On
Average score for
Honorable mention: sdbodin scored 13 points = 65%. Bravo!
And now.. (drum roll please)
The Champion is Bob, who scored 16 points = 80%
(Not sure which Bob, but that's ok..)
Hurrah! Hurrah!
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Answers, stats, comments.
1. Which Japanese automobile brand was named for a famous open star cluster? (1)
Subaru, 17/21 correct. The Japanese name for the Pleiades, always a good tidbit to share at outreach events. “Ooo, that’s why there are stars on our steering wheel, Daddy!”
2. Tonight (June 5, 2020) the planets Jupiter and Saturn are both within the borders of the same constellation. (1)
False, 5/21 correct. The two planets are converging, and will reach a very close conjunction in December.
3. Which three (3) of these stars form the vertices of the Summer Triangle? (1 each)
Vega, 20/21 correct, Deneb 14/21 correct, Altair 14/21 correct.
4. Which is the oldest artificial satellite still in Earth orbit? (2)
Vanguard 1, 4/21 correct. Nikita Khrushchev called it “the grapefruit satellite”. (Oops, that could have been a future question.)
5. When Venus reaches greatest brightness as seen from Earth, about what percentage of the planet is illuminated? (2)
24%, 1/21 correct. One source says 22%, another 26%, so I took the average. Someone pointed out that Venus is always 50% illuminated.. so the wording should have been “what percentage of the planet appears illuminated?”
6. William Herschel chose the term “asteroid” in 1802. How many asteroids did he discover? (2)
Zero, 7/21 correct. Rather amazing that in all his observing, Herschel never noticed that some of those “stars” were moving around. One might say he had “deep sky tunnel vision”. Well, he did notice Uranus, of course..
7. In the 2001 movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence, what is the name of the Mecha boy who was the leading character? (2)
David, 5/21 correct. My obligatory sci-fi question. The quirky movie is worth a look.
8. The southern
Vela, 8/21 correct, Carina 10/21 correct. Yeah, rather tough for northerners. I thought of the question from a star map in recent S&T that featured former Argo Navis constellations.
9. Which phrase best describes the “Jeans Instability” concept? (3)
Causes collapse of interstellar gas clouds leading to star formation, 7/21 correct. Two answered “astronomer’s narrow hips”.. I will count those as people who liked my joke
Thanks again all! If I do one next month, I've decided the quiz will be somewhat easier.