General Awareness ยท Physics

Space Exploration and Astronomy

3,952 Questions

Review significant milestones in space exploration, including artificial satellites, reusable space shuttles, and historic lunar landings. This topic also covers astronomical phenomena and telescopic observations. Such scientific general knowledge is commonly tested in SSC, railways, and banking examinations.

Space shuttle missionsArtificial satellitesLunar and planetary landingsSpace telescopes and observatories

Space Exploration and Astronomy Questions

Multiple choice

Which comet is known for its extremely long tail, sometimes stretching millions of kilometers?

  1. Halley's Comet

  2. Hale-Bopp Comet

  3. Hyakutake Comet

  4. Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Hale-Bopp Comet, discovered in 1995, is known for its exceptionally long tail, which at one point stretched over 500 million kilometers.

Multiple choice

Which comet was famously observed to collide with Jupiter in 1994?

  1. Hale-Bopp Comet

  2. Hyakutake Comet

  3. Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet

  4. Swift-Tuttle Comet
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet collided with Jupiter in July 1994, providing valuable insights into the composition and structure of comets.

Multiple choice

What is the name of the spacecraft that collected samples from a comet and returned them to Earth?

  1. Stardust

  2. Rosetta

  3. New Horizons

  4. Voyager 2
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The Stardust spacecraft collected samples from Comet Wild 2 and returned them to Earth in 2006, providing valuable information about the composition of comets.

Multiple choice

Which comet is known for its distinctive greenish coma?

  1. Halley's Comet

  2. Hale-Bopp Comet

  3. Hyakutake Comet

  4. Borrelly Comet
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Borrelly Comet is known for its distinctive greenish coma, caused by the presence of diatomic carbon molecules.

Multiple choice

Which comet was observed to have two distinct tails during its 1996 appearance?

  1. Hale-Bopp Comet

  2. Hyakutake Comet

  3. Borrelly Comet

  4. Wild 2 Comet
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Hyakutake Comet was observed to have two distinct tails during its 1996 appearance, one composed of dust and the other composed of ions.

Multiple choice

What is the name of the spacecraft that visited two comets, Tempel 1 and Hartley 2?

  1. Rosetta

  2. Stardust

  3. Deep Impact

  4. New Horizons
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The Deep Impact spacecraft visited two comets, Tempel 1 and Hartley 2, and successfully impacted them with probes to study their composition and structure.

Multiple choice

Which was ISRO's first successful interstellar mission?

  1. Voyager-1

  2. Voyager-2

  3. Pioneer-10

  4. Pioneer-11
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Voyager-1 was ISRO's first successful interstellar mission, launched on September 5, 1977.

Multiple choice

Which was ISRO's first successful exoplanet mission?

  1. Kepler

  2. Hubble

  3. Spitzer

  4. Chandra
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Kepler was ISRO's first successful exoplanet mission, launched on March 7, 2009.

Multiple choice

Which was ISRO's first successful gravitational wave mission?

  1. LIGO

  2. VIRGO

  3. KAGRA

  4. GEO600
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

LIGO was ISRO's first successful gravitational wave mission, launched on September 14, 2002.

Multiple choice

Which was ISRO's first successful dark matter mission?

  1. XENON1T

  2. LUX

  3. PandaX-II

  4. DarkSide-20k
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

XENON1T was ISRO's first successful dark matter mission, launched on May 2, 2016.

Multiple choice

Which was ISRO's first successful dark energy mission?

  1. DESI

  2. BOSS

  3. eBOSS

  4. SDSS
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

DESI was ISRO's first successful dark energy mission, launched on May 30, 2019.

Multiple choice

What is the sensitivity of the ELT?

  1. 10 times the sensitivity of the Hubble Space Telescope

  2. 100 times the sensitivity of the Hubble Space Telescope

  3. 1000 times the sensitivity of the Hubble Space Telescope

  4. 10000 times the sensitivity of the Hubble Space Telescope
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

The ELT will be 1000 times more sensitive than the Hubble Space Telescope.

Multiple choice

What is the name of the auroral display that takes the form of a curtain-like structure?

  1. Aurora Curtain

  2. Aurora Veil

  3. Aurora Arc

  4. Aurora Band
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Aurora Curtain is the name given to the auroral display that takes the form of a curtain-like structure.

Multiple choice

What is the name of India's first satellite dedicated to astronomy?

  1. Aryabhata

  2. Bhaskara

  3. Chandrayaan-1

  4. Mangalyaan
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Aryabhata, launched in 1975, was India's first satellite specifically designed for astronomy. It carried instruments to study X-rays and gamma rays from celestial sources.

Multiple choice

What is the name of the Indian space mission that successfully reached Jupiter?

  1. Chandrayaan-1

  2. Mangalyaan

  3. AstroSat

  4. Saral
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
Correct answer
Explanation

India has not yet launched a space mission to Jupiter.