Solar System
Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930, this celestial body was declared the ninth planet until 2006, when it was demoted by the International Astronomical Union.
What is Pluto?
To an astrophysicist, most of the elements on the periodic table are "heavy metals", with the exception of these two, which make up the majority of most stars.
What are hydrogen and helium?
The Milky Way is this type of galaxy, categorized by its shape.
What is a barred spiral? (Spiral is acceptable)
This number is estimated to be the age of the universe.
What is 13.8 billion years?
In 1969, this became the first space mission to land humans on the moon.
What is Apollo 11?
This is the process by which hydrogen is turned into helium, generating the energy that powers a star.
What is nuclear fusion?
This galaxy is the closest large galaxy to the Milky Way and it is estimated that it will collide with the Milky Way in 4-5 billion years.
What is the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)?
Supported by the expanding nature of the universe, this theory describes how the universe originated.
What is the Big Bang?
Carrying two identical copies of the Golden Record, these spacecraft are the only human-made objects to have reached interstellar space.
What are the Voyager spacecraft?
This star is classified as a G2, but is the brightest star in the sky.
What is the Sun?
After a star goes supernova, it will become this object if it is not massive enough to collapse into a black hole.
What is a neutron star?
What is the Local Group?
This composes around 68% of the universe and is responsible for its expansion, yet we do not know what it is made of.
What is dark energy?
Named after former NASA chief of astronomy, this space telescope is scheduled to launch in September 2026.
What is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope?
Named after the sons of the Greek god Ares, representing Fear and Panic, these two irregularly-shaped satellites are the moons of Mars.
What are Phobos and Deimos?
This diagram classifies stars by their temperature and luminosity and is named after two astrophysicists, one of whom was from Princeton!
What is the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram?
This is the name of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
What is Sagittarius A*?
This uniform radiation left over from the Big Bang was discovered by Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias, who originally thought it might be noise due to pigeon droppings.
What is the cosmic microwave background (CMB)?
In 1963, this woman became the first woman in space.
Who is Valentina Tereshkova?
Found in 2017, this was the first interstellar object to be discovered in the Solar System.
What is 1I/ʻOumuamua?
Although its name is a bit of a misnomer, this stage in stellar evolution occurs when a low-mass star ejects and ionizes its outer layers.
What is a planetary nebula?
These groups of stars are found in the halo of the Milky Way and contain some of the oldest stars (10-13 billion years old).
What are globular clusters?
This hypothesized epoch describes the exponential expansion of the universe in its first second.
What is the inflationary epoch?
Designed by a Californian 8-year-old, this moon mascot acted as the zero-gravity indicator for the Artemis II mission.
What is Rise?