From Here to Eternity

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. Your first stop requires some difficult maneuvering to land on an asteroid that was in 2006 reclassified as a "dwarf planet". Named after the Roman goddess of plants and harvesting, what is this body comprising approximately 32% of the mass orbiting within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter? Ceres Vesta Pluto Pallas

2. Your next destination is one of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter. You gaze in awe at this satellite's multicolored surface, which is in a state of continual volcanic eruption. It is named for one of Hera's priestesses who was raped by Zeus and turned into a heifer. What is the name of this moon? Callisto Ganymede Io Europa

3. Your next experience involves riding at approximately 157,838 mph along side something that has not been seen by the naked eye from Earth since 1986. This is the most famous of the short-period comets in the Solar system and is visible from Earth every 74 to 79 years. What is the name of this comet? Comet Shoemaker-Levy Comet Kohoutek Halley's Comet Comet Hale-Bopp

4. Next, you are going to do some daredevil flying within a shower of meteors derived from the comet Swift-Tuttle. This shower usually is the most spectacular one seen from Earth, at least in the northern hemisphere during July and August, and its name honors the Greek hero who slew Medusa and rescued Andromeda. What meteor shower is this? the Lyrids the Geminids the Perseids the Orionids

5. Your next visit is to a red dwarf star, which currently happens to be the nearest star to our own star--Sol--our Sun. Its distance is approximately 4.2 light years from Earth. What is the name of this star, which CANNOT BE SEEN WITH THE NAKED EYE, although its binary star neighbors--Alpha A and Alpha B--most certainly can be? Pollux Betelgeuse Proxima Centauri Polaris

6. The next leg of your journey takes you to a main sequence star that is the brightest star visible from the earth's surface. It is part of the constellation Canis Major and is approximately 8.6 light years from planet Earth. What is the name of this star, sometimes referred to as "the dog star"? Castor Kuma Sirius Atlas

7. At a distance of about 19.4 light years from Earth, you are now approaching the closest star of a recognizable constellation. Seen from earth, this constellation is located near the constellations Perseus and Andromeda, and it was named for a conceited queen who bragged that her beauty was greater than that of Poseidon's daughters? What is the name of this "W"-shaped constellation? Cassiopeia Hydra Virgo Persephone

8. Next, you travel to a distance of about 400 light years from Earth to visit the most well-known open cluster of stars as seen from our home planet. This star cluster, visible within the constellation Taurus, has nine main stars but consists of over a thousand known objects. What is the name of this cluster named for the seven daughters of Atlas? Sagittarius Star Cloud Cumulo de Pegaso The Pleiades Ptolemy Cluster

9. From the perspective of Earth, you are now travelling toward a point east of the belt in the Orion constellation. At approximately 1500 light years from Earth, you arrive at a most famous dark nebula. What is the name of this nebula, whose dark clouds look like the top part of a particular animal? Horsehead Nebula Crab Nebula Butterfly Nebula Cat's Eye Nebula

10. Finally, you make a giant leap outside of our galaxy, approximately 2.5 million light years from earth, to visit the nearest spiral galaxy to our own. What is the name of this galaxy named for the constellation it appears to be within, a constellation named for a young woman from Greek myth offered to a sea monster for a sacrifice? Andromeda Galaxy Bootes Galaxy Virgo Galaxy Thalia Galaxy