How I Wonder What You Are! Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1

The solar system has one star, the sun. It has eight orbiting planets.
A star is a luminous object, i.e. one that can produce light, while planets are not.
Stars are too hot for solid matter or life to exist on them. We constantly search for other solar systems in space for we believe that life can only exist on planetary objects.

Answer: Astronomers

Astronomy involves observation and mapping of the skies. Significant astronomical results can also be achieved by amateur astronomers using simple telescopes at home, but nowadays it usually involves advanced equipment and instruments which can also be sent into space.
Astrophysicists are scientists who research fields such as the birth of stars and the processes they undergo throughout their lives.
As for astrology, although it has the name of a science, it is not considered one anymore. Astrology tries to connect the manner in which stars are arranged at a given time to several aspects of life on earth.

Answer: Gasoline

Hydrogen, helium and carbon are examples of stellar nuclear fuel. While it is true that the nuclei of elements repel each other, the self-gravity of a star's matter results in heating its core to a point where this repulsion is overcome and nuclear fusion takes place.

These reactions produce the star's visible light. All stars initially burn hydrogen, but not all will continue to burn heavier elements. The factor which dictates this is the mass of the star's core.

Answer: false

On the contrary, our sun is a light star. We know stars which are hundreds of times heavier. Our sun's mass is too small for it to achieve carbon ignition, and it is expected to end its life as a cold white dwarf (a long, long time from now, though!).

Answer: Burn forever

The nuclear fuel of a star is finite and as such finishes burning at a certain stage. What happens in the next phase is determined by conditions within the star's core (e.g. temperature, mass, pressure). Expansion (e.g. "red giant"), cooling down (e.g "white dwarf") and explosion (e.g. "supernova") are three options thoroughly covered by stellar evolution theory.

Answer: The sun's surface is not solid

The sun is a huge ball of gas - mostly hydrogen and a little helium. Its surface temperature is about 6000 degrees celsius, and its core temperature is in the millions of degrees. The state of matter in stars is known as plasma - basically a soup of electrons and protons.
The sun is indeed far from earth (about 150 million km) but even at the speeds achieved today it would take just a few years to get to it.

Answer: Binary stars

Systems of binary stars are common in our universe. Planet Jupiter is nearly three-quarters of the sun's mass. If it were a tad heavier it would also become a star and we could have had a bi-solar system ourselves - a system with two suns.
The wrong options count several stellar configurations of a far larger scale in space and time - constellations, clusters and galaxies.

Answer: More than a billion

The universal number of stars is unfathomable. A single galaxy of stars, such as our Milky Way, contains a few billion stars. The number of galaxies in the universe is also estimated to be in the billions.

Answer: Because light takes time to travel

The night sky is an amazing collage of space and time.
Light travels in a vacuum at a staggering speed of about 300,000km/hr. For example, our sun is at a distance of about 150,000,000km. This means that a ray of light that leaves the sun's surface now will reach us in about 8 minutes and 20 seconds. Hence, we now see the sun 8 minutes and 20 seconds ago.
Most stars are much more distant. So distant that we see them hundreds, thousands and millions of years ago. Some of them are likely to have ended their lives during that time.

Answer: Earth's atmosphere

Earth's atmosphere is comprised of gas with variant density and temperature. As starlight passes through it, it slightly changes its speed and its direction which results in twinkling.