# The dumbest astronomy quiz EVER! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 1, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363 "2003-05-01T13:14:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/21 "2003-05-01T17:11:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Futile Gesture \* > \*\*Constellations??? That’s astrology isn’t it? And it’s a totally arbitary figure. Is there an official body that defines constellations? I don’t think so! I can draw a line between two stars in my head and there, it’s another constellation. Stupid question. > > 9/10. > > But I do know intelligent people who really know zip about astronomy. Couldn’t even list the planets, never mind put them in order. \*\* Actually it isn’t arbitrary. The IAU defines 88 non-overlapping regions of the sky to be constellations. It was originally done to help in mapping or locating celestial objects, but there are now a few different ways of specifying celestial locations. I always remember the number of constellations is equal to the number of piano keys. FWIW ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/22 "2003-05-01T17:16:17Z")
Hey, I got 10/10. This’ll sure impress my teachers! No seriously, both amateur and profressional astronomers do use constellations. It’s how we know where stuff is. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to find a lot of astronomers who don’t know how many constellations there are. Some of these I would expect everyone to know, but there are a lot of facts that, simple though they are, not everyone is introduced to. So, I don’t think 4/10 is indicative of anything except not knowing astronomy. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/23 "2003-05-01T18:20:36Z")
“Fretful Porpentine, if you ever get a chance to see a total solar eclipse, do it! You’ll really grok what that “apparent size” thing is about. The moon exactly covers the solar disk - and no more. It’s amazing, even though it is just coincidence.” Not exactly, I have to point out. There is a great degree of variability in the apparent size between the sun and moon due to the eccentricity of both the earth’s orbit around the sun, and the moon’s orbit around the earth. At times, the angular size of the moon is quite smaller than the sun. Do a google search for “annular eclipse” to see tons of examples. All too often this (“exactly…”) is stated as a literal fact, which results in me often seeing people doing the “Wow, quite a coincidence huh? A mighty mighty suspicious coincidence _cough_ God _cough_…” when in fact their respective angular sizes change constantly. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/24 "2003-05-01T18:28:22Z")
Thanks for the information on “apparent size”; I didn’t realize it had a technical meaning. However, the quiz doesn’t actually use the phrase “apparent size” – what it says is _“which appears larger?”_. It sure sounds to me like they’re asking about perception. (Mine, evidently, is skewed.) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/25 "2003-05-01T18:33:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MonkeyMensch \* > \*\*Actually it isn’t arbitrary. The IAU defines 88 non-overlapping regions of the sky to be constellations. It was originally done to help in mapping or locating celestial objects, but there are now a few different ways of specifying celestial locations. > > I always remember the number of constellations is equal to the number of piano keys. FWIW \*\* Just so **Coldie** doesn’t feel too bad, I missed 2. Got the constellation one wrong (exactly _because_ there are 88 piano keys. I figured that they were trying to trick me by using a familiar number, and 12 is not enough (although eight, surprisingly, is)). Also missed the sun/moon apparent size one because I didn’t take time to think about it. I think my five and seven year old kids would have got most of the other ones correct, though. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/26 "2003-05-01T18:46:45Z")
Floored one easy question by clicking the wrong button :smack: … like I haven’t known the order of the planets since the late 1960s. Number of planets? Well, the jury’s still out on Quauor or however it’s spelled, then. _cough_God_cough_… still a bit of a bloody coincidence that they’re close enough to get for-real total eclipses, yesno? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zenham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a5b964/32.png) [@Zenham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenham)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/27 "2003-05-01T18:49:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Barbarian \* > **Sadly, I know people who don’t realize the earth revolves around the sun once a year…** Now that’s silly. Everyone KNOWS the Earth revolves around AMERICA! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/28 "2003-05-01T19:00:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Malacandra \* > \*\* > Number of planets? Well, the jury’s still out on Quauor or however it’s spelled, then. > \*\* Its been classified as a Kpier Belt Object, or KBO, last I heard. Its putting Pluto’s status as a planet into question, since if we class Quauor as a KBO, then, technically, Pluto should be too… > [@](#): > > _coughGodcough_… still a bit of a bloody coincidence that they’re close enough to get for-real total eclipses, yesno? 😃 \*\* Yes - its an amazing coincidence, don’t ask me how or why, it just is. 😃 And as for evidence for God, er, this could rapidly turn into a GD 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/29 "2003-05-01T19:04:51Z")
D’oh! Looks like I don’t know jack about constellations either. As for the rest of those questions, I would have been able to easily these questions back when I was seven. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/30 "2003-05-01T20:17:42Z")
Swish! 10/10! Yay, me!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/31 "2003-05-01T21:01:19Z")
Ten out of ten. Breezed through the whole quiz in 30 seconds. Can I be a Bad Astronomer now, too? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/32 "2003-05-01T21:13:48Z")
10/10. How ya like me now!!! The quiz was laughably easy, although there were one or two headscratchers due to the poor wording of the questions. In addition to the problems already mentioned by other posters, Question 5–What planet’s orbit takes it farthest from the Sun?–has both Pluto and Neptune as possible answers. Because Pluto’s orbit crosses Neptune’s, they can both be the correct answer, depending on their relative positions. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/33 "2003-05-01T21:24:46Z")
I missed #2, because I was looking for a choice that said, "Billions and Billions . . . " 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/34 "2003-05-01T21:33:45Z")
9 out of 10. Some of them seemed more situational. I think a waxing moon looks a lot larger than the sun, but that would be a trick of the eye with the night sky, I suppose. I was almost thrown for a loop with the how many stars in the solar system though. Tricky Tricky. Well not really. ---
**Author:** ![Sengkelat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Sengkelat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sengkelat)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/35 "2003-05-01T22:17:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gobear \* > \*\*Question 5–What planet’s orbit takes it farthest from the Sun?–has both Pluto and Neptune as possible answers. Because Pluto’s orbit crosses Neptune’s, they can both be the correct answer, depending on their relative positions. \*\* I’d say “takes it farthest from the sun” is fairly specific. One or the other may be further away at any given time, but the one that gets _farthest_ away is Pluto. I was unsure of the 9 or 10 planet question, because I knew there had been some large rocks discovered out there, but chose 9 as it’s the “traditional” answer. And I flubbed the question about the number of constellations, though I was very close to picking 88. Oh well, my intellect has not been validated by MSN. I’m of the opinion that everyone should be able to get most of these questions, because everyone should be sufficiently well rounded to know at least a little astronomy. But, I rankle at the fact that I was made to read Thomas Mann in college, so perhaps I’m just a big hypocrite. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/36 "2003-05-01T22:23:18Z")
10/10. Not that it means anything, since the quiz is fairly simple. ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/37 "2003-05-01T22:26:56Z")
7 out of 10. I misread the number of stars one, and was thinking they were talking about our galaxy, not solar system. So I answered too many to count. I thought the moon looked bigger sometimes. Maybe because it’s hard to look directly at the sun and judge the size well. Oh well. I thought about the eclipse thing and figured that meant it was at least the same size or bigger. And I didn’t know the sun was a middle-size star. I thought it was small. I’m beneath most of you… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/38 "2003-05-01T22:41:37Z")
10 out of 10 here. Thank goodness… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/39 "2003-05-01T22:50:29Z")
10/10 here. Easiest quiz ever. I just know someone out there got 0/10. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363/40 "2003-05-01T23:34:27Z")
The apparent diameters of the moon and sun are roughly the same, not _exactly_ the same and they both vary continually. In [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3321483#post3321483) I posted the range of semidiameters of both moon and sun and you can see they oscillate in a wide range [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dumbest-astronomy-quiz-ever/172363.md?page=3)