Roland's
Amateur Astronomy Quiz
Easiest Difficulty
1. Which is bigger ?
a. A Planet b. A
Comet c. A Moon d. A Star
2. What is the Milky Way ?
a. A rare appearance of the Northern Lights
b. The glare produced by a full moon
c. The biggest Night-sky
Constellation
d. A wide band of stars in our Galaxy
3. Which of these is a star ?
a. Jupiter b. Venus ( also called the
"morning star" ) c. Pluto d. The Sun
4. Which of these is a planet ?
a. The Moon b. The
Sun c. Titan d. The Earth
5. The Earth is spinning on its axis. How long does it take for it to spin
once ?
a. 1 Year b. 24 Hours c.
1 Week d. 60 Minutes
6. What is Polaris ?
a. A Satellite positioned directly above the north
pole.
b. A Planet which always rotates around the north polar axis.
c. A Star which you can use to align your telescope.
d. A Missile which orbits the Moon and can be used for
navigation.
7. Which of these statements is not true ?
a. The Sun sometimes gets in between Venus and the Earth
b. The Earth sometimes gets in between the Sun and the Moon
c. The Sun sometimes gets in between the Moon and the Earth
d. Venus sometimes gets in between the Sun and the
Earth
8. Which object does not lie within our Solar System ?
a. The Sun b. Jupiter c.
Saturn d. Vega
9. Which one of the following is true about comets ?
a. They never have tails
b. They can collide with the Earth
c. They would never collide with Jupiter
d. They cannot return after 100,000 years.
10. Which of these does not happen in a star ?
a. Stars are born from spinning clouds of gas and dust.
b. After shining for millions of years a star explodes and
dies.
c. Stars are yellow because they all burn at roughly the same
temperature.
d. Stars shine by turning hydrogen ( until it runs out ) into
helium.
11. Why do Stars twinkle ?
a. Stars have a large atmosphere which make them twinkle
b. The Earth's atmosphere disturbs the starlight which
reaches us.
c. Stars ( unlike the moon ) are too small to be seen
properly.
d. The Earth is spinning on its axis, and this causes stars
to twinkle.
12. What can affect the weather on Earth ?
a. Moon phases.
b. An alignment of the planets.
c. Bright comets near the horizon.
d. Sunspots.
13. What event would definitely destroy life on Earth ?
a. A big meteor hitting the Earth
b. The Sun not shining anymore
c. A massive supernova star exploding
d. A Comet smashing into the Moon
14. What is not true about telescopes ?
a. They can gather more light than the human eye
b. They can show the space shuttle in orbit around the Earth
c. They can show what galaxies looked like millions of years
ago.
d. They can magnify all stars from mere pinpoints of light
to round discs.
15. Which statement is not true ?
a. The Moon goes around the Earth in an orbit
b. The Earth goes around the Sun in an orbit.
c. Comets go around the Sun in an Orbit
d. The Sun goes around the Earth in an orbit.
16. Why would we jump higher on the Moon ?
a. because it has no atmosphere
b. because it has less atmosphere than the Earth
c. because is has no gravity
d. because it has less gravity
17. What causes comets to pass close to the Earth and appear in the sky ?
a. Bad
weather
b. The Sun's gravity
c.
Sunspots
d. Deep sky objects.
18. Which of these shines by its own light ?
a. The stars b. The
planets c. The moon d. The Earth
19. Which of these do we never see ?
a. The far side of the Moon b. The dark
side of the Moon
c. The other side of the Sun d. The centre
of our Galaxy
20. What causes tides in the oceans on Earth ?
a. Aurorae
b. The Moon
c. The Earth's
gravity d. An alignment of the
Planets
21. What happens when a star dies ?
a. It becomes a shooting star b. A comet
appears
c. It becomes a
planet
d. It blows off material ( planetary nebula )
22. Why is the sky blue ?
a. because it reflects light from the oceans
b. because the sun is actually blue
c. because it is scattering blue light from the sun
d. because it lights up the night sky which is actually dark
blue
23. Why does the Earth go around the Sun in an orbit ?
a. The Sun's heat warps space
b. Our atmosphere is attracted to the warmth of the Sun
c. The Sun's gravity pulls us towards it
d. The Moon's gravity keeps us in orbit around the Sun
24. What is a Black Hole ?
a. A deep sky
object b. Fine Stardust in
space
c. A dark
nebula
d. An extremely dense star
25. The Big Dipper ( Ursa Major ) is visible throughout the year from...
a. Sydney b. Singapore City c. London d. Sao Paolo
