When You Wish Upon A Star Trivia Quiz

Answer: Quasars

Stars are gas balls consisting up to 90% hydrogen and helium. They are the major source of heat and light in a galaxy. Comets and planets are smaller bodies which revolves around a star. Quasars are active galactic nuclei with emit intense radiation from their cores is supposed to be coming out from a supermassive black hole present there. Quasars can't be found in our galaxy. They are likely the brightest object in the whole universe. The nearest quasar is nearly 13 billion light years away from us while diameter our galaxy is just 100000 light years.

Question by Aryan13aks.

Answer: Determining its colour

Blue stars are comparatively hotter than the other stars. Their surface temperature is nearly 5 to 10 times more than our Sun. Some examples of blue stars are Deneb, Rigel etc.

Stars cooler than blue ones are white in colour. Most of the stars we see at night appears white in colour.

Then, comes the yellow stars that looks like our Sun with surface temperature nearly 6000°C.

And at last comes the red one which are coldest one with a surface temperature of nearly 3000°C. Some examples of red stars are Betelgeuse, Aldebaran etc.

The colours of the stars also tell us about their spectral type which is useful for astronomers for studying their composition. For example a star with spectral type O will be blue in colour which will indicates that star is currently rich in hydrogen.

question by ayu29

Answer: Red supergiant

Our Sun is a medium sized star which is currently in main sequence phase. Every star including our Sun starts its life as a protostar which takes birth from a nebula. Our sun is not very massive so in future its fate will be as a white dwarf star. As it is not very massive thus it will never go through the red supergiant stage. Prior to becoming a white dwarf, it will become a red giant, but not a supergiant.

Question by ABHILASHA40

Answer: Red supergiant

Antares is a red supergiant star. This is a late stage and after this stage, stars undergo a supernova explosion. This star is about 500 light years away from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. Its surface temperature is nearly 3500 Kelvin.

Question by ayu29.

Answer: Cetus

Mira A can be found in the constellation Cetus. This star is currently at the red giant stage where it has converted most of its hydrogen into helium. This star is approximately 300 light years away from Earth. This star is a part of binary star system with the white dwarf Mira B.

Question by ayu29.

Answer: Mirzam

Mirzam is also known as beta Canis Majoris. This star can be found at the front part of the constellation Canis Major or the great dog. This star is nearly half a thousand light years away from us. This star weights nearly 15 times of our Sun. Adhara is also a bright star in this constellation.

Question by kiran66.

Answer: Betelgeuse

At a distance of nearly 600 light years from Earth, Betelgeuse is a massive red supergiant star also called Alpha Orionis as it is the brightest star in Orion. Its surface temperature is around 3500K which is nearly half of our Sun's temperature. Its mass is 10000 times that of our sun. If put at the position of the Sun, this star's outer layers would reach beyond Mars' orbit. Astronomers believe that this star will become a supernova in the next 100,000 years.

Question by kiran66.

Answer: Dwarfs

Life expectancy is the statistical measure that how much a body will live. A star's life expectancy can be determined by its mass. If it is massive it will use up its fuel very early and thus its life expectancy will be less than other stars'. A star of low mass will use its fuel slowly and will have higher life expectancy. Thus dwarf stars have a longer life expectancy than giants and hypergiants.

submitted by ayu29

Answer: Neutron stars

Neutron stars are the smallest kind of stars that can be found in the visible universe.Although called a star, it is the dead remainder of the core of a supermassive star that survives after supernova explosion. They have diameter nearly 10 to 30 km only but their mass can be up 3 solar masses. Neutron stars are technically not visible; they are only seen through their side effects when matter falls into them and gives off energy (radiation) in the process.

submitted by kiran66

Answer: A Pulsar

A pulsar is a quickly rotating neutron star. It was discovered by Jocelyn Bell in 1967. A pulsar can only be detected when its magnetic line lies towards the Earth. This type of star has a very high red shift. Red shift occurs when electromagnetic radiation is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum of light due to the source quickly moving away from us. They also resembles cosmic lighthouse as they continuously keep emitting strong radiations. Orientation of pulsars matters as they can not be seen in visible light; one can be detected only when one of its magnetic poles points towards Earth.

submitted by ayu29