June quiz is open

[OzEclipse]

Hi all,
Here is the June-July quiz:

app.php/quiz/play/15/questions

Enjoy
Joe





@SparWeb @kt4hx @sdbodin @AntennaGuy @JayTee @Bigzmey @messier 111 @pixelsaurus @Gfamily @carastro @Juno16 @Graeme1858 @Juno16 @bobharmony @helicon @Gordon @SkyHiker @Michael131313 @JSBach1801 @astrorlk @Burrman@andrewsscope@jerrysykes @MrShorty

[messier 111]

Did I miss the May result?

[OzEclipse]

Did I miss the May result?

It's coming.

[Gfamily]

Thanks for that, and thanks for the heads-up.
90% in 5 minutes
Don't look at the next bit until you've completed the quiz

► Show Spoiler

(though arguably 95% )

[helicon]

Pretty darn poor. I need to brush up on these topics.

[carastro]

As usual I didn't do very well, 20%.
I don't tend to bother much with statistics. Perhaps I should duck out of these contests.

[OzEclipse]

As usual I didn't do very well, 20%.
I don't tend to bother much with statistics. Perhaps I should duck out of these contests.

These quizzes take me many hours to conceive questions, research, come up with suitably tempting alternate answers, translate to French and then mark it up in the quiz editor. There aren't many short cuts.
Only 19 people played the last Apr-May quiz. If it came down to only those 4-5 people who get high scores and occasionally win each month, then I'll probably give it away.

It's not about winning or scores. You don't even need to publish your score. I get the names and scores straight off the quiz editor results page (not visible to members) to do my stats. But please do keep playing.

I try to structure some of the questions so that they are educational, make people think and hopefully learn something if they get it wrong.

regards
Joe

[carastro]

These quizzes take me many hours to conceive questions, research, come up with suitably tempting alternate answers, translate to French and then mark it up in the quiz editor. There aren't many short cuts.
Only 19 people played the last Apr-May quiz. If it came down to only those 4-5 people who get high scores and occasionally win each month, then I'll probably give it away.

It's not about winning or scores. You don't even need to publish your score. I get the names and scores straight off the quiz editor results page (not visible to members) to do my stats. But please do keep playing.

I try to structure some of the questions so that they are educational, make people think and hopefully learn something if they get it wrong.

Sorry, yes you must spend a lot of time preparing these quizes and we must appreciate that.

Carole

[AstroShed]

Well that one was hard this month…

[Graeme1858]

70%

Lots of words. Took ages! Probably shouldn't do quizzing over breakfast!

Good quiz Joe.

[KathyNS]

Oh, that was a tough one! I got lucky with my guesses and got 70%. And one question that I was sure I got right, I actually got wrong. I'm going to have to work that one out again to figure out why. So this is definitely educational!

Thank you for the effort you put into the quizzes, Joe. I find them both entertaining and educational.

[AntennaGuy]

Not an easy one. But I'm proud to day that I did... better than pure chance.

[sdbodin]

well, 70%, a bunch of guesses, definitely a difficult quiz.

Bravo quizmaster,
Steve

[messier 111]

I found it more difficult than the last one, but I learned several things.
thx Joe for this most interesting quiz.
my mark this time is 70% in 6 minutes.
Thank you once again for translating the quiz, I really appreciate it.

[pixelsaurus]

That was a hard one but I got 70%. Luckily I had just read an article on the Hubble Tension, else I would have been completely out of my depth. Cheers.

[Mike Q]

60 percent correct and 100 percent guesses, but i still learned sometging so its all good

[OzEclipse]

For those who felt bad about their score and thought the quiz was hard, an AI bot just attempted the quiz and scored zero.

Joe.

[bobharmony]

60% here - and I also has recently read about the Hubble tension topic, so didn't have to guess on that one. Interesting thought problems in this volume.

Bob

[OzEclipse]

Congratulations to Gfamily who topped the June quiz with 90%. Honourable mentions to runners-up, Astroshed and KT4HX(Alan) close behind on 80%.

Mean was 46.9% and the median score was 60% if I count the three ai bots that scored 0%.
Mean was 54% and the median score was 70% if I discount the three ai bots that scored 0%

Congratulations to all who entered.

.



Some explanation about some of the questions.

2. Who created/authored/charted the 1st edition of the Uranometria Star Atlas?
Some thought that Wil Tirion authored the first edition but it is a very old atlas and it was in fact Johan Bayer in 1603.

3. In which constellation would you find Stephan's Quintet of galaxies?
It is located in the constellation of Pegasus.


4. Many equatorial mounts have a north/south hemisphere switch that reverses the drive direction from anticlockwise(north) to clockwise(south). Why?
The direction of the polar axis rotation in the south hemisphere is the reverse of the north only because the polar axis is facing the opposite direction.

5.This year, 2024 is a leap year, it has 366 days instead of 365 days. A light year is the distance light travels in one year. How different is a light year during a leap year over a normal non-leap year?
A leap year is a defined unit of distance that light travels in a vacuum in a mean year. It does not rely on whether the year is a leap or non-leap year.

6. NASA has just been tasked with creating a standard time zone for the Moon. Why can't they just use something like UT?

The correct option was a combination of these two answers.
iv) Due to relativity [different mass of Earth and Moon), 1 second on the Moon isn't the same as 1 second on the Earth.
v) Earth-Moon distance changes constantly, travel-time for radio waves, from earth atomic clocks to the moon would also vary.
So using an Earth time zone on the Moon creates all sorts of practical issues.

7. Comets that are discovered to be periodic are designated by a number followed by a P to indicate periodic. For example Halleys Comet is designated 1P indicating that it was the first comet discovered and designated to be periodic. Comet Pons-Brookes is currently gracing our skies. What is its designator?
Pons Brookes is 12P

8. Non-periodic or very long period comets are given a different alphanumeric designation to periodic comets. The designator indicates the order and when the comet was discovered. Comet NEOWISE was designated 2020 F3. When was it discovered?
Year 2020, F indicates half of the month so second half of 3rd month, 3rd comet discovered in second half of March.

9. Leap seconds have been periodically added to universal time to account for the Earth's rotational period slowing down. This keeps Earth time in sync with the rising and setting of the sun. Melting of the polar icecaps is transferring mass from the poles to the equatorial ocean bulge - yes the Earth is definitely middle aged. Will this mass transfer to the equator necessitate addition or subtraction of leap seconds?
Since the inception of leap seconds in the 1970's, seconds have always been added.
Normally the clock counts up to the minute as follows: 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 0, 1, 2, 3
To add a leap second, the clock counts up to the minute as follows: 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 0, 1, 2, 3

See here for a detailed description.
https://apnews.com/article/leap-second- ... 04897032a4

10. What is the "cosmological tension" (or Hubble Tension)?
It is a discrepancy in the rate of expansion of the universe depending upon the method by which it is measured. It is one of the big questions in modern cosmology.

cheers

Joe

[AntennaGuy]

Thanks for the explanations. Very educational. One question. In regard to number 9 above, you noted that "Leap seconds have been periodically added to universal time to account for the Earth's rotational period slowing down." OK, but then you also noted that "The shift of mass from the polar ice sheets to water increasing the equatorial bulge is slowing the Earth and for the first time a leap second needs to be subtracted." But... that would seem inconsistent? I mean, if both cases correspond to the Earth's rotation slowing down, shouldn't both cases correspond to the same direction of the necessary time correction? Or am I missing an important/subtle detail?