Quiztronomy 2013The annual Astronomy flavoured quiz

Q 1Connect:Planet, X-men supervillain, another planet, Gatling gun, Old ford model

AnswerVulcan

Q 2This cave is part of Sequoia National Park, a naturally formed system of caves

in California's Sierra Nevada mountains. The cave was discovered in August 2006 by four professional cave explorers from the Cave Research Foundation who found a grapefruit-sized hole on a cliff face in the Sierra Nevada mountains. After widening the hole to allow for human entry, the explorers discovered one of the most spectacular caves in the western U.S. A large bear skeleton was found in the cave, which attracted many scientists and researchers interested in finding new species of troglobites, organisms that live in the complete darkness afforded by caves. What was the cave named?

AnswerUrsa Minor Cave

Q 3X, a pioneer in applying Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity to

cosmology, published an article in 1927 deriving what is today known as Hubble's Law two years before Edwin Hubble. He also proposed the "hypothesis of the primeval atom" which is popularly known by another name given by Fred Hoyle. Name "the master"

AnswerGeorges Lemaitre

Q 4Connect: 1. Cassiopeia 2. Perseus 3. Cetus 4. NGC 224 5. M 31

Answer Andromeda

Q 5X- Locations where the sun is less than 6 (or 7) degrees below the horizon which are

above 60° 34’ (or 59° 34’) latitude that are south of the Arctic Circle or north of the Antarctic Circle experience the sun's presence even during the night, so that daytime activities, such as reading, are still possible without artificial light on a clear night. The farther north (south) you go, the longer this period becomes. These Xs have become a common symbol of Saint Petersburg, Russia, where they occur from about June 11 to July 2, and the last 10 days of June are celebrated with cultural events.

Y is a title given to this character played by Aaron Eckhart for "cleaning up the streets" in one of the most iconic movies by Christopher Nolan. His battle with the criminal underworld leaves him disfigured, transforming him into a murderer bent on revenge, choosing to bring about good or evil based upon the outcome of a coin flip. X & Y?

X – White Night Y – White Knight

Q 6Cydonia is a region on Mars, which has attracted both scientific and popular

interest. It was first imaged in detail by the Viking 1 and Viking 2 orbiters. Eighteen images of the Cydonia region were taken by the orbiters. In one of the images taken by Viking 1 on July 25, 1976, a 2 km long Cydonian mesa, situated at 40.75° north latitude and 9.46° west longitude had a unique feature. When the image was originally acquired, Viking chief scientist Gerry Soffen dismissed this feature as a "trick of light and shadow". However, a second image, also shows this feature, and was acquired 35 Viking orbits later at a different sun-angle from the earlier image. This image inspired individuals and organizations interested in extraterrestrial intelligence and visitations to Earth, and the images were published in this context in 1977. What am I talking about?

Answer The face on Mars

Q 7Between whom did this conversation take place?

X: Among the large headlines this morning, there's one asking that you watch for a lovely girl with a big rabbit. An ancient legend says a beautiful Chinese girl called Chang-o has been living there for 4000 years. It seems she was banished to the ____ because she stole the pill of immortality from her husband. You might also look for her companion, a large Chinese rabbit, who is easy to spot since he is always standing on his hind feet in the shade of a cinnamon tree. The name of the rabbit is not reported.Y:: Okay. We'll keep a close eye out for the bunny girl.

Answer Houston and Apollo 11, referring to the Chinese legend of the Moon rabbit

Q 8Lyrics of the song "Astronomy" by the band Blue Oyster Cult:

In hellish glare and inferenceThe other one's a duplicateThe queenly flux, eternal light (1)Or the light that never warms (2)...Call me Desdenova, eternal lightThese gravely digs of mineWill surely prove a sightAnd don't forget my dog, fixed and consequent (3)

The lines 1, 2 and 3 are references to 3 astronomical objects. Identify all 3.

Answer 1: Cassiopeia

2: Moon3: Sirius

Q 9The Planets is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer

Gustav Holst. The suite has seven movements, each named after a planet:1. Mars, the Bringer of War2. Venus, the Bringer of Peace3. Mercury, the Winged Messenger4. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity5. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age6. Uranus, the Magician7. Neptune, the MysticWhy isn't the Earth and Pluto included in it? (Half points)

Answer Earth wasn't included because the orchestra is astrological in nature, not

astronomical, as can be seen by the astrological characters of every planet. Earth is considered to be astrologically inert.Pluto wasn't included because it wasn't yet discovered when the orchestra was written between 1914 and 1916.

Q 10During the total solar eclipse of 7 August 1869, a green emission line of

wavelength 530.3 nm was independently observed by Charles Augustus Young & William Harkness in the spectrum of the sun's ______. Since this line did not correspond to that of any known material, it was proposed that it was due to an unknown element, provisionally named X. In 1902, Dmitri Mendeleev hypothesized that there existed 2 inert chemical elements of lesser atomic weight than hydrogen. Of these two, he thought the lighter to be an all-penetrating, all-pervasive gas, and the slightly heavier one to be X. Later he renamed X as newtonium. It was not until the 1930s that Walter Grotrian and Bengt Edlén discovered that the spectral line was due to highly ionized iron (Fe13+); which was caused due to the extreme temperature of the solar ______. Give X or the blank.

Answer X: Coronium

Blank: Corona

Q 1190377 sedna holds a certain significance in our solar system. A similar large

scale list can be prepared. The title was first held by Andromeda in 964 AD and it has since passed from Triangulum galaxy to 3C 273 Quasar to its current holder UDFj-39546284. What is this coveted title we are talking about?

Answer Most distant object known in the universe

Q 12The Jupiter and Lake Worth Railway was a 12.1 km connection between the

Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway system. It connected Lake Worth at Juno, Florida to Jupiter Inlet at Jupiter, Florida. With intermediate stops at Venus and Mars, by what common name waws this railroad often known?

Answer The Celestial Railroad

Q 13Kesarbai Kerkar was an Indian classical vocalist of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana.

One of her recordings, "Jaat Kahan Ho", duration 3:30 (an interpretation of raga Bhairavi) received a recommendation for inclusion on a certain "compilation" by the ethnomusicologist Robert E. Brown, who believed it to be the finest recorded example of Indian classical music. What compilation is this?

Answer The Voyager Golden Record

Q 14There are hardly any instances of a practical real-time representation of an

___-___ bridge. The Sangam, possibly represented such a portal/wormhole in an ancient time, for then, possibly existed a third river, the now invisible, Saraswati. When Yamuna (space) and Ganga (time) are folded along a third dimension of Saraswati, an ___-___ bridge is believed to have been created. Thus, in ancient times, just taking a dip at such a confluence would have hypothetically transported a man or a woman physically into a parallel universe, thereby liberating him/her from the birth-cycle. FITB.

Answer Einstein-Rogen

Q 15The Ericsson Globe was the national indoor arena of Sweden, located in the

Johanneshov district of Stockholm. The Ericsson Globe is currently the largest hemispherical building in the world and took two and a half years to build. Shaped like a large white ball, it is a venue for shows, concerts, and ice hockey. On February 2, 2009, the naming rights to the Stockholm Globe Arena were officially acquired by Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson, and it became known as the Ericsson Globe. What is its 'astronomy' connection?

Answer It represents the Sun in the Sweden Solar System, the world's largest scale

model of the Solar System.

Q 16The X British award is given in recognition of notable contributions to space

exploration, particularly British achievements. It was founded as an annual event by Dave Wright and Jerry Stone in 2005. The award was established with the permission of X, who also chose a special award independently of the public nominations prior to his death on 18 March 2008. The award features the diagram X drew in 1945 in order to demonstrate how satellites can provide global communications around the Earth from geostationary orbit, also called the X Orbit. It was co-designed by Jerry Stone and Howard Berry. Who is X?

Answer Sir Arthur Clarke

Q 17The Gold Medal is the highest award of the Royal Astronomical Society. In the

early years, more than one medal was often awarded in a year, but by 1833 only one medal was being awarded per year. This caused a problem in 1846 due to a landmark astronomical discovery, because many felt an award should jointly be made to John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier. A controversy arose and no award was made in 1847. The controversy was resolved by giving 12 "testimonial" awards in 1848 to various people including Adams and Le Verrier. What was the discovery?

Answer Neptune

Q 18What does the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society depict on it?

(image)

Answer William Herschel's 40 foot telescope

Q 19In orbital mechanics, a _________ orbit, named after Jules Antoine

_________, is a quasi-periodic orbital trajectory that an object can follow around a Lagrangian point of a three-body system without requiring any propulsion. Lyapunov orbits around a libration point are curved paths that lie entirely in the plane of the two primary bodies. In contrast, _________ orbits include components in this plane and perpendicular to it, and follow a _________ curve. In mathematics, a _________ curve is a graph of a system of parametric equations which describe complex harmonic motion. This family of curves was investigated by Nathaniel Bowditch in 1815, and later in more detail by Jules Antoine _________ in 1857. FITB.

Answer Lissajous

Q 20X is the fourth largest asteroid in the Solar System located in the asteroid belt.

It was discovered by Annibale de Gasparis on April 12, 1849, in Naples, Italy. The director of the Naples observatory, Ernesto Capocci, named the asteroid. He chose to call it Igea Borbonica ("Bourbon X") in honor of the ruling family of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies where Naples was located. However, in 1852, John Russell Hind wrote that "it is universally termed X, the unnecessary appendage 'Borbonica' being dropped." The name comes from the Greek goddess of health, daughter of Asclepius. X's astronomical symbol is the Rod of Asclepius, a serpent-entwined rod used as a symbol in modern times, where it is associated with medicine and health care. What is X?

Answer Hygiea

Q 21The establishment of this building was proposed in 1674 by Sir Jonas Moore

who, in his role as Surveyor General at the Ordnance Office, persuaded King Charles II with John Flamsteed being installed as its director. The Ordnance Office was given responsibility for building it, with Moore providing the key instruments and equipment for its functioning at his own personal cost. Flamsteed House, the original part of this building was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, probably with the assistance of Robert Hooke, and was the first purpose-built scientific research facility in Britain. What building is this?

Answer Royal Observatory, Greenwich

Q 22The Javanese people of Indonesia call this constellation Kalapa Doyong

meaning "leaning coconut tree" due to the shape similarity. How do we know it better?

Answer Scorpius

Q 23Cover art for the DVD "Live in concert at theRoundhouse London 2008" by Shpongle.Identify the location.

AnswerJantar Mantar

Q 24What's the connection between the winner of the1983 Nobel Prize for Physics with William A. Fowlerand the winner of the 1930 Nobel Prize for Physics?

AnswerSubrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1983) was the nephew of Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1930)

Q 25Agreed gallileo/kepler blew away the traditional geocentric model and established Copernicus‘ heliocentric model with little modifications in it. But it doesn't mean model of Ptolemy was an illogical one. The biggest merit of the model was it explained the phenomenon in the visual with proper mathematics using something called as X. X literally means on the circle in Greek and this phenomenon gives certain cosmic bodies their appropriate name Y in Greek as they roam around randomly. ID X and Y (half point each)

AnswerX - EpicyclesY - Planets

Q 26Helium is named after helios i.e. Sun as helium expresses itself prominently in the emission spectra. Similarly William Huggins while observing %% thatcan be categorized as *Answer1* found that it's emission lines don't correspond to any of the known elements. Scientists suggested on the same lines that it is a new element and lets name it *Answer2*. Fortunately the blunder was resolved and it was actually doubly ionized Oxygen. ID both answers and bonus point for %%

AnswerAnswer 1 - NebulaAnswer 2 - Nebulium%% - Cat's eye Nebula

Q 27Image is cover of ___, famous magazine published by Games workshop who in turn are known for their RPG games. ___ is also important from astronomy point of view. I am sure many of the giants in skywould possibly play their games if they are to last for few thousand years.

Answer

Q 28During the Renaissance, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model of the solar system. His work was defended, expanded upon, and corrected by Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler. But it seems Copernicus wasn't the first one to do so. It was first proposed in the 3rd century BC by a certain astronomer who was neither an aristocrat nor a samosa lover. Who?

AnswerAristarchus of Samos

Q 29This is a gem by Philip Plait. Here he is concerned about people equating things to religions. Obviously the character in the comic is mad after X where its central character is capable of time travel. You have to say it is quite a godly talent of always landing into same place. Who?

AnswerDoctor Who

Q 30Whenever I look at nobel laureates, certainly this person deserved a place but missed out, especially looking at very less no. of winners from his country. His name inspires half of name of a certain something. In Dragon ball universe it would have been called Kami's or in later generations Dende's particle; if we follow the analogy of it's more familiar name in common people. Who is this person? Points only for his complete name(name and surname); no point for particle's name.

AnswerSatyendranath BoseRef : Kami and Dende areearth's gods in Dragon Balluniverse; also kami meansgod in Japanese

Q 31What is Dr. Sheldon Cooper explaining?

The Drake equation

Q 32What astrobiological theory gets its name from the title of this book? The theory shares its name with a group of elements in the periodic table as well as an American rock band popular in the 1970s.

Answer

Q 33The philosopher Immanuel Kant made an analogy to the theories of X when describing a problem from a different point of view. The conditions and qualities he ascribed to the subject of knowledge placed man at the centre of all conceptual and empirical experience, and overcame the rationalism-empiricism impasse, characteristic of the 17th and 18th centuries. Kant said that: "Up to now it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to the objects; but ... let us once try whether we do not get farther with the problems of metaphysics by assuming that the objects must conform to our cognition." Who is X?

AnswerNicolaus Copernicus

Q 34In real life I am a lizard. Back in my day, I used to guard Hera's wedding gift to Zeus in the garden of Hesperides. But I was tricked by a certain cunningyoung man and was punished by Hera for letting the young man get away with her gift. Who am I?

AnswerDraco

Q 35X is the 7th track in the third studio album of a popular American heavy metal band. It was named X due to the song's spacey sounding bridge. Of thefour solos, the third is a notable bass solo by Cliff Burton who died in a bus crash in Sweden while touring to promote the album. In honour of Cliff, the band has named its festival "X music and more".What is the astronomy connect?

AnswerX - Orion, the connect being it is also the name of a prominent constellation

Q 36______ is a popular volunteer distributed computing project that was launched by the University of California, Berkeley in May 1999. Any individual can become involved with its research by downloadingthe Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) software program, attaching to the project, and allowing the program to run as abackground process that uses idle computer power for accomplishing goals such as monitoring electromagnetic radiation. What are we talkingabout?

AnswerSETI@home

Q 37X is a constellation created by Petrus Plancius in1613 to represent the animal Rebecca rode to marryIsaac in the Bible. Its name comes from Latin, and itis the Romanisation of the Greek "καμηλοπάρδαλις"meaning "giraffe". X?

AnswerCameloapardalis

Q 38___X___ was a Roman Catholic priest. He initially studied civil engineering at the Catholic University of Louvain, but his studies were interrupted when he served as an artillery officer with the Belgian army in WWI; for which he received a Military Cross. He later studied physics and mathematics, obtaining his doctorate in 1920 and his priesthood in 1923. He then developed a then controversial theory, then opposed by Einstein and Eddington. His theory is now known as something else and someone else who developed the theory 2 years later, albeit with experimental proof, is known for this work.Name ___X___

AnswerGeorges Lemaitre and the Big Bang Theory

Q 39____ are named after X, which represent the stationary solutions of the circular restricted three-body problem. They are 5 in number; 3 of them are collinear and were seen by Leonhard Euler in 1750. However in 1772, X was trying to discover a way to calculate the gravitational interaction between more than two bodies easily. The solution that he discovered for a 3 body system consists of two major bodies and one with negligible mass. A practical example of his theory was demonstrated when the Trojan asteroids were discovered in relation to the Sun-Jupiter system.

What are we talking about?

AnswerLagrange Points

Q 40North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has the responsibility of aerospace warning and defense of USA and Canada. It tracks missile and aircraft activity. In December 1955 a Sears dept. store in Colorado misprinted its telephone no. in an ad campaign and many children thought they were calling ___X___ but instead called NORAD. This began a tradition where NORAD tracks ___X___ and popularly displays it.What?

AnswerNORAD tracks Santa

Q 41‘The Dynamics of an Asteroid’ is a fictional book written by ____X____. His archnemesis _____ remarked, "Is he not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which ascends to such rarefied heights of pure mathematics that it is said that there was no man in the scientific press capable of criticizing it?"This book is said to be inspired by Carl Friedrich Gauss' ground-breaking treatise on the dynamics of an asteroid (1 Ceres) and his method is still used today for orbit calculation. Another inspiration is Simon Newcomb who had published a series of books analysing motions of planets in the solar system. The notoriously spiteful Professor Newcomb could have been the inspiration for ___X___.

ID X

AnswerProfessor James Moriarty

Q 42Long Connect :Set 1 : a. Contact scene - Ellie is estimating possibility ofextra-terrestrial life. "There are 400 billion stars in ourgalaxy alone. If one in million have planets and onein a million of them have life. Still there are millions ofcivilizations in universe"b. E. T. repeated scene - Flying on the cycle with focus on the moon in background always behind the same tree.

Set 2 :A star wars couple :a. Asteroid Fieldb. Seismic Charge

Set 3 :Star Trek sun time warp scene

AnswerAll are scientifically inaccurate even if we take into account supernatural

phenomena which occur in these movies.