear fusion goes here first

Question 8

convective zone

Answer 8

area surrounding radiative zone. energy from nuclear fusion goes here next, but it can take up to a million years to move between the two zones. hotter substances rise, colder ones fall, energy continues to move outward to next layer

Question 9

photosphere

Answer 9

outermost, coolest area of the sun (after convective zone). temp. 5500 degrees celcius

Question 10

chromosphere

Answer 10

warmer inner atmosphere of sun

Question 11

corona

Answer 11

cooler, white-coloured outer atmosphere of sun

Question 12

cluster

Answer 12

a group of galaxies pulled together by gravity

Question 13

supercluster

Answer 13

a group of galaxy clusters

Question 14

galaxy

Answer 14

an enormous, rotating collection of gas, dust, planets, stars, and other celestial objects

Question 15

satellite

Answer 15

celestial object orbiting a planet

Question 16

name 3 things that come from space exploration

Answer 16

freeze-dry tech, GPS, exercise equipment, protective padding on sports uniforms (designed for spacecrafts), air purification systems

Question 17

pros and cons of studying space (2 each)

Answer 17

P: products, resources, information
C: cost, dangerous, environment

Question 18

How does the sun cause the auroras?

Answer 18

particles from solar wind interact with our atmosphere to form the light

Question 19

solar wind

Answer 19

the continuous flow of charged particles from the sun that flows through the solar system

Question 20

rotation vs revolution

Answer 20

rotation: on it’s own axis
revolution: obriting around somethng else

Question 21

geocentric model of solar system

Answer 21

sun and other planets travel around the earth

Question 22

heliocentric model of solar system

Answer 22

solar system revolves around the sun

Question 23

orbital radius

Answer 23

average distance between a celestial object of the sun (orbital radius of Earth is 1 AU)

Question 24

orbital period

Answer 24

time to complete one revolution

Question 25

why do we have seasons

Answer 25

Earth's tilt - for half the year, the north gets more direct sun rays, so it is summer there. For the other half, north is facing away, so it is winter there (summer in south)

Question 26

explain the phases of the moon

Answer 26

For a full moon, the Earth is between the moon and the sun so that for the side of the Earth where it is night, they can see a fully illuminated moon. one half of the moon is always fully illuminated, but we cannot always see that half. When the moon is between the earth and the sun, it is a new moon because the illuminated half is the half we cannot see at all.

Question 27

high tide (what moon phase)

Answer 27

full moon

Question 28

solar eclipse

Answer 28

can't see the sun (moon blocks)

Question 29

lunar eclipse

Answer 29

Can't see the moon (it's in earth's shadow)

Question 30

how far is one AU

Answer 30

earth to sun, 150 million km

Question 31

how far is one lightyear

Answer 31

how far light can travel in a year, 10 trillion km

Question 32

nebula

Answer 32

giant cloud of gas and dust in space. sometimes, new stars form here, and sometimes they die to form nebulas

Question 33

how do planets form

Answer 33

materials in a nebula (gas and dust) keep colliding until the gravitation pull is strong enough for it to be a planet

Question 34

protoplanet

Answer 34

planet smaller than 10 km in diameter

Question 35

do planets move clockwise or counter clockwise

Answer 35

counter clockwise

Question 36

two kinds of planets and which planets fit into each category

Answer 36

terrestrial planets: earth, mars, mercury, venus | Gas giants: Jupiter, neptune, saturn, uranus

Question 37

what gases make up the gas giants

Answer 37

hydrogen (H2) and helium (He)

Question 38

what is a dwarf planet

Answer 38

planet: dominates its orbit, enough gravity to pull it into a sphere shape, orbits a star

Question 39

what and where is the kuiper belt

Answer 39

it is where the dwarf planets are, it lies beyond neptune's orbit

Question 40

asteroids

Answer 40

celestial bodies too small to be considered planets, but that still orbit the sun

Question 41

what and where is the asteroid belt

Answer 41

it is composed of metals (asteroids), between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter

Question 42

meteoroids

Answer 42

any piece of rock or metal smaller than an asteroid

Question 43

meteors

Answer 43

meteoroids that have been pulled into the earth's atmosphere (burning up)

Question 44

meteorite

Answer 44

a meteor that did not completely burn up and that was able to hit the ground

Question 45

apparent vs absolute magnitude

Answer 45

both brightness of the star: apparent vs actual

Question 46

spectograph

Answer 46

splits light energy into patterns of colours to determine the elements in a star

Question 47

how old is the solar system

Answer 47

approx. 5 billion years

Question 48

what is the solar nebule theory

Answer 48

theory that the solar system was formed when the solar nebula, a massive cloud of dust and gas, began to contract.

Question 49

evidence of the solar nebula theory

Answer 49

This theory explains why planets orbit the sun in the same direction, why they are all on the same plane surrounding the sun, and why the terrestrial planets are closer to the sun than the gas giants.

Question 50

red shift

Answer 50

Red Shift is the phenomenon where the light emitted from planets becomes red, telling us that the planet is moving away from us.

Question 51

big bang theory

Answer 51

all matter and energy in the universe expanded from an area that was smaller than the period at the end of a sentence.

Question 52

evidence for big bang

Answer 52

Hubble's discovery in the 1920s of a relationship between a galaxy's distance from Earth and its speed; and • the discovery in the 1960s of cosmic microwave background radiation