Astronomy Quiz -2016 Amateur Astronomy Quiz - NITK Surathkal

1. CODEX ASTRONOMICA
ANSWERS

2. Prelims!
 20 Questions
 No negatives. Intelligent guesswork will be key!
 Questions marked * are tie breakers.

3. 1.
Lyrics of the song "X Domine”, by British psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd,
“Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda and Titania.
Neptune, Titan, Stars can frighten.
Lime and limpid green, a second scene
A fight between the blue you once knew.”
ID X ?

4. Ans: ASTRONOMY DOMINE (:p)

5. 2.
After the Apollo 1 fire, NASA needed to rebuild its devastated Apollo
program. They approached Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, for
permission to use X as their mascot for safety, and he agreed.
The Silver X award is now a special honor awarded to NASA
employees and contractors for outstanding achievements related to
human flight safety or mission success.

6. Ans: SNOOPY

7. 3. Put Funda

8. Ans: Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

9. 4. On what occasion was this doodle released?

10. Ans: NASA’s Juno in Jupiter’s Orbit

11. 5.
Mythological stories help us understand many things, for eg, the
constellations A and B ; having peculiar red gaints Betelguese and
Antares in them. Greeks say B killed A , thus A hides from B. Chinese
say the two red giants are rival brothers who don’t even see each
others face. This leads to the conclusion that A and B are never in the
sky together since they’re diametrically opposite to each other. ID A
and B.

12. Ans:
A – Orion
B - Scorpio

13. *6.
So if you see him you might be in for a big surprise,
He'll turn into an X before your very eyes
He's slimy, freaky, fast and strong, he's every shape and size
He's Y. Id X and Y.

14. Ans:
X – Alien
Y - Ben 10

15. 7.
X received powers from seven gurus who trained and blessed him
with "yogic shakti which was natural power.” He was the chosen
warrior against evil by siddha gurus of a cult named Suryavanshi.
They are followers of the star Sun. As part of training, he trained with
Kundalini Yoga to awake the 7 chakras of body and gain 'supernatural'
powers from them. To gain complete control over his powers he
performed the ritual of death. However, this did not cause death but
made him more alive than when he was a normal man. Who?

16. Shaktimaan

17. 8. Put Funda
From Star Wars : Vader, Skywalker and Leia Organa.
From Star Trek: Spock, Kirk, Sulu and Uhura.
From Doctor Who: Tardis and Gallifrey.
From Alien: Ripley and Nostromo.
From Firefly: Serenity
From Lord of The Rings: Mordor

18. Ans:
Features of Pluto named
after characters/references
from movies and tv shows

19. 9.
The Planetary Nebula X, approximately 5000 light years away from the Earth
is the coolest place in the known universe, having a temperature of 1K.
It was discovered by Keith Taylor and Mike Scarrott in 1980 after observing it
with a large ground-based telescope in Australia.
Unable to see the detail that only Hubble can reveal, the astronomers saw
merely a slight asymmetry in the nebula's lobes suggesting a curved shape
like an X,
and hence the name. However, The high-resolution Hubble images indicate
that 'the Bow tie Nebula' would perhaps have been a better name.
(If you don't get the answer don't fret, it will come back to you eventually :P)

20. Ans:
Boomerang
Nebula

21. 10.
Sheldon to Penny: "Just like X's Y, your potential relationship with
Leonard right now can be thought of as both good and bad. It is only
by opening the box that you’ll find out which it is."

22. Ans: Schrodinger’s Cat

23. *11.
Connect .
The Rape of the Lock- Ariel, Umbriel, Belinda
 A Midsummer Night’s Dream- Titania, Puck
 Hamlet - Ophelia
 As You Like It - Rosalind
 The Taming of the Shrew – Bianca

24. Ans: Moons of Uranus named after literary
characters

25. 12.
‘What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn off
the last robot?’
This simple idea led to a movie that ranks first in TIME’s “Best Movies
of the decade”.
Which Movie?

26. Ans: Wall - E

27. *13.

28. Ans: Pluto

29. 14.
Rocks that rain, spend energy in vain
Air is our hero, that protects you again.
Moon is the traitor, hides them so well
Oh Leo , oh Perseus just why did they fell
This poem depicts a phenomenon easily observable during certain
fixed periods.
What ?

30. Ans: Meteor Showers

31. 15.
This 1965 USSR 10 kopek stamp commemorates what first in the
history of space exploration

32. Ans: First Spacewalk by Alexei Lienov

33. 16.
X is a 2011 sci-fi novel written by Andy Weir. It’s about an American
astronaut stranded on another planet in the year 2035. Ridley Scott adapted
it into a movie having the same title. ID X.

34. Ans: The Martian

35. *17. ID

36. Ans: S Chandrashekaran
(The Chandrashekaran limit in white dwarfs is
named after him)

37. *18. Which enigmatic personality narrated these two
documentaries?

38. Benedict Cumberbatch

39. 19.
Doug Bower and Dave Charley, known as “Doug and Dave” are famous for
hoaxes of X.
In 1991, the duo came out and announced that they had made hundreds of
X since 1978. To prove that they were responsible, they filmed themselves
for the BBC making one with a rope-and-plank contraption.
Colin Andrews, cereologist and author of the book, Circular Evidence,
admits that about 80% of X are probably man made, but says that the other
20% are probably the work of some “higher force”.

40. Ans: Crop Circles

41. *20.
X is defined as the action of passing through or across a place.
In internet terminology, X is one of two mechanisms by which Internet
traffic is exchanged between Internet service providers.
In astronomy, X is the apparent motion of one celestial body across
the face of another celestial body or meridian.
What is X ?

42. Ans: Transit