THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N 70.2667° W
Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
2021-2022: LV
“In 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important.”
-Dr. Who
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday, December 17, 2021
Quiz # 13: Twenty Questions, Anyone?
To quote the inimitable P.G. Wodehouse, "we'll soon have Christmas at our throats." Or, to be more inclusive, we 'll soon have the holidays at our throats. In commemoration of this festive season, we'd like to offer a 20-question quiz pertaining to math and science, two of the most festive of all human endeavors. Although this DA school year has proven to be exasperatingly irregular, at least we try to post the quizzes in a timely manner. And, since we're starting our holiday break on December 21st, the irregularity will continue until we return on January 3rd. Barring anything ELSE, we will then look forward to a smooth, continuous transmission of DAs throughout the school year.
You've all been very patient and understanding.
The very best to you and yours for a splendid holiday season and a Happy 2022!
1. The dark areas along the lunar surface are referred to as _____________.
2. Which planet in our solar system is the fifth largest?
3. If the Moon is rising at midnight, it is likely to be in what phase?
4. The Sun can occupy the zenith only within which region on Earth?
5. The Milky Way is an example of what type of galaxy?
6. Which golden-nosed Dutch astronomer is considered the grand patriarch of observational astronomy?
7. Reflecting telescopes use ____________ instead of lens to focus and collect light.
8. The Big Dipper is not a constellation, but is instead known as a(n) ______________.
9. The conservation of _____________ causes spinning objects to rotate faster as they decrease in size.
10. A stop sign is in the shape of a what?
11. The Universe, some think, consists of four dimensions. Three of these dimensions are spatial. The other dimension is _________.
12. Which two planets in our solar system have no known moons?
13. Which 17th century German mathematician formulated the three laws of planetary motion?
14. Which type of electromagnetic radiation is the most energetic?
15. Orion's belt consists of how many stars?
16. How does an annular solar eclipse differ from a total solar eclipse?
17. What is the only even prime number?
18. Which naked eye circumpolar star approximates the position of the North Celestial Pole?
19. In order to see the "Midnight Sun" effect in the Northern Hemisphere, you would have to live north of _________________.
20. The Arctic was named for ____________, the brightest star in Bootes the Sheepherder.
ANSWERS
1. Maria or mare. The Latin word for "seas," as they were once believed to have been seas of water.
2. Earth
(Had we asked this question twenty years ago, we wouldn't have had to include the qualifier "in our solar system." Now, wonderfully, we have to distinguish between the planets in our solar system and those around other stars.)
3. Last Quarter.
The Last Quarter Moon generally rises around midnight. The new moon, which we can't see, rises at sunrise; the First Quarter Moon rises at noon; Full Moon rises at sunset. These times are approximations.
4. The tropics
5. A barred spiral galaxy
6. Tycho Brahe
7. Mirrors
8. asterism
9. momentum
You will observe that a spinning skater rotates much more quickly as she draws in her arms.
10. Octagon
11. time (temporal)
12. Mercury and Venus
13. Johannes Kepler
14. Gamma radiation
15. Three (Mintaka, Alnilam, and Mintaka)
16. During an annular solar eclipse, the moon moves across the Sun, but a ring of light remains around it. During a total solar eclipse, the moon blocks all of the sun. (Annular solar eclipses occur when the moon is at or near apogee, the most distant point in its orbit.)
17. 2
18. Polaris
19. The Arctic Circle
20. Arcturus
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