Constellation MCQ Questions and Answers for Practice

1. What are galaxies made of?

1. moons and planets
2. two stars orbiting each other
3. about one hundred stars
4. many millions of stars

2. What do the stars in a constellation have in common? The same...

1. brightness
2. distance from Earth
3. size
4. general direction from Earth

3. Which color has the shortest wavelength?

1. blue
2. yellow
3. red
4. none of these

4. Which constellation can be seen from the North Pole?

1. Canis Major
2. Libra
3. Little Dipper
4. Capricorn

5. Which constellation can Venus be found in?

1. Aries
2. Orion
3. Aquila
4. Ursa Major

6. Which device is used to analyse the spectrum of stars?

1. camera
2. telescope
3. spectroscope
4. none of these

7. Which is not true of the planets?

1. they move across the constellations
2. they are always brighter than the stars
3. they are located near the ecliptic
4. through a good telescope, they are not points of light

8. Which of the following best compares the amount of empty space in the universe to the amount of space galaxies occupy? Galaxies...

1. take up about half of the space.
2. take up most of the room in space.
3. are less than half but more than a fourth of space.
4. take up an extremely small amount of space.

9. Which of the following correctly ranks astronomical objects by size, starting with the smallest?

1. Earth, sun, solar system, galaxy, universe
2. Sun, solar system, Earth, universe, galaxy
3. Universe, galaxy, solar system, Earth, sun
4. Solar system, Earth, sun, universe, galaxy

10. Which of the following is a constellation?

1. Betelgeuse
2. Sirius
3. Polaris
4. Orion

11. Which of the following is a Zodiac constellation?

1. Canis Major
2. Gemini
3. Cassiopeia
4. Rigel

12. Which stars do we always see during the year? Stars...

1. on the horizon
2. over the North Pole
3. in the larger constellations
4. inside other galaxies

13. Why are distances in space often measured in light years?

1. The light year is a commonly used unit of measure.
2. Distances in space are so great that a large unit is needed.
3. Scientists always use metric units like light years.
4. Light years are easy to measure and understand.

14. Compared to our galaxy, how big is our solar system? The solar system is...

1. extremely tiny.
2. about one-tenth of the galaxy.
3. about one-third of the galaxy.
4. over half of the galaxy.

15. Early astronomers thought that galaxies were single stars. Why was this mistake easy to make?

1. Galaxies are so far away that they look like a single star.
2. Galaxies are made of stars that you can only see one at a time.
3. Light from galaxies collects into a single beam.
4. Earth is small and galaxies are much larger.