Earth
Solar System
Milky Way
Local Group & Super Cluster
Universe
100
This cosmonaut was the first human to travel to space, flying above the earth for 108 minutes!
Who is Yuri Gagarin?
100
This is the current age of the Solar System
What is 4.6 billion years? (A little less than 1/3 the age of the Universe)
100
There are this many stars in the Milky Way, but we all know our sun is the best. :)
What is 100 billion?
100
Hey, what's the name of our Supercluster again?
What is the Virgo Supercluster!
100
This is the center of the observable Universe (must be a pretty important place).
What is YOU! Makes you feel pretty important, huh?
200
This was the first satellite sent into space in 1957.
What is Sputnik 1?
200
This is the biggest moon in the galaxy, which is larger than the planet Mercury.
What is Ganymede?
200
This object lies at the center of our Milky Way.
What is a supermassive blackhole? (With a mass 4 million times that of Earth!)
200
This galaxy is the third largest in our local group, behind the giants the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way Galaxy.
What is the Triangulum Galaxy (with a mass of about 50 billion solar masses)?
200
have you ever been giving a planetarium talk, or volunteering at TJO, and some snarky 5 year old asks you what's beyond the Universe. Is there an edge to the Universe?
Not that we know of! If you said there is to the observable universe, you are very smart but good luck explaining that to the 5 year old.
300
This is the number of humans who have been to space (or are currently in space). This amounts to less than 0.00001% of the current world population.
What is 536?
300
This is the second largest object in the asteroid belt, right behind Ceres, with a diameter of 525 km.
What is 4 Vest?
300
In approximately this many years our Milky Way will collide with the Andromeda Galaxy, but luckily for us this should have no adverse effects on the solar system.
What is 4 billion years? (Unfortunately by then Earth will have become to hot for water, so no one will be around to witness it).
300
The Milky Way is a cannibal! It's currently stealing stars from this small, nearby galaxy.
What is Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal (We're also stealing gas from the Magellanic clouds, so that counts too).
300
The Universe is mostly dark energy and dark matter, two concepts we know very little about. The stuff we do understand, Baryonic matter, is this percent of the composition of the Universe.
What is 4%. If the Universe were a test, we failed.
400
In this year the Zarya module was launched into orbit, the first step in the construction of the International Space Station.
When is 1998?
400
Name one dwarf planet besides Pluto. I double-dog dare you (get it? because Pluto is a dog?)
What is Eris, Ceres, Haumea, Makemake? (I'm sorry about the dog pun earlier...)
400
This astronomer proved that the universe is more than just the Milky Way (it's NOT a small world after all).
Who is Edwin hubble?
400
If you were traveling at the speed of light, it would take you this long to reach the Andromeda Galaxy (hint, you'll be VERY old).
What is 2.5 million years?
400
We're going to magically transport the astro lab to the end of the Universe! Should we bling coats and electric blankets, or icepacks and cold drinks (will it be cold or hot, is what I'm asking, in a really round about way)?
Bundle up and grab some hot cocoa, because the end of the universe is going to be one Big Freeze!
500
Roughly this many tons of extraterrestrial material fall to Earth every year (it's okay to provide a range, but no tricks!)
What is 37,000-78,000 tons?
500
Marty McFly performed this Chuck Berry song in "Back to the Future," but the song has taken a cosmic trip of its own, included in the music of Nasa's Golden Record.
What is "Johnny B. Goode"?
500
The Milky Way is moving this fast with respect to the cosmic microwave background radiation.
What is ~550 km/s (HOLD ON!)
500
The origin of the world galaxy "galaxias", is a little unsettling if you translate back to to its ancient Greek root.
What is "Milky." That's right, folks, we live in the Milky Way Milky. This is why the aliens don't talk to us.
500
The James Webb Space Telescope will be launched in 2018, and astronomers are already scrambling to design projects for this device which will see... how far back in time?
To the first 100-250 million years after the Big Bang (that's the very first galaxies and star formation, people!)
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