The Astro, etc. Quiz

Presented by Vidyuth

GENERAL INFO

• 24 questions on infinite bounce• +10 for direct and pass• LVC at mid-point• No audio/video questions• Question contributors: Myself, 2D and

Rammohan

1• Zeus, Percival and Constance were some of the

names considered for this, but were eventually disregarded. On 14 March 1930, Falconer Madan, a former librarian at the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, read a bit of news in The Times. During the course of a conversation with his granddaughter Venetia Burney, an eleven-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford, who was interested in classical mythology as well as astronomy, she suggested a name. And it stuck. What did Venetia name?

Pluto

"At my age, I've been largely indifferent to [the debate]; though I suppose I would prefer

it to remain a planet."

2. Identify

The Galle Crater

or the Smiley Face crater, as it appears in the graphic novel Watchmen

3• X‘s book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the

Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), published just before his death in 1543, is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the scientific revolution. On July 14, 2009, the discoverers, from the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Germany, of chemical element 112 (temporarily named ununbium) proposed that its permanent name be X-ium. "After we had named elements after our city and our state, we wanted to make a statement with a name that was known to everyone," said discovery team leader Sigurd Hofmann. "We didn't want to select someone who was a German. We were looking world-wide." X?

Nicolaus Copernicus

4

• According to legend, during the Samudra manthan, the asura X drank some of the divine nectar. But before the nectar could pass his throat, Mohini (the female avatar of Vishnu) cut off his head. The head, however, remained immortal. Hanuman, in his childhood, famously flew towards the sun, as it appeared to be a big fruit. X arrived and saw Hanuman trying to swallow the sun; little Hanuman, seeing X, was attracted to the curiosity of the disembodied head, and caught him. X?

Rahu

• According to Hindu belief, Rahu is a snake that swallows the sun and the moon, causing eclipses.

5. Identify the logo

6• The first known mention of the term

Panspermia was in the writings of the 5th century BC Greek philosopher Anaxagoras. In the nineteenth century it was again revived in modern form by several scientists, including Berzelius, Kelvin, Helmholtz and Arrhenius. There is as yet no evidence to support or contradict Panspermia, although the majority view holds that it is unlikely. Simple question. What is Panspermia?

It is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe, distributed by meteoroids, asteroids,

and planetoids. Panspermia does not necessarily suggest that life originated only once and

subsequently spread through the entire Universe, but instead that once started, it may be able to

spread to other environments suitable for replication.

7• Richard Hinckley Allen lists many folk names for

the X. The English ones include: Jacob's Rod or Staff; Peter's Staff; the Golden Yard-arm; the Ell; the Yard-wand; the Ellwand; Our Lady's Wand; the Magi; the Three Kings; the Three Marys; or simply the Three Stars.

• The passage "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of ____?" is found in the Book of Job.

• Identify.

Orion’s Belt

8. Alternative designs of what?

Flag of Mars (as approved by the Mars Society)

9. Objectives of what?1. Determine the three-dimensional structure and

dynamic behaviour of the rings of Saturn2. Determine the composition of the satellite surfaces and

the geological history of each object3. Determine the nature and origin of the dark material

on Iapetus's leading hemisphere4. Measure the three-dimensional structure and dynamic

behaviour of the magnetosphere5. Study the dynamic behaviour of

Saturn's atmosphere at cloud level6. Study the time variability of Titan's clouds and hazes7. Characterize Titan's surface on a regional scale

Cassini-Huygens Mission

Giovanni Cassini Christiaan Huygens

10• X’s most important scientific contribution may

be his idea that geostationary satellites would be ideal telecommunications relays. He described this concept in a paper titled Extra-Terrestrial Relays — Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?, published 1945. The geostationary orbit is now sometimes known as the X Orbit or the X Belt in his honour. X?

Sir Arthur C. Clarke

11. Specs of?• Mass: 1,380 kg at launch, 675 kg at lunar orbit, and 523 kg after

releasing the impactor.• Dimensions: Cuboid in shape, approximately 1.5 m• Power: Mainly powered by its solar array, which includes one solar

panel covering a total area of 2.15 x 1.8 m generating 750 W of peak power, which is stored in a 36 A·h lithium-ion battery for use during eclipses.

• Propulsion: Bipropellant integrated propulsion system to reach lunar orbit as well as orbit and altitude maintenance while orbiting the Moon. The power plant consists of one 440 N engine and eight 22 N thrusters. Fuel and oxidizer are stored in two tanks of 390 litres each.

• Navigation and control: The craft is 3-axis stabilized with two star sensors, gyros and four reaction wheels. The craft carries dual redundant bus management units for attitude control, sensor processing, antenna orientation, etc.

Chandrayaan

12. Identify

Laika

LVC

RULES

• 6 sets• Number of pictures in each set will vary• Point scheme will be mentioned in each slide• Non-exhaustive list

SET 1 (+30, -5)

SET 2 (+25, -10)

SET 3 (+20, -15)

SET 4 (+15, -20)

SET 5 (+10, -25)

6 (+5, -30)

Moons of planets in the Solar System

• Set 1: Moons of Mars (Phobos and Deimos)• Set 2: Moons of Saturn (named after many

Shakespearean plays and Rape of the Lock, a poem by Alexander Pope)

• Set 3: Moons of Neptune (Triton and Nereid)• Set 4: Moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa and Ganymede)• Set 5: Moons of Saturn (Titan, Pandora and

Phoebe)• Set 6: Earth (Luna)

13. Written by whom?• Beyond

The rim of the star-lightMy loveIs wand'ring in star-flightI knowHe'll find in star-clustered reachesLove,Strange love a star woman teaches.I knowHis journey ends neverHis _______Will go on forever.But tell himWhile he wanders his starry seaRemember, remember me.

Gene Roddenberry

14

• Mark Twain was born on 30 November 1835, exactly two weeks after X. In his autobiography, published in 1909, he said, “I came in with X in 1835. ... It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with X. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.’” Identify.

Halley’s Comet

15. Connect

Hubble Space Telescope

• L – Lyman Spitzer, “Father of the Space Telescope”. HST is based on one of his papers (1946)

• R - American astronomer Edwin Hubble, after whom the telescope is named

16. What am I talking about?Colour Arm(s)

cyan Perseus Arm

purple Norma and Outer arm (Along with a newly discovered extension)

green Scutum–Centaurus Arm

pink Carina–Sagittarius Arm

There are at least two smaller arms or spurs, including:

orange Orion-Cygnus arm

The arms of the Milky Way

We (supposedly) live in the Orion-Cygnus Arm.

17• X's most notable work was the astrophysical Y, which

describes the maximum mass of a white dwarf star, ~1.44 solar masses, or equivalently, the minimum mass, above which a star will ultimately collapse into a black hole. Y was first calculated in 1930 during X’s maiden voyage to Cambridge, England for his graduate studies. 53 years later, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his studies on the physical processes important to the structure and evolution of stars. He accepted this honour, but was upset that the citation mentioned only his earliest work, seeing it as a denigration of a lifetime's achievement. Identify.

The Chandrasekhar Limit

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar

18• The man in the picture on the next slide is widely

regarded as one of the doyens of Indian industry. He was admired not only for his contributions to industrial productivity and technological advancement, but also for his social commitments. Despite his many preoccupations as a captain of industry, he found the time and energy to initiate pioneering projects for scientific research, education, health and social welfare. There are three famous ______’s named after him, located in three different places in India. Identify.

BM Birla

The Birla Planetariums in Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai. The one in Chennai is said to be

the most modern in India, while the one in Hyderabad hosts a Dinosorium as well.

19. Who, about whom?

• "To me, my sister is not dead. She is immortal. Isn't that what a star is? She is a permanent star in the sky. She will always be up there where she belongs."

Sanjay Chawla, on Kalpana Chawla

20• The X is a method of measuring a civilization's level

of technological advancement. It is only theoretical and in terms of an actual civilization highly speculative; however, it puts energy consumption of an entire civilization in a cosmic perspective. It was first proposed in 1964 and has three designated categories called Type I, II, and III, which are based on the amount of usable energy a civilization has at its disposal, and the degree of space colonization.

• In general terms, a Type I civilization has achieved mastery of the resources of its home planet, Type II of its solar system, and Type III of its galaxy.

• The human civilization as of 2010 is currently somewhere around 0.72, with calculations suggesting we may attain Type I status in about 100–200 years, Type II status in a few thousand years, and Type III status in about 100,000 to a million years.

• Identify.

Kardashev Scale

Nikolai Kardashev

• The three levels of the X can be quantified in units of power (watts) and plotted on an increasing logarithmic scale.

• Type I — a civilization that is able to harness all of the power available on a single planet — has approximately 1016 or 1017 W available. Earth specifically has an available power of 1.74 × 1017 W.

• Type II — a civilization that is able to harness all of the power available from a single star, approximately 4 × 1026 W. Again, this figure is variable; the Sun outputs approximately 3.86 × 1026 W.

• Type III — a civilization that is able to harness all of the power available from a single galaxy, approximately 4 × 1037 W. This figure is extremely variable, since galaxies vary widely in size; the stated figure is the approximate power output of the Milky Way.

21. Significance of the picture?

Image of the “entire universe”

An all-sky image taken by a telescope on the Planck satellite and released by the European Space Agency. It captures the ‘ghost of the Big

Bang’ and is of the afterglow of the birth of the universe, which happened around 14

billion years ago. The image depicts the Milky Way, lots of cosmic dust and a ‘galactic web’ where new stars are, or were, being formed.

Or so the scientists say.

22. Identify the logo

23

• Not really an astro-related question, but anyway.• For the 20th anniversary of the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-

Terrestrial, Steven Spielberg, being more sensitive about a particular scene in the original version of the film, used special effects to replace something that was present in that scene with something else in the re-release. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone criticized Spielberg’s move, saying “Is this what two decades have done to free speech?”

• What did Spielberg do?

• Spielberg became more sensitive about the scene where gun-wielding federal agents threaten Elliott and his escaping friends; he digitally replaced the guns with walkie-talkies.

24. Connect(recent news)

Something to be proud of • Jayaprakash, Mukherjee, Sarkar and Vaishnav are some of the new

minor planets named after Indian students who became eligible for the honour by virtue of their performance at an international school science fair organised by microchip maker Intel.

• Debarghya Sarkar and Anish Mukherjee, both from South Point High School, Kolkata, jointly won the award in the electrical and mechanical engineering category for inventing a tamperproof clamped bottle cap.

• Hetal Vaishnav, a Class XII student of Late Shree S. G. Dholakiya Memorial High School in Rajkot, created composite material using non- recyclable multilayered and metallised plastic used for packaging wafers and chewing tobacco.

• Vishnu Jayaprakash, a Class XII student of Chettinad Vidyashram, Chennai, demonstrated a microbial fuel cell that runs on cow dung and inexpensive graphite electrodes.

As always, so long, and thanks for all the fish.