THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
70 Falmouth Street      Portland, Maine 04103
(207) 780-4249      usm.maine.edu/planet
43.6667° N    70.2667° W  Altitude:  10 feet below sea level Founded January 1970
2021-2022: LXI
"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory."
-Dr. Seuss

THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday, January 7, 2022
Quiz # 14: 2021


2021 is over and done.
2022 has just begun.
So, now, let's have a bit of fun
with a quiz about the year 2021.
[It's a shame to know that I'll have to wait a whole decade before being able to write such a stunning poem again.]


How much do you remember about yesteryear?
Well, as is typical in modern day, quite a lot happened in 2021. This quiz will test your memory of the year that ended less than one week ago.


1. First things first. How do you write 2021 in Roman numerals?
a. MMXXI
b. MMCXXI
c. MMCDXXVI
d. MMXXII

2. _______________ is the first place on Earth that celebrates the new year.
a. New Zealand
b. Vanuatu
c. Kiribati
d. Australia

3. ______________ is the last place on Earth that celebrates the new year.
a. American Samoa
b. Baker and Howard Islands
c. Tonga
d. Solomon Islands

4. Which ONE of the following celebrities did not die in 2021?
a. Michael Collins (of Apollo 11 fame)
b. Archbishop Desmond Tutu
c. Steven Weinberg (Nobel prize winning physicist)
d. Prince Philip
e. Betty White
f. Sean Connery

5. In October 2021, NASA launched the Lucy spacecraft, which is designed to study _______________.
a. the Kuiper Belt
b. Trojan asteroids
c. the solar corona
d. the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation

6. In September 2021, _______________ became the first country to accept Bitcoin as official currency.
a. Belarus
b. Singapore
c. El Salvador
d. Belgium

7. COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, was held in which city?
a. Paris
b. Tokyo
c. Copenhagen
d. Glasgow

8.  The horrific surfside condo building collapse occurred in early 2021 in which city?
a.  Miami
b.  Boston
c.  Atlanta
d.  Los Angeles

9. The world population at the end of 2021 was approximately ________.
a. 7.78 billion
b. 7.81 billion
c. 7.87 billion
d. 7.93 billion

10. Joe Biden was inaugurated in January 2021 and became the _________ president of the United States.
a. 44th
b. 45th
c. 46th
d. 47th

ANSWERS
1. First things first. How do you write 2021 in Roman numerals?
a. MMXXI

2. _______________ is the first place on Earth that celebrates the new year.
c. Kiribati

3. ______________ is/are the last place(s) on Earth that celebrate(s) the new year.
b. Baker and Howard Islands
These islands are US territories that, being uninhabited, are not exactly notorious for their unbridled new year's celebrations.

4. Which ONE of the following celebrities did not die in 2021?
f. Sean Connery
007 died on October 31, 2020

5. In October 2021, NASA launched the Lucy spacecraft, which is designed to study _______________.
b. Trojan asteroids

Trojan asteroids refer to the two asteroidal regions within Jupiter's orbit. One region is centered sixty degrees ahead of Jupiter, the other sixty degrees behind.

trojan-asteroids.png

Lucy is scheduled to fly by its first Trojan asteroid -3548 Eurybates in the "Greek camp"- in August, 2027.


6. In September 2021, _______________ became the first country to accept Bitcoin as official currency.
c. El Salvador

7. COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, was held in which city?
d. Glasgow

8.  The horrific surfside condo building collapse occurred in early 2021 in which city?
a.  Miami

9. The world population at the end of 2021 was approximately ________.
c. 7.87 billion
According to the most recent UN estimates, the world population is expected to reach 8 billion by 2023.

10. Joe Biden was inaugurated in January 2021 and became the _________ president of the United States.
c. 46th



So, how did you do?
Are you really ready for 2022?


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