Really Outta This World Quiz

Answer: Solar eclipse

A solar eclipse can be either full or partial. On average, there are about 2.4 solar eclipses per year, but they can be seen only from certain areas. A total eclipse could be happening somewhere right now, and you would be unaware of it if you were not in its path. A solar eclipse can only happen when there is a new moon.

Answer: Meteor showers

Meteor showers occur when the Earth's orbit passes through the debris trail left by a comet. Most meteors are caused by tiny particles no bigger than a grain of sand. Because they are traveling at great speeds, they encounter friction from the Earth's atmosphere and burn up.

There are dozens of annual meteor showers, but some produce more meteors than others. Two of the most impressive displays are the Perseids, which occur in mid-August, and the Geminids in mid-December. Meteor showers are named for the constellation from which the meteors appear to radiate.

Answer: Supernova

The word "nova" comes from that Latin meaning "new." In ancient times, astronomers would sometimes observe a new star where none had been before. They called them "novas," or "new stars." They would shine brightly for a while, and then dim. If the explosion is especially bright, it may be called a "supernova." The most recent supernova easily visible to the naked eye happened in 1604; called "Kepler's Nova," it was visible in the daytime sky for over three weeks.

Answer: Comet

A comet derives its name from a Greek word meaning "hairy star." They are believed to be composed of a mixture of rocks and frozen gasses. As a comet nears the sun, some of the gasses evaporate and form a long "tail" which may stretch across a large portion of the sky.

Some comets, such as Halley's Comet, return periodically, and are known as "short-period" comets. Others have more elongated orbits, and are seen only once, not to return for thousands or even millions of years. One recent really spectacular comet to be seen from Earth was the Hale-Bopp Comet, which was visible to the naked eye for 18 months in 1996 and 1997. Comets are usually named for their discoverers.

Answer: Conjunction

Two, three, or even more planets may seem to be very close together in the sky at certain times. Some astronomers believe that the "Star of Bethlehem" mentioned in the Bible was actually a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn.

Answer: Grand syzygy

Syzygy is a good word to know if you play Scrabble. A syzygy is the term for "a straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies in a gravitational system." A "grand syzygy" is when the Earth and all of the planets are located on the same side of the sun, although they may not be in exact alignment. All sorts of doomsday predictions were made concerning this event; one book, "The Jupiter Effect," predicted a massive earthquake along the San Andreas fault. Of course, none of the predictions came true. If this sort of thing worries you, the next "grand syzygy" will not happen until May 19, 2161 when all the planets except Pluto (which is no longer considered a planet) will be within 69 degrees of each other.

Answer: Binary stars

Binary stars are what we call the phenomenon of two stars orbiting around one center of mass. The brighter is referred to as the "primary" or "Alpha" star in the pair. There are also higher-order groupings of stars, called multiple star systems. It is estimated that about one-third of the stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, belong to binary star systems. If you have very good eyesight, you can observe a binary star system in the constellation Ursa Major, commonly known as the "Big Dipper." The second star from the end of the handle is called Mizar; it has a faint companion star known as Alcor, which is just visible to the naked eye.

Answer: Asteroids

For a long time astronomers were puzzled by the absence of a planet between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. We now know that there are thousands of small bodies in orbit there, in what we call the asteroid belt. The largest asteroid, Ceres, is about 590 miles in diameter; it is now classified as a dwarf planet. Ceres was discovered in 1801. For half a century Ceres, and other large asteroids, were classified as planets, but in 1851 they were demoted and called asteroids, the name we still use today. On very rare occasions, Ceres and other large asteroids are just visible to the naked eye, and can easily be seen through a pair of good binoculars.

Answer: Black holes

Speculations about "black holes" dates back to the 18th century. Einstein's theory of general relativity revived interest in black holes, since it showed that light could be affected by gravity. Black holes are formed by the collapse of supermassive stars, and most astronomers believe that there are black holes at the center of most galaxies, including our own Milky Way.

Answer: Aurora Borealis

The term comes from the Latin "aurora" meaning "dawn," and "borealis" meaning "northern." The Northern Lights usually appear as a flickering sheet of green light (more rarely, red or blue light) in the northern sky. They are caused by ionized particles emitted by the sun reacting with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the earth's atmosphere.

They are most commonly seen near the North Pole, but can sometimes be seen much further south; for example, the Northern Lights were seen over the battlefield at Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1862.

A similar phenomenon, the Aurora Australis, is observed in the southern hemisphere.