Everyday Science · Topic 4
The solar system, space firsts and Pakistan's space programme.
Learn first
Learn the planets in order with their records, the first achievements in space, and Pakistan's satellites.
Practise
Try each question, then open the answer. MCQs 151–200 of 267.
151.A star that suddenly becomes much brighter and then fades after exploding is called what?
Answer: D. Supernova
Supernovae spread heavy elements into space.
152.A cloud of gas and dust where stars are born is called what?
Answer: B. Nebula
The Orion Nebula is a well-known example.
153.A rapidly spinning neutron star that emits beams of radiation is called what?
Answer: B. Pulsar
Pulsars were discovered in 1967.
154.The boundary around a black hole from which nothing escapes is called what?
Answer: C. Event horizon
The Event Horizon Telescope is named after it.
155.The Earth's protective magnetic field region is called what?
Answer: C. Magnetosphere
It shields the Earth from the solar wind.
156.The colourful lights near the poles are called what?
Answer: A. Auroras
They are caused by solar particles hitting the upper atmosphere.
157.The northern lights are also called what?
Answer: B. Aurora borealis
The southern lights are the aurora australis.
158.Satellites that watch weather from space are an example of what?
Answer: D. Remote sensing
Remote sensing gathers data about the Earth from a distance.
159.Pakistan's PRSS-1 satellite was launched from which country?
Answer: B. China
It was launched from Jiuquan in July 2018.
160.Pakistan's communication satellite launched in 2024 is called what?
Answer: A. PakSat-MM1
PakSat-MM1 was launched from China in May 2024.
161.Pakistan's first locally built remote sensing satellite, launched in 2018 alongside PRSS-1, was called what?
Answer: B. PakTES-1A
PakTES-1A was built by SUPARCO engineers.
162.Who was the first chairman of SUPARCO?
Answer: D. Dr Abdus Salam
He set up SUPARCO in 1961.
163.Rehbar-I, Pakistan's first rocket, was launched from which site?
Answer: B. Sonmiani
The launch on 7 June 1962 made Pakistan one of the first Asian countries to launch a rocket.
164.Which technology uses satellites to find the exact location of a phone?
Answer: A. GPS
GPS uses signals from several satellites.
165.How many GPS satellites are needed at least to fix a position in three dimensions?
Answer: A. Four
Four satellites give latitude, longitude, height and time.
166.What does "drone" commonly refer to?
Answer: D. An unmanned aerial vehicle
Drones are flown remotely or by autopilot.
167.What is "robotics"?
Answer: D. The design and use of robots
Robots are used in factories, hospitals and space.
168.What does "VR" stand for?
Answer: C. Virtual Reality
VR headsets create an immersive digital world.
169.What does "AR" stand for, as in Pokémon Go?
Answer: D. Augmented Reality
AR adds digital images to the real world.
170.What does "nanotechnology" deal with?
Answer: B. Materials at the scale of atoms and molecules
A nanometre is a billionth of a metre.
171.What is "genetic engineering"?
Answer: A. Changing an organism's DNA
It is used to make insulin and improved crops.
172.Which gene-editing tool won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry?
Answer: B. CRISPR-Cas9
Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna developed it.
173.The first cloned mammal was a sheep named what?
Answer: C. Dolly
Dolly was born in Scotland in 1996.
174.What is "biometrics"?
Answer: B. Identifying people by body features
Fingerprints and face scans are biometrics.
175.The force that keeps the planets in orbit around the Sun is what?
Answer: B. Gravity
Newton explained it with his law of universal gravitation.
176.Who proposed the law of universal gravitation?
Answer: B. Isaac Newton
He published it in 1687.
177.The speed needed to escape the Earth's gravity is about what?
Answer: B. 11.2 km per second
It is called escape velocity.
178.A person in orbit feels weightless because of what?
Answer: A. They are in continuous free fall around the Earth
Gravity still acts, but everything falls together.
179.Which layer of the atmosphere do most satellites and the ISS orbit within?
Answer: D. Thermosphere
Low Earth orbit lies in the thermosphere.
180.The boundary often used as the edge of space is called what?
Answer: D. The Kármán line (about 100 km)
It is about 100 km above sea level.
181.A meteor shower happens when Earth passes through what?
Answer: A. Debris left by a comet
The Perseids and Geminids are well-known showers.
182.A dwarf planet located in the asteroid belt is which?
Answer: B. Ceres
Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt.
183.Which object is the largest known dwarf planet by size?
Answer: B. Pluto
Eris is slightly more massive.
184.Pluto's largest moon is called what?
Answer: B. Charon
Charon is about half Pluto's size.
185.The Moon's dark plains seen from Earth are called what?
Answer: C. Maria (seas)
They are ancient lava plains.
186.The phase when we cannot see the Moon from Earth is called what?
Answer: B. New moon
The Moon lies between the Earth and the Sun.
187.A lunar month (new moon to new moon) lasts about how long?
Answer: B. 29.5 days
This is why Hijri months have 29 or 30 days.
188.A "supermoon" happens when a full moon is at which point of its orbit?
Answer: D. Closest to the Earth (perigee)
It looks slightly larger and brighter.
189.The second full moon in a calendar month is popularly called what?
Answer: A. Blue moon
It does not look blue.
190.A "blood moon" refers to the Moon during what?
Answer: A. A total lunar eclipse
Sunlight bent through Earth's air turns it red.
191.A total solar eclipse can be seen only from what?
Answer: D. A narrow path on Earth
Outside the path, people see a partial eclipse.
192.Which telescope type uses mirrors to gather light?
Answer: C. Reflecting telescope
Newton built an early reflecting telescope.
193.Which telescope type uses lenses to gather light?
Answer: B. Refracting telescope
Galileo used a refracting telescope.
194.The world's largest single-dish radio telescope, FAST, is in which country?
Answer: B. China
It is 500 m across.
195.The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is in which country?
Answer: C. Chile
The dry Atacama Desert is ideal for observing.
196.The SETI programme searches for what?
Answer: A. Signals from alien civilisations
SETI stands for Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.
197.A planet orbiting a star other than the Sun is called what?
Answer: B. Exoplanet
Thousands have been discovered since the 1990s.
198.Which NASA space telescope found thousands of exoplanets from 2009 to 2018?
Answer: B. Kepler
It watched stars for tiny dips in brightness.
199.The invisible matter that holds galaxies together is called what?
Answer: C. Dark matter
It does not give off light.
200.The mysterious force thought to speed up the universe's expansion is called what?
Answer: A. Dark energy
Its discovery won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Test yourself
Each quiz has 50 MCQs from this topic and 50 minutes. A correct answer earns 1 mark and each wrong answer takes off 0.25; skipped questions score nothing. No password needed.
