Astronomy Trivia

1. Many of the fascinating features of the night sky arise from the tilt of the Earth's rotational axis. To the nearest half a degree, what is the current axial tilt of the Earth?

From Quiz Stargazing 101: Understanding the Night Sky

Answer: 23.5 degrees

Far from stable, the Earth's axial tilt ranges from 22.1 to 24.5 degrees over cycles of about 41000 years. In the first quarter of the twenty-first century, we are about halfway through the cycle, and are expected to reach the minimum tilt in the year 11800 CE.

From Quiz What Planet Were You On?!

Answer: Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. Named after the mythological Roman "God of War," Mars is a cold planet with a thin atmosphere, which allows for good observation of the planet's surface. In the early twenty-first century we know more about Mars than any other planet.

From Quiz Dancing With The Stars

Answer: Al-Raqis

Al-Raqis is Arabic for "The Dancer". It has also been translated as "The Trotting Camel", and is part of a five star group known as "Quinque Dromedarii" If the name sounds familiar, the star is also known as Arrakis (or Alrakis). In the "Dune" sci-fi series by Frank Herbert, the name was used for the desert planet mined for spices. Apart from the name there is no connection, as Herbert set his fictional novel in the constellation Carina.

From Quiz A History of Hydrogen

Answer: A proton and an electron

A neutral atom has a nucleus -- a compact conglomeration of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons -- at its center, with negatively charged electrons inhabiting a comparatively large volume around. (For the atom to be neutral, the number of protons should equal the number of electrons so that their electrical charges will cancel out.) The simplicity of hydrogen makes it a great test case for physics theories: quantum mechanics was developed in part to calculate the behavior of a hydrogen atom. An element is defined by the number of protons in its nucleus: one for hydrogen, two for helium, three for lithium, and so on down the Periodic Table. The number of neutrons can vary, though, and nuclei with the same number of protons and different numbers of neutrons are called isotopes. The most common hydrogen isotope has no neutrons at all -- the nucleus is just a bare proton. A hydrogen isotope called deuterium has one neutron for its one proton; when deuterium substitutes for regular hydrogen in a water molecule, it's called heavy water. And the heaviest kind of hydrogen, with two neutrons and one proton, is called tritium; this stuff is radioactive, and is found in common items (exit signs) as well as classified ones (hydrogen bombs).

From Quiz The Space Pumpkin

Answer: Caesar's Comet

In Ancient Rome, when the Great Comet fell shortly after Julius Caesar's death, they viewed it as a sign of his newfound god status. The comet fell during the day, and quite possibly was the brightest daytime comet in history. The comet was visible for seven days in 44BC, but was not a periodic comet (meaning it does not visit Earth at regular intervals). It is believed that the comet disintegrated.

From Quiz The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

Answer: 1910-1913

In 1910 Hertzsprung noticed an interesting pattern in the Henry Draper Catalog of stars compiled in the late 19th century at Harvard University. He noted that some stars had relatively less brightness than other stars of the same spectral type, and started to construct a graph that analysed the patterns. It became known as the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (as it was developed in conjunction with Henry Russell), or HR diagram for short.

From Quiz The Shining

Answer: Both

Venus, the brightest object in the sky after our sun, is called the Morning Star when it follows Earth in its orbit. Every 584 days it overtakes the Earth and is then called the Evening Star because of its position in relation to our own. It is bright enough to be seen at midday if you know where to look.

From Quiz The Life and Death of Stars

Answer: From clouds of gas and dust

Stars are born in the huge clouds of gas and dust we call nebulae. In most cases the nebulae themselves are produced from material left behind after old stars have died.

From Quiz So You Think You're a Space Nerd?

Answer: mass

The bigger the mass, the shorter the life of the star. The mass of a star comes from the amount of matter in the nebula it was formed in. The gas in the nebula is pulled together by gravity to form the star.

From Quiz The Hubble Space Telescope

Answer: It is not affected by earth's atmosphere or weather

The Hubble Space Telescope does require a focusing system and a power supply, and it is expensive to build and maintain. Its biggest advantage over land-based telescopes is that it can operate around the clock, unimpaired by poor visibility on earth. In addition, the Hubble can receive infrared and ultraviolet radiation from outer space, unhindered by earth's atmosphere.

From Quiz Astronomy Savvy

Answer: Plasma

Plasma is usually an ionized gas, meaning that one electron has been taken or added to an accumulation of atoms or molecules. This state of matter, which the founder called "radiant matter," was first identified in 1879 by Sir William Crookes inside a discharge tube. It was later renamed "plasma" by Irving Langmuir.

From Quiz The Constellations & Their History

Answer: A section of the celestial sphere

In 1928, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) divided the celestial sphere, upon which all objects in the sky can be thought to lie, into 88 constellations with fixed boundaries. These 88 constellations were, however, based on the "traditional" constellations, which were merely groups of stars that formed patterns, such as Orion (the hunter) and Scorpius (the scorpion). To a novice who is just getting acquainted with the celestial sphere, however, using the patterns formed by the stars is the best way to make himself/herself familiar with the sky at night.

From Quiz Twenty Questions About Comets

Answer: Mixture of ice, rock and dust

Comets are sometimes referred to as dirty snowballs.

From Quiz Astronomy

Answer: third rock

That's right folks, we are the third rock from the sun! The order goes: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Pluto used to be there at the end, but has since been demoted.

From Quiz Space and The Universe

Answer: asteroids

From Quiz Stargazing 101: Understanding the Night Sky

Answer: Celestial sphere

In reality, the distance to stars and galaxies varies widely. However, the celestial sphere remains a very useful model to specify the location of objects in the sky. This is because the distances are so large that parallax errors are largely undetectable. Nearby objects within the solar system (the sun, moon, planets, etc.) are not considered to be part of the celestial sphere as they are so close that they move through the sphere over time.

From Quiz The Ten Best and Brightest

Answer: Canopus

Canopus is in Carina, which, along with Vela and Puppis, comprise the Argo, a set of three Southern constellations representing the mythological ship (some also include Pyxis with this set). Canopus' apparent magnitude is approximately -.72. This star has nothing to do with canopic jars, which in ancient Egypt held the organs of a mummified person. However, it is likely named after the mythological person Canopus, a ship's captain for a king of Sparta, which fits the boat theme.

From Quiz What Planet Were You On?!

Answer: Jupiter

Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet in the solar system. Named after the mythological Roman "Leader of the Gods," Jupiter is a "Gas Giant" as large as 1300 Earths. Jupiter's days are only ten hours long. The giant "Red Spot" is actually a massive storm system that is larger than the Earth.

From Quiz The Night Sky

Answer: Milky Way

The Milky Way is the name of our galaxy. From our position in the rim of the galaxy, we see the light from the other stars as a general band of light approximately 30 degrees wide.

From Quiz The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

Answer: Absolute visual magnitude vs spectral type

The vertical axis was used to plot the star's luminosity, or brightness, which is called its magnitude. The apparent visual magnitude describes how bright the star appears, while the absolute visual magnitude includes a correction for distance, so all stars are assigned a magnitude based on how bright they would appear to an observer 10 parsecs away. The brighter the star, the higher it will appear along the vertical axis. The horizontal axis grouped stars according to their spectral type, which indicates a temperature range in which the star's energy emission falls. One of the problems with this original diagram, powerful as it was, was the fact that this is a non-continuous classification scheme. During the 20th century, this axis was changed to be a color index, allowing the use of numerical values along the horizontal axis. In the HR diagram, hotter stars appear on the left side, and cooler stars on the right.

From Quiz The Life and Death of Stars

Answer: It depends on the size of the star

A star's life-cycle depends greatly on the actual size of the star itself. For example, small stars like red dwarves have lifespans measuring many billions of years while massive stars like super red giants only live for a few million years. Basically, the bigger the star is, the shorter its lifespan.

From Quiz The Hubble Space Telescope

Answer: the speed that a galaxy moves away from us (on earth) is proportional to its distance from us

Named after astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, the Hubble's Law is the value of the velocity of a galaxy receding from earth, compared to its distance away from earth. This is related to the concept of an expanding universe. The Hubble Space Telescope allowed scientists to find an accurate value for Hubble's Law, which in turn allowed scientists to make more accurate estimates of distances in outer space.

From Quiz Astronomy Savvy

Answer: Venus

The Venera 7 entered the atmosphere of Venus on December 15, 1970. It landed on its surface and returned data for 23 minutes. This probe was the first to be successfully landed on the surface of another planet and also the first to transmit data from the surface of another planet. "Venera" is Russian for "Venus."

From Quiz Astronomy in Binoculars!

Answer: Magnification and aperture in millimeters

The first number refers to the power of magnification. Common values are 6x, 7x, and 10x. Quality telescopes, by contrast, start with magnification of about 30x. The second value is the aperture in millimeters. Common values are 30, 35, and 50. For astronomical purposes, 7x is usually the minimum useful magnification, and 35 mm is the minimum useful aperture. If you're thinking about buying a pair of binoculars to use in astronomy, consider that having a large aperture is usually more useful than having a high magnification-- after all, even if you have a high-power telescope, you won't be able to see anything if it doesn't let in enough light. Just for reference, I have a pair of 7x50 binoculars, and I've been able to see most everything I describe in this quiz reasonably well in my suburban back yard.

From Quiz Twenty Questions About Comets

Answer: Edmund Halley

In 1705 Edmund Halley predicted that the comets of 1531, 1607 and 1682 were the same comet and that it would return in 1758. The comet returned as predicted and was named after Halley. Charles Messier discovered 19 comets, Catherine Herschel found 8. SOHO is a satellite that has discovered more comets than any person (over 500 to date).

From Quiz Astronomy

Answer: 2000

WITH the use of a powerful telescope, you could see millions of stars in just one small part of the sky.

From Quiz Space and The Universe

Answer: Mars and Jupiter

From Quiz Fascinating Astronomy 2

Answer: A gap in Saturn's rings

Gioovanni Domenico Cassini was an Italian-French astronomer from the late 17th-early 18th century. He followed up on Galileo's work with a more powerful telescope, one that allowed him to discover four moons of Saturn and the gaps in Saturn's rings that bear his name.

From Quiz Stargazing 101: Understanding the Night Sky

Answer: 60 arcseconds

Arcseconds can be further subdivided into 1,000 milliarcseconds and 1,000,000 microarcseconds for further precision. However, in practice it is often preferred to use decimals of a minute to provide the necessary significant figures of precision e.g. 35 degrees 12.235233 arcminutes.

From Quiz The Ten Best and Brightest

Answer: One of the closest stars to Earth besides the Sun

Rigil Kentaurus (apparent magnitude of -.27) is also called Alpha Centauri A and is located in Centaurus. It's a relatively close 4.3 light years away. Like Sirius, it's a binary star, with the other designated as Alpha Centauri B. Alpha Centauri C, aka Proxima Centauri, is the nearest non-Sun star to Earth at 4.2 light years away. However, you'll need a telescope to see it, as its apparent magnitude is over 11, too faint to see with the naked eye. Apparent magnitude is an object's brightness as viewed from Earth. The lower the number (even into the negatives), the brighter the object. It is distinct from absolute magnitude, what an object's brightness would be as viewed from a distance of 10 parsecs. The Sun's apparent magnitude is -26.7 while its absolute magnitude is about 4.8.

This is category 59
Last Updated Jun 28 2025 5:44 AM

= Top 5% Rated Quiz, Top 10% Rated Quiz, Top 20% Rated Quiz, A Well Rated Quiz
= added recently, = Editor's Pick = FunTrivia Editor = Gold Member
Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.