Facts That Light Up the Night

General Knowledge · 10 questions

Explore the night sky’s surprising details, from city lights to auroras. See who in your group can get the most answers right.

Answer each question first, then check with “Show the answer”. You can also play the same quiz in the Quizera app by searching for it in Explore, as a live game, a test or flashcards.

1. Light pollution makes which objects especially hard to pick out with the naked eye in the night sky?

   1. Venus
   2. The full Moon
   3. Bright stars
   4. Faint stars
   Show the answer

   D) Faint stars

2. Which atoms are chiefly responsible for the common green color of auroras?

   1. Nitrogen atoms
   2. Helium atoms
   3. Oxygen atoms
   4. Hydrogen atoms
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   C) Oxygen atoms

3. What is it called when a material absorbs ultraviolet light, emits visible light, and almost stops glowing as soon as the UV is removed?

   1. Reflection
   2. Incandescence
   3. Fluorescence
   4. Phosphorescence
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   C) Fluorescence

4. Which outdoor-light fixture design limits direct light escaping upward?

   1. Uplight fixture
   2. Fully shielded fixture
   3. Open-domed fixture
   4. Partially shielded fixture
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   B) Fully shielded fixture

5. What is a major source of the faint natural glow in the nighttime upper atmosphere?

   1. Reflected starlight
   2. Reflected city lights
   3. Atmospheric chemical reactions
   4. Scattered moonlight
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   C) Atmospheric chemical reactions

6. What creates the faint, cone-shaped glow visible before sunrise or after sunset?

   1. Sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust
   2. City lights reflected by clouds
   3. Solar wind interacting with the atmosphere
   4. Ice crystals in the atmosphere
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   A) Sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust

7. What is the main source of the Moon’s visible light in the night sky?

   1. Reflected sunlight
   2. Surface combustion
   3. Electrical discharges
   4. Internal nuclear reactions
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   A) Reflected sunlight

8. Most meteor showers occur when Earth passes through particle trails left by which celestial bodies?

   1. Comets
   2. Distant stars
   3. Natural satellites
   4. Gas giant planets
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   A) Comets

9. Which natural navigation cue can be disrupted by artificial coastal lights, disorienting sea turtle hatchlings?

   1. Direction of tidal sounds
   2. Brightness of the seaward horizon
   3. Position of Polaris
   4. Frequency of waves reaching shore
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   B) Brightness of the seaward horizon

10. The Milky Way band in a dark sky is our view from inside which structure?

    1. Earth’s atmospheric light ring
    2. Reflections from the Moon’s surface
    3. The Solar System’s planetary plane
    4. Our galaxy’s stellar disc
    Show the answer

    D) Our galaxy’s stellar disc