Quiz for Picnic

Section 1 - Local Knowledge

1 One of our members has a telescope that is raised with a car jack to overcome the problem of trees that have increased in height since the instrument was set up. Is he: a) Roger Steer, b) Eddie Carpenter, c) Terry Flower or d) Mark Stuart.

2 Allan McCarthy owns a telescope in the USA. What aperture is it? a) 6 inches, b) 8 inches, c) 10 inches, or d) 12 inches

3 One of our members operates The Island Observatory. Is it called this a) because his garden is often flooded and the observatory is raised up above the water level, b) because he built it on a small island in a river that runs past his garden, c) because his house is called Capri, or d) because it is surrounded by a sea of flowers.

4 One of our members has the largest collection of aluminium flight boxes for telescope accessories ever seen at an observing site. Is he Roger Steer, b) Simon Smith, c) Ryan Parle or d) Nigel Tasker.

Section 2 - Pluto

1 Pluto – who discovered it and who named it?

2 For how long was Pluto a planet?

3 Pluto is now categorised as a dwarf planet. How many dwarf planets are there?

4 How many moons does Pluto have? Bonus: Name it / them

Section 3 - The Arts

1 “I am constant as the Northern star, of whose true-fix'd and resting quality there is no fellow in the firmament.” Julius Caesar Act 3 Scene 1 What kind of star is Polaris?

2 Uranus’s satellites Titania, Oberon and Puck are named after characters in one of Shakespeare’s plays. Which play?

Bonus: (Ariel), Miranda, Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos, Stephano, Trinculo, Francisco, Ferdinand are named after characters in another of his plays. Which play?

3 "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars," is a line ranked #46 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotes in American cinema. Name the film or the actress who spoke the words.

4
Who painted this picture?

Section 4 - Planetary Records

1 Which planet has the largest moon?

2 Which planet is the most dense?

3 Which planet has the fastest winds?

4 Which planet has the highest magnetic field at its surface?

5 Miscellany

1 There is a public house near Bristol that has a sign depicting a man looking through a telescope; what is the name of the public house?1

2 Patrick Moore, Gordon Taylor, Iwan Williams, David Levy, Guy Hurst, Guy Consolmagno and Neil Bone have all addressed the society. What else do they have in common?

3 By what name is the Stella Alpina better known?

4 In Radio Astronomy what do the letters MERLIN stand for?

Answers

Section1 - Local Knowledge
1 b) Eddie Carpenter
2 c) 10”
3 a) flooding
4 c) Ryan Parle

Section - 2 Pluto
1 Clyde Tombaugh, Venetia Burney
2 76 years (1930 – 2006)
3 5, Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris
4 3 Bonus: Charon, Nix and Hydra

Section 3 - The Arts
1 Cepheid variable
2 A Midsummer Night's Dream Bonus: The Tempest
3 “Now Voyager” Bette Davis
4 Renoir

Section - 4 Planetary Records
1 Jupiter – Ganymede
2 Earth – 5.52 g/cm3
3 Neptune – 2000 km/hr
4 Jupiter - ca. 20,000 times the Earth’s field

5 Miscellany
1 The Star, Rhodyate Hill between Cleeve and Congresbury
2 They all have asteroids named after them
3 Edelweiss
4 Multi-element Radio-linked Interferometer Network