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How Good Is Your Knowledge of the Universe? 33 Space Questions

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How Good Is Your Knowledge of the Universe? 33 Space Questions

About this quiz

Universe quiz: 33 questions about stars, galaxies, black holes, the Moon and space records for the whole family. 🌌

How old is the universe? Where does space officially begin? Which spacecraft has traveled the farthest? Explore the cosmos one question at a time. Great for family quiz nights, road trips and classrooms.

❓ IN THIS QUIZ

  • How old is the universe?
  • Where does space officially begin?
  • Which spacecraft has traveled farthest from Earth?
  • When you look at distant stars, what are you really seeing?

💬 How many did you get right? Tell us your score in the comments. What's the most mind-blowing space fact you know?

How to play

  1. Read the question and look at the pictures.
  2. Pick your answer before the timer runs out (or switch the timer off).
  3. See if you were right and read the fun fact.
Answers and fun facts (spoilers!)
  1. Let's start big! How old is the universe?
    13.8 billion years
    The universe is about 13.8 billion years old. Earth is only about 4.5 billion!
  2. What does a light-year measure?
    Distance
    A light-year is how far light travels in a year: about 9.5 trillion km!
  3. Which galaxy do we live in?
    Milky Way
    The Milky Way holds an estimated 100 to 400 billion stars!
  4. Which is the nearest big galaxy to ours?
    Andromeda
    Andromeda is about 2.5 million light-years away, and you can see it with the naked eye on dark nights!
  5. What is a black hole?
    Super-strong gravity
    A black hole's gravity is so strong that not even light can escape!
  6. Who was the first person to walk on the Moon?
    Neil Armstrong
    Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon in July 1969.
  7. Who was the first human in space?
    Yuri Gagarin
    Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth in 1961.
  8. About how far away is the Moon?
    384,000 km
    The Moon is about 384,000 km (239,000 miles) away on average.
  9. What is the Moon slowly doing?
    Drifting away
    The Moon moves about 3.8 cm (1.5 in) farther from Earth every year!
  10. Why do we always see the same side of the Moon?
    Spins once per orbit
    The Moon spins exactly once for every trip around Earth, so the same side always faces us.
  11. What is the most common type of star in our galaxy?
    Red dwarfs
    Red dwarfs may make up about three-quarters of the stars in the Milky Way!
  12. What color are the hottest stars?
    Blue
    The hottest stars glow blue, the coolest glow red!
  13. What is special about the North Star, Polaris?
    It barely moves
    Polaris sits almost above Earth's North Pole, so it stays put while other stars circle around it.
  14. Which is the brightest star in the night sky?
    Sirius
    Sirius is the brightest star in our night sky, much brighter than Polaris.
  15. What is a shooting star?
    Burning space rock
    Meteors are bits of space rock burning up in our air, many no bigger than a grain of sand!
  16. What are comets mostly made of?
    Ice and dust
    Comets are 'dirty snowballs' of ice and dust that grow glowing tails near the Sun.
  17. Which spacecraft has traveled farthest from Earth?
    Voyager 1
    Voyager 1 launched in 1977 and is now in interstellar space!
  18. About how often does the International Space Station circle Earth?
    Every 90 minutes
    The ISS circles Earth about 15 or 16 times a day, so the crew sees lots of sunrises!
  19. About how many Earths could fit inside the Sun?
    1.3 million
    Around 1.3 million Earths could fit inside the Sun!
  20. What will the Sun become in billions of years?
    A red giant
    The Sun is too small to become a black hole. It will swell into a red giant, then shrink into a white dwarf.
  21. Where does space officially begin?
    About 100 km up
    Space is often said to start at the Kármán line, about 100 km (62 miles) up.
  22. What is an exoplanet?
    Planet of another star
    More than 5,000 exoplanets have been found so far!
  23. What is a nebula?
    Cloud of gas and dust
    Many nebulae are star nurseries where new stars are born!
  24. What is a supernova?
    Exploding star
    A supernova can briefly outshine a whole galaxy!
  25. Which star system is closest to our Sun?
    Alpha Centauri
    Its star Proxima Centauri is about 4.2 light-years away.
  26. Can you see the Great Wall of China from the Moon?
    No, it's a myth
    From the Moon it's impossible, and even from orbit it's very hard to spot!
  27. Why can footprints on the Moon last so long?
    No wind or rain
    With no wind or rain to wipe them away, the astronauts' footprints may last a very long time.
  28. How many people have walked on the Moon?
    12
    Twelve astronauts walked on the Moon between 1969 and 1972.
  29. What shape is our Milky Way?
    Spiral
    The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, and we live in one of its arms.
  30. What is the largest object in the asteroid belt?
    Ceres
    Ceres is so big it counts as a dwarf planet!
  31. Where is Pluto?
    Kuiper Belt
    Pluto lives in the icy Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, and it's smaller than our Moon!
  32. About how fast does Earth travel around the Sun?
    30 km per second
    That's about 107,000 km/h (67,000 mph), and you don't feel a thing!
  33. Final question! When you look at distant stars, what are you really seeing?
    Light from the past
    Starlight takes years to reach us. Some of it left its star long before you were born!