Lets see who can get them all right.
I will post the answers soon.
Code: Select all
....Scientific content removed....An astronomy related quiz - just for fun
An astronomy related quiz - just for fun
It's been a while since I tested your knowledge, so here's another brainteaser for your enjoyment.
Lets see who can get them all right.
I will post the answers soon.
Lets see who can get them all right.
I will post the answers soon.
Last edited by Telepath on 25.05.2006, 21:21, edited 1 time in total.
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tony873004
- Posts: 132
- Joined: 07.12.2003
- With us: 20 years 11 months
- Location: San Francisco http://www.gravitysimulator.com
1. Alberito? what is Alberito?? Sounds like mexican food to me.
2. Saturn
3. White dwarf
4. pulsars
5. organic molecules Close enough...
6. ejected stars --- Need to be a little more specific
7. acretion disk of a neutron stars --- could be I guess, but not what I was looking for
8. other universes --- Ha ha, very good, but try a bit harder.
Do you want to keep trying, or shall I just post the answers???
2. Saturn
3. White dwarf
4. pulsars
5. organic molecules Close enough...
6. ejected stars --- Need to be a little more specific
7. acretion disk of a neutron stars --- could be I guess, but not what I was looking for
8. other universes --- Ha ha, very good, but try a bit harder.
Do you want to keep trying, or shall I just post the answers???
Could you please just not post these trivial "quizzes" here at all in future? Or any 'brainteasers' for that matter. We really don't need them here, and we don't need our 'knowledge tested', thank you.
My Celestia page: Spica system, planetary magnitudes script, updated demo.cel, Quad system
I would like to respond to this , but (unlike some) I have far better things to do with my time than to worry about whether other peoples posts are up to my standards, or whether mine are up to their's.Malenfant wrote:Could you please just not post these trivial "quizzes" here at all in future? Or any 'brainteasers' for that matter. We really don't need them here, and we don't need our 'knowledge tested', thank you.
Oh, and for those with lower standards than the self-appointed rulers of this forum
, here are the answers.... (I hope this has been educational and informative to some people).
Carl Sagan wrote:...Scientific content removed...
Last edited by Telepath on 25.05.2006, 21:23, edited 1 time in total.
I'm with Fridger on this one (though I'm not abandoning the board - if you actually look at page 1 of the thread list here there's really not that many frivolous posts and the vast majority are serious).
I think this is what Purgatory is for. These 'quizzes' and 'brainteasers' may be fun and informative for some, but those people aren't who this board is aimed at. We've tried to make this board a place for serious astronomical education and discussion and it's one of the few places that I know of where we can get answers to complex questions. If those standards aren't actively maintained then we're just going to go back to more of these frivolous posts and the sort of metaphysical/philosophical stuff that was clogging up the board before.
It's up to Fridger whether or not he leaves (personally I think he's over-reacting by leaving this board because of this, but it's up to him
), but I really don't think this sort of thread should be encouraged on the Physics/Astronomy board.
As it is, this 'quiz' was so vague that the answers could have been anything. I don't think it's particularly educational at all.
EDIT: Actually Chaos Syndrome nailed why I find these threads to be frivolous - they are 'games', not serious discussion. As such they should have no place on this particular board.
I think this is what Purgatory is for. These 'quizzes' and 'brainteasers' may be fun and informative for some, but those people aren't who this board is aimed at. We've tried to make this board a place for serious astronomical education and discussion and it's one of the few places that I know of where we can get answers to complex questions. If those standards aren't actively maintained then we're just going to go back to more of these frivolous posts and the sort of metaphysical/philosophical stuff that was clogging up the board before.
It's up to Fridger whether or not he leaves (personally I think he's over-reacting by leaving this board because of this, but it's up to him
), but I really don't think this sort of thread should be encouraged on the Physics/Astronomy board.
As it is, this 'quiz' was so vague that the answers could have been anything. I don't think it's particularly educational at all.
EDIT: Actually Chaos Syndrome nailed why I find these threads to be frivolous - they are 'games', not serious discussion. As such they should have no place on this particular board.
My Celestia page: Spica system, planetary magnitudes script, updated demo.cel, Quad system
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ElChristou
- Developer
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- Joined: 04.02.2005
- With us: 19 years 9 months
I'm not an active member of this forum (but I read it regularly) but I agree on sending this thread to purgatory; this is obviously a game, the way the 3 first messages are done show the level (-> (font color = background color) highlight to see..., -> way of responding)...
Selden, as Mod, you should PM young members when a first tedious thread is done to gently explain them the way it's convinient to use this board; they will understand and higher they efforts to fit the gloval level of the community, if not a ban will unfortunatly be necessary.
Fridger, don't leave pleeaassee!!!
Selden, as Mod, you should PM young members when a first tedious thread is done to gently explain them the way it's convinient to use this board; they will understand and higher they efforts to fit the gloval level of the community, if not a ban will unfortunatly be necessary.
Fridger, don't leave pleeaassee!!!
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t00fri
- Developer
- Posts: 8772
- Joined: 29.03.2002
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- With us: 22 years 7 months
- Location: Hamburg, Germany
ElChristou wrote:...
Fridger, don't leave pleeaassee!!!
It seems my English is getting worse these days ...
To make my attitude crystal clear in simple English:
-- No intentions from my side to leave the Celestia Forum
-- If Selden opens the Physics & Astronomy board to games and entertainment like this Quizz above, I will stop posting here. That's what I meant to say. It's up to Selden to decide. I am not overreacting at all! It's from long experience that I know that such things are "contageous": after this quizz, there will be much more such stuff coming up for sure... I am used professionally to making simple, straight decisions. That's all.
Bye Fridger
Last edited by t00fri on 25.05.2006, 20:28, edited 1 time in total.
Not at all John,
Your comments (which I just managed to read before you deleted them) were right on the button. (I wish you hadn't deleted it, but I won't quote you as you obviously don't want to get into it)
Thanks for your sensible comments though.
Firstly, this was not a frivolous or metaphysical/philosophical post. Just because someone says "just for fun" does not translate to 'frivolous'.
The thing I found interesting about these questions is the way that they make you think about the physics of these astronomical features in a way which has some meaning that pure maths cannot impart, and if this had spawned some serious discussion or constructive criticism, then even better.
This is the whole point about what I like about Celestia, is it's ability to allow us to visualize and understand astronomical and other phenomena in a way which gives greater insight and understanding, which is the point of posing these questions.
I saw this type of 'thought exercise' as a way to further young peoples knowledge in and interest in astronomy in an interesting and accessible way. Perhaps some serious criticism (or even further explanation of the content of the post from the experts, for example "how is the structure of a white dwarf different to that of diamond and why") would have been valuable.
Instead, what do we get? Personal attacks and intellectual snobbery. It's interesting that the same people who attack a post like this are critical of the educational standards of the U.S. school system.
It's a pity those people would rather spend their time creating whole new threads to discuss the 'merits' of this one, instead of contributing their oft' touted expertise to expanding the serious content of this one. If the same effort had been put into 'serious' discussion of these questions, some value may have come out of it.
Oh well, at least a couple of people got the point.
Apparently, these questions were provocative when first published in 1970, so I guess nothing's changed since then.
http://www.belmont.k12.ca.us/ralston/pr ... HTML#WHERE
BTW: No intentions from my side to leave the Celestia Forum
Your comments (which I just managed to read before you deleted them) were right on the button. (I wish you hadn't deleted it, but I won't quote you as you obviously don't want to get into it)
Thanks for your sensible comments though.
Firstly, this was not a frivolous or metaphysical/philosophical post. Just because someone says "just for fun" does not translate to 'frivolous'.
The thing I found interesting about these questions is the way that they make you think about the physics of these astronomical features in a way which has some meaning that pure maths cannot impart, and if this had spawned some serious discussion or constructive criticism, then even better.
This is the whole point about what I like about Celestia, is it's ability to allow us to visualize and understand astronomical and other phenomena in a way which gives greater insight and understanding, which is the point of posing these questions.
I saw this type of 'thought exercise' as a way to further young peoples knowledge in and interest in astronomy in an interesting and accessible way. Perhaps some serious criticism (or even further explanation of the content of the post from the experts, for example "how is the structure of a white dwarf different to that of diamond and why") would have been valuable.
Instead, what do we get? Personal attacks and intellectual snobbery. It's interesting that the same people who attack a post like this are critical of the educational standards of the U.S. school system.
It's a pity those people would rather spend their time creating whole new threads to discuss the 'merits' of this one, instead of contributing their oft' touted expertise to expanding the serious content of this one. If the same effort had been put into 'serious' discussion of these questions, some value may have come out of it.
Oh well, at least a couple of people got the point.
Apparently, these questions were provocative when first published in 1970, so I guess nothing's changed since then.
http://www.belmont.k12.ca.us/ralston/pr ... HTML#WHERE
BTW: No intentions from my side to leave the Celestia Forum
I'm not particularly surprised that you'd leap to your own thread's defense, Telepath.
It's not "intellectual snobbery" to point out that these threads go against the established purpose of this board, which is for serious discussion of physics and astronomy topics. If you want to educate people then you can do so very easily by answering existing questions instead of choosing to 'test our knowledge' with elementary questions that you already know that most of the people who frequent this board can easily answer.
The general point is that this isn't and shouldn't be the place to play "twenty questions' and guess what some random guy is asking for based on really vague "clues". That I think is why some people here (myself included) find that sort of thing annoying - it's the fact that your chosen method of 'education' was just totally inappropriate to this board.
Either way, it rubbed people in the existing community the wrong way, and I believe that the wants of those in the existing community should take precedence over the wants of the newcomer. So you can either adapt to what fits in here and be a useful contributor, or you can continue to go against the grain and continue to annoy people, or you can leave. It's up to you.
It's not "intellectual snobbery" to point out that these threads go against the established purpose of this board, which is for serious discussion of physics and astronomy topics. If you want to educate people then you can do so very easily by answering existing questions instead of choosing to 'test our knowledge' with elementary questions that you already know that most of the people who frequent this board can easily answer.
The general point is that this isn't and shouldn't be the place to play "twenty questions' and guess what some random guy is asking for based on really vague "clues". That I think is why some people here (myself included) find that sort of thing annoying - it's the fact that your chosen method of 'education' was just totally inappropriate to this board.
Either way, it rubbed people in the existing community the wrong way, and I believe that the wants of those in the existing community should take precedence over the wants of the newcomer. So you can either adapt to what fits in here and be a useful contributor, or you can continue to go against the grain and continue to annoy people, or you can leave. It's up to you.
My Celestia page: Spica system, planetary magnitudes script, updated demo.cel, Quad system
(IYO). If you go here: http://celestiaproject.net/forum/index.php, you will see that the established purpose of the astronomy board is:Malenfant wrote:I'm not particularly surprised that you'd leap to your own thread's defense, Telepath.
It's not "intellectual snobbery" to point out that these threads go against the established purpose of this board, which is for serious discussion of physics and astronomy topics.
General physics and astronomy discussions not directly related to Celestia
If you want to educate people then you can do so very easily by answering existing questions instead of choosing to 'test our knowledge' with elementary questions that you already know that most of the people who frequent this board can easily answer.
The general point is that this isn't and shouldn't be the place to play "twenty questions' and guess what some random guy is asking for based on really vague "clues". That I think is why some people here (myself included) find that sort of thing annoying - it's the fact that your chosen method of 'education' was just totally inappropriate to this board.
Either way, it rubbed people in the existing community the wrong way, and I believe that the wants of those in the existing community should take precedence over the wants of the newcomer. So you can either adapt to what fits in here and be a useful contributor, or you can continue to go against the grain and continue to annoy people, or you can leave. It's up to you.
I merely posed a set of questions which had been earlier posed by one of the great scientists and communicators of our time, who was also probably largely responsible for the popularization of physics and astronomy, as well as the inspiration for a number of the "existing community" as you call them. Now, he may have been being flippant at the time, but he still managed in a few simple and cleverly posed questions to communicate more about the universe, than all your posturing and pontificating, dare I say it "verbal diaorrhea", has contributed to this thread.
I will be glad to demonstrate this by deleting all my original contributions to this thread, and then we'll see what if anything of value you've contributed.
Hmm, not much left but noise is there?
I will quote SAGAN again to finish...(I know that what follows is philosophy, so doesn't belong on this thread....but then philosophy is the Mother of all Science isn't it?)
You might like to pay special attention to the bold sections.
[quote]...from A Pale Blue Dot
by Carl Sagan
Co-founder of The Planetary Society
Carl Sagan's thoughts on seeing our world as a "pale blue dot" set in
the vastness of space. This excerpt was inspired by an image taken, at
Sagan's suggestion, by Voyager 1 on February 14, 1990. As the
spacecraft left our planetary neighborhood for the fringes of the solar
system, engineers turned it around for one last look at its home
planet. Voyager 1 was about 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles)
away, and approximately 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane, when it
captured this portrait of our world. Caught in the center of scattered
light rays (a result of taking the picture so close to the Sun), Earth
appears as a tiny point of light, a crescent only 0.12 pixel in size.
Image: JPL/NASA .
Earth, as seen by Voyager 1 at a distance of 4 billion miles.
Click on image for larger view.
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it
everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every
human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our
joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and
economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward,
every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant,
every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child,
inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt
politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and
sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust
suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the
rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in
glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a
fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the
inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable
inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings,
how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have
some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point
of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping
cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint
that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is
nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could
migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment
the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building
experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of
human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it
underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another,
and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever
known.
Last edited by Telepath on 25.05.2006, 21:36, edited 1 time in total.
DISCLAIMER: Although this post may contain a question, this does not nescessarily mean that it is a quiz.
I think things are getting blown way out of proportion here... Selden you might want to end this for both concerned... I am in no way taking sides on this because both parties involved strike some valid points... But both are wrong if they continue this pointless argument... The true purpose of this forum I believe is to enlighten and educate... If someone has a different approach on this its no reason to start a witch hunt... so to speak...
I'm trying to teach the cavemen how to play scrabble, its uphill work. The only word they know is Uhh and they dont know how to spell it!
Unfortunately, I think Ras' is right.
All of you are blowing this way out of proportion.
(and I'm somewhat concerned that the long quotes may be violating copyrights)
Telepath,
Just to keep everyone happy, I'd suggest that future quizzes be put in the "Purgatory" forum.
(I still don't think that Forum name is appropriate, but oh, well...)
I won't be moving this thread, but I do think the discussion has gone on long enough, since neither side is going to convince the other, so I'm locking it.
sorry.
All of you are blowing this way out of proportion.
(and I'm somewhat concerned that the long quotes may be violating copyrights)
Telepath,
Just to keep everyone happy, I'd suggest that future quizzes be put in the "Purgatory" forum.
(I still don't think that Forum name is appropriate, but oh, well...)
I won't be moving this thread, but I do think the discussion has gone on long enough, since neither side is going to convince the other, so I'm locking it.
sorry.
Selden