[ POLL ] How much do you know about Astronomy?

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Here is a simple, short survey to test the general knowledge of Astronomy of the members of this website.

All you need to do is select each correct statement. You may select any or all statements, and you may change your selections at any time.

Enjoy!

I think I just embarrassed myself. I didn't learn the planets in primary school and I never studied Astronomy ... nor have I even seen Star Trek or Star Wars.

Despite being a (mediocre) physics student, I've never really taken any interest in astronomy. My physical intuition is comparatively weak, so that I'm at my best when the physics is more abstract/mathematical. Having been to primary school, I still know the answers to all the questions above though.

How shameful are my answers?

Pluto is no longer officially classed as a planet, though I still refer to it as one. This is a purely semantic question.

Neptune has rings (a ring?).

Saturn's rings are made up of bits of solid matter, but don't form a single solid body.

Haven't seen Star Wars since I was a young child, but depending on what is meant by "very dense" this may or may not be true.

The closest star to the Earth is the sun (this one always gets me, too).

Not too bad.

Alpha Centauri is a star system, not an individual star. Proxima Centauri is the next nearest star to earth behind the sun. Half of the answers here are ambiguous or designed to throw a responder off. Good job Fnord, another condescending poll. I won't insult you personally, wouldn't want you to run off to the mods.

I have a feeling that this is one of those debunking things in which EVERY answer is wrong. Or supposed to be wrong.

I did check one as being true though. The one about constellations. Constellations are not natural groupings of stars, but are stars that human naked eye observers on earth like to play "connect the dots" with. They seem to form figures in the sky so we name them after the figures to help our memories in stargazing. That's seems to be what the OP is saying in the question. So I said true.

The rest of the questions are all "untrue"...or sorta untrue.

Shooting stars are meteors (rocks). Not actual "stars"

I doubt that ANY gas giant has a solid surface

Comets are all tens of millions of miles out in interplanetary space, while planes fly within the Earth's atmosphere only thousands of feet up, so "no". Comets don't threaten planes.

Trick question about Pluto. Pluto was considered that outermost planet for decades, but now its demoted from planet status, with Neptune now considered the farthest out planet. Even if you reinstated Pluto to planet status we now know of Pluto like objects even farther out (so those objects would have to be promoted to planet status now-if you reinstated Pluto, and would usurp Pluto's title as the most distant of them).

Saturn has the famous rings but either Neptune, or Uranus ( I forget which), is now known to have rings as well. Though less photogenic than those of Saturn.

Saturn's rings are not solid but made of ice crystals.

That would be a good guess, but no. Sunspots are not caused by meteors hitting the Sun. They are like hurricane type storms.

The Asteroid belt is not a traffic jam of boulders in the sky. You could sail through it in a space ship without ever seeing an asteroid.

The Alpha Centauri question is a trick question. The closet star to the Earth is the Sun. But the closet star system to our solar system IS the Alpha Centauri group of stars. I believe its a triple star system. Proxima Centauri is the one slightly closest to us in the group.

The earth goes around the Sun. Not the other way around.

They've recently inserted a thirteenth constellation into the Zodiac, but traditionally its 12 signs in the Zodiac.

The Moon is tidally locked in its orbit around Earth. So the same side always faces the earth. So we only ever see the same one side of the moon from earth. That is why the side of the Moon away from us is called "the far side" of the moon. The far side is often erroneously called "the dark side" even though its no darker than the near side (both sides are light fifty percent of the time).

Last edited by naturalplastic on 29 Mar 2019, 12:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

Actually -about constellations. Modern astronomers divide the sky up into zones named after the traditional constellations- with boundry lines- like states of the US- for every part of the sky. So the zone named by astronomers "the big dipper" includes more than the familiar handful of stars of the big dipper, but also the zillions of stars and galaxies invisible to the naked eye within the zone. So if you are talking about that particular usage of the term "constellation" then the answer to that question is also "false". Constellations are not JUST those familiar stars that you can connect with your naked eye.

Very good, Nat! Anyone else?

Yes? You, in the back, with the purple hair ... you have something to say?

Uranus has rings, too.

Proxima Centauri is the star closest to the Solar System. Obviously, the Sun is the closest star.

Of course, Pluto is not considered a "full planet," but it's considered a "minor planet" or "dwarf planet."

We never see the "dark side" of the moon.

Even when Pluto was a "full planet," there were times when Neptune was farther from the Sun and Earth than Pluto---including in recent times.

Saturn's rings are not a "solid mass." They also seem that way from a distance.