GENERAL QUESTIONS ON UNIVERSE
Q1. Who is the first Indian to get a planet named after him?
Dr.Sainuddeen Pattazhi - a professor and environmentallist of Kollam, Quilon, Kerala. Planet 5178, a dwarf planet, discovered by Indian Astronomer R.Rajmohan, of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California, USA, was named after him.
Q2. Which planet is called the Earth's sister planet?
Venus.
Q3. Which is the only planet in the solar system that is not named after any Greek god?
Earth.
Q4. Which planet is geographically similar to Earth?
Mars.
Q5. What are the minor or dwarf planets discovered beyond Pluto?
1. 1992 QBI: 200 Kms in dia, 7.5 billion Kms from the Sun - Discovered on 30.8.1992.
2. QUAOAR: In the Kupier belt beyond Pluto. More details are being collected by the astronomers.
Q6. Who is the famous Indian Astronomer who propounded the theory that there are some more planets beyond Pluto?
J.J.Ramal, Gujarat, India, in 1978. His theory was confirmed by the discoveries later.
Q7. Which is the planet to which scientific expeditions have been undertaken?
Mars.
Q8. When was the first expedition to planet MARS undertaken?
VIKING in 1979.
Q9. When was the last expedition to Mars undertaken?
Spirit - 2004.
Q10. Which planet is in the center of the planets?
Jupiter.
Q11. Which is the largest planet in the solar system?
Jupiter. Saturn is the second largest.
Q12. Which planet is the farthest, slowest,coolest and smallest among planets?
Pluto (Now declassified).
Q13. What is the distribution of satellites to planets?
Earth - 1 (Moon);
Mars - 2;
Neptune - 8;
Uranus -12;
Saturn - 22 and
Jupiter 39.
Q14. Which planet has the maximum number of satellites?
Jupiter - 39.
Q15. What is earth's natural satellite?
Moon.
Q16. When was 6 new satellites identified for the planet Neptune?
August 1989 by the US space exploit Voyager I and II.
Q17. Which is the largest satellite in the solar system?
Ganimede. 5268Km at the equator - larger than Mercury.
Q18. When and who discovered the moon of Jupiter?
Galileo in 1609. The moon of Jupiter is thus named Galilei.
Q19. What special thing did Galileo achieve while discovering the Moons of Jupiter?
He constructed the first astronomical telescope.
Q20. Pluto is the farthest planet in the system. However sometimes Neptune beomes the farthest. When?
When Pluto's path crosses the path of Neptune, it (Neptune) becomes the farthest planet from sun. (this question relates to pre declassification period of Pluto)
Q21. Which are the only two planets of the solar system that rotates the Sun in anti clockwise direction?
Uranus and Venus.
Q22. Which planet has the largest volcano and the largest valley in the solar System?
Mars.
Q23. Who discovered Neptune in 1846 with Telescope?
Johan Galle, (1812-1890) German.
Q24. MESSENGER is a NASA probe satellite launched to which planet?
Mercury.
Q25. Which is the largest known Dwarf Planet?
PLUTO since 2006. (Earlier it was ERIS)
Q26. Which discovery of a stellar body in April 2007 created a flutter in scientific circles?
GLIESE 581 -C :Considered to be the most potentially habitable earth like extra solar planet ever found.
Q27. The recent Europeana Space Agency's probe satellite to Mars is named "ROSETTA". What is Rosetta?
A famous granite variety of Italy.
Q28. Who was the first person to record the VENUS crossing the face of Sun?
Jeremiah Harrocks of UK in 1639.
Q29. Which planet crossed the face of the Sun (in transit) recently, after 122 years?
Venus.
Q30. Which is the northernmost lattitude at which the Sun can appear directly overhead at noon?
Tropic of Cancer.
Q31. What does "Syzygy" mean in relation to planets?
It means that all planets are on the same side of the Sun. It happened in 1982.
Q32. Which planets orbits the Sun at a speed of 11000 Kph?
Earth.
Q33. Which planet is also called the "Horned Planet"?
Venus.
Q34. What is geologic time?
The extensive interval of time occupied by the Earth's geologic history.
Q35. Which Indian world famous mathematician name has been given to one of the Asteroids?
ASTEROID 4130 has been named after the famous mathematician Ramanujan.The asteroid was discovered by Sri R.Rajmohan, an Indian Astronomer working with Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California.
Q36. Where in India we have a large crater caused by a meteorite fall?
Buland Dt of Maharashtra, where the world's largest crater, in Basaltic rock, called LONAR CRATER is located.
Q37. What does "Apogee" mean?
The period during which the moon is at the farthest distance from Sun.
Q38. What does "Aphelion" mean?
The point in its orbit at which a heavenly body or planet is farthest from Sun.
Q39. What does "Cosmic" mean?
A general term that describes anything occurring or located in outer space.
Q40. What is "Exoplanet"?
Extra Solar Planet. A planet that orbits a star other than the Sun.
Q41. What is the speed of light?
186000 miles/299275 Kms per second.
Q42. What is a Light Year?
Distance light travels in a year. It is the astronomical measure of distance.
Q43. What is the unit of measurement in Astronomy?
PARSEC - It is the astronomical distance approximately 3.6 light year.
Q44. What does "NEBULA" mean?
A misty faint patch of light seen in the sky produced by a group of stars, too remote to be seen in isolation.
Q45. What does "Orbit"mean?
The name for the elliptical course of a planet.
Q46. What is the astronomical name for North Star?
Polaris or Pole Star.
Q47. What does "Perhilion" mean?
The period when a planet comes nearest to the Sun.
Q48. When is the 'Perhilion' period of Earth?
January.
Q49. What is a rainbow?
A bow shaped seven coloured band of light called "VIBGYOR" seen in the sky when the Sun shines through a shower of rain. Sunlight is reflected from the inner surface of the rain drops and is reflected twice while entering and leaving.
Q50. Expand "VIBGYOR"?
The arrangement of colours of the rainbow is called so. Technically, the sunlight broken up into its constituent colors which are:Violet Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red. The first letters of the colours make up VIBGYOR.
Q51. What is the brightest star that can be seen unaided in the Sky?
Sirius.
Q52. What does "Terrestrial" mean?
Of the Earth.
Q53. What is the weight of the matter at the center of the Earth?
Zero.
Q54. What is "Aureole"?
A corona of halo round the Sun or Moon.
Q55. What are "Aurora Borealis" and "Aurora Australis"?
A phenomenon of colored lights seen in the sky, mainly in higher altitudes of Northern Hemisphere is Aurora Borealis. Similar phenomenon in the Southern Hemisphere is Aurora Australis.
Q56. Where "Aurora Borealis" occur?
Northern Hemisphere.
Q57. Where does "Aurora Australis" occur?
Southern Hemisphere.
Q58. What is a Spectrum?
The series of coloured bands into which white light is broken up passing through a prism. From the coloured bands, Red has the longest wavelength while violet has the shortest.
Q59. What does "Celestial Bodies" mean?
Every body in space like Sun,Moon,Stars, Planets, Comets, Asteroid etc.
Q60. When and by whom world's first telescope was built?
In 1608, by Dutch optician Hans Lippershey.
Q61. Where is Mauna Loa Observatory and what is unique about it?
Hawai'I, USA.. It is on a 11000 feet high volcanic mountain with a very powerful telescope.
Q62. What is the name of the telescope in orbit?
Hubble Telescope. It is about 600 Kms above earth's surface. Named after the famous astronomer Edwin Hubble (see famous astronomers).
Q63. Who predicted the existence of Planet Neptune, purely on mathematical calculations, and later in 1846 it was actually discovered?
John Couch Adams of Britain.
Q64. Did Edmund Halley discover the comet named after him?
No. He actually predicted that a comet that appeared earlier in 1456,1531, 1607 and 1682 would appear again in 1758 and it did appear so exactly. He did not live to see its appearance. Still, because of his accurate predictions, the comet was named after him.
Q65. Who was the first to predict the presence of Planet Pluto which was later discovered by Tombaugh in 1930? (Now it is declassified)
Percival Lowell of USA.
Q66. Who was the first to record the transit of Mercury?
Charles Messier of France in 1753.
Q67. Who was the first to discover the first asteroid CERES?
Giuseppe Piazza - Italy - 1801.
Q68. Who is considered as the father of Indian Astronomy?
Arya Bhatta. (476-550 CE)
Q69. Which Indian astronomer was a strong advocate of the "Steady State Theory" regarding origin of Universe?
Jayant Narlikkar, Maharashtra,.
Q70. From which observatory the 0* prime or Greenwich Meridian is accounted?
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London.
Q71. The length of day and night is equal throughout the year at?
Equator.
Q72. Who located the magnetic pole?
Sir James Clark and Sir John Ross.
Q73. Which planet was subjected to a vast cosmic collision that left a dark scar, the size of the Earth on its surface recently?
Jupiter.
Q74. "PHOBOS" a satellite/Moon of mars was discovered by?
Aspah Hall, American Astronomer in 1877. (1829-1907)
Q75. Which planet crossed the face of the Sun in transit, after 122 years recently?
Venus.
Q76. When is the day of equal length all over earth?
When the Sun is vertically above the Equator.
Q77. Which is the only planet in our solar system that is less dense than water?
Saturn.
Q78. A number of asteroids, dwarf planets and planets have been named after Indian personalities. Who are they?
| Sl. | Name | Planets/Asteroids |
|---|
| 1. | Hamsa Padmanabhan | 21575 -- ""Hamsa"" |
| 2. | Sainuddin Pattazhi | 5178 -- No.DC 4 |
| 3. | Vishnu Jayanaprakash | 25620 -- ""Jayaprakash"" |
| 4. | Anish Mukherjee | 2000 AH 52 -- 25629 ""Mukherjee"" |
| 5. | Debarghya Sarkar | 2000 AT 53 -- 25630 ""Sarkar"" |
| 6. | Hetal Vaishnav | 25636 -- ""Vaishnav"" |
| 7. | Akshat Singhal | 12599 -- ""Singhal"" |
| 8. | Madhav Pathak | 12509 -- ""Pathak"" |
| 9. | Viswanathan Anand | 4538 -- ""Vishyanand"" |
| 10. | Ramanujan | 4130 -- ""Ramanujan"" " |
