Spacing Out Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Eris and Ceres are both dwarf planets, those which don't meet the description of a planet, mainly due to their size. Eris was discovered in 2005 and given the name of the mythical goddess of strife. It has one known moon, called Dysnomia. It is called a Trans-Neptunian object as it is located further from the Sun than the planet Neptune. Ceres was identified much earlier, as it is closer to Earth, located between Mars and Jupiter. It was believed to be another planet when it was discovered in 1801, then downgraded to an asteroid before it was given the name of dwarf planet. It is the only dwarf planet known to exist so close to Earth - the others all lie further out than Neptune.

A red dwarf is the name given to a certain type of star, the smallest and hardest to see of the main types of star. The Milky Way is the galaxy in which Earth and the other planets are situated, the region called the solar system. The name comes from how the galaxy appears from Earth, as a long string of light which has a hazy, or milky, appearance. 'Red Dwarf' is also the name of a television series and Milky Way can also mean a chocolate bar - Galaxy and Mars are two other names which could have misled you.

Nebulae, the plural version of nebula, are the regions of space where stars are formed. They are a collection of cosmic dust and hydrogen. They are often given names by astronomers who see a resemblance to Earth items. The Cats-Eye Nebula is part of the constellation Draco (the dragon) and was discovered by William Herschel in 1786. It looks a bit like an eye, with some bright spots in the middle. Other famous nebulae are the Eagle Nebula and the Tarantula Nebula.

The Kuiper Belt is a region of space beyond Neptune. It contains numerous frozen fragments and is where some of the moons of the Solar System may have originated. It is also where many of the dwarf planets, such as Haumea and Pluto, are situated. Betelgeuse is a very bright star, called a red supergiant, which is found in the constellation of Orion. Meteor showers occur when a large number of meteors are seen together at the same time. Their pathways through the sky look like water falling, giving them their name. Famous meteor showers, which appear at regular intervals, are the Perseids and Geminids.

Constellations are a collection of stars seen in the night sky which have been given names as their shape reminded people from Ancient Greece of figures from myth or other items. There are eighty-eight constellations recognised now, with names such as Aries, named for the ram, and Corvus, which is called after the crow. Olympus Mons is the name given to a very tall volcano on the planet Mars. It is estimated to be two and a half times higher than Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth.

The incorrect choices are an aeroplane, called the de Havilland Comet - comets are real space objects but the 'plane wouldn't have reached space. The Bernese is a breed of dog and Wispa is another chocolate bar, but this one didn't get its name from a space object. The Zambezi Belt is a mountain area in Africa and Vesuvius is a volcano in Italy. April shower refers to the periods of rain which are common to that month (in the norther hemisphere) and space doesn't have a blue hole, just numerous black holes. Blue holes are found in the oceans or other bodies of water, and are like sink holes.