It’s quiz time!
Test your knowledge about space. How many answers can you get right? Read the questions below and click the arrow in the left side to unfold the box and read the answer.
Good luck!
When stars die they become a compact object. A compact object is either a white dwarf, neutron star or a black hole. Small stars become white dwarfs when they die, big stars turn into black holes and the inbetweeners end their lives as a neutron star. A shared trait in this type of stellar skeleton is that it’s not nuclear fusion in the center that stabilizes the stars from collapsing due to gravity as it is for “living” stars. Instead, its something else.
Question number 1:
What prevents a white dwarf from collapsing under it’s own gravity?
The answer is quantum mechanics.
White dwarfs are stable only because quantum mechanics prevents electrons from being squeezed together in a point. This way the atoms that make up the white dwarf can stay put instead of collapsing under gravity.
Earth is located in the solar system. The solar system is made up by our sun in the center with a bunch of stuff around it, such as planets, moons and comets. The solar system is a part of a bigger structure, namely our galaxy The Milky Way, which again is a part of a cluster of galaxies called The Local Group.
Question number 2:
What is the name of the proposed super-cluster that The Local Group is a part of?
It’s Hawaiian and it means “open skies”.
Light travels at a speed of 300,000 km/sec in vacuum. In materials it travels slower.
Question number 3:
What is the speed of darkness?
Light moves as any particle that travels through space. Darkness is not a particle, it’s just the absence of light particles (photons). Darkness does therefore not travel at any speed – it’s simply just there.
However, since darkness is revealed when light leaves, you could argue that darkness propagates at the speed at which light travels away. But that’s maybe more a question for Philosophicca 🙂
Earth’s only natural satellite is the moon. The moon is made of rocky material and it orbits our planet once a month.
Question number 4:
How did the moon get its craters?
The moon got its craters from impacts.
Over the years, many comets and asteroids have hit our loyal space companion, and each time the moon is hit, it gets a scar. Some scars are so big that they leave a crater. You can see the craters with the naked eye next time there is a chance to catch a glimpse of the moon where you live.
JWST is the new space telescope which was launched less than a year ago. In many ways it replaces Hubble. One difference between the two space telescopes is that JWST photos contain more stars than the same photos from Hubble, because JWST can collect not only visible light but also infrared light.
Question number 5:
Why does the JWST’s sensitivity to infrared light result in more stars on the photos compared to Hubble?
You get two options for this one:
A) Because some stars only radiate infrared light due to their atomic composition.
B) Because dust blocks visible light, but not infrared light.
The answer is B.
Cosmic dust works as a shield to visible light, so it can not pass through. It gets absorbed by the dust. Luckily for us, dust does not block infrared light and hence these photons can travel right through and eventually reach our JWST telescope.
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