Asteroid Quiz

Notes:
The correct answer is [D] All the four. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) designates specific years to acknowledge significant global issues and foster international cooperation.

• International Year of the Woman Farmer (2026 – Correct): Proposed by the Government of India and supported by various nations, this initiative aims to recognize the crucial role women play in agriculture, food security, and rural economies worldwide.
• International Year of Sustainable and Resilient Tourism (2027 – Correct): This designation focuses on the tourism sector’s recovery and its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), emphasizing environmental protection and economic resilience.
• International Year of Peace and Trust (2025 – Correct): Declared by the UNGA (Resolution 78/266), this year is intended to mobilize the efforts of the international community to promote peace and trust among nations through dialogue and negotiation.
• International Year of Asteroid Awareness and Planetary Defence (2029 – Correct): This year coincides with the close approach of the asteroid 99942 Apophis to Earth. It aims to raise public awareness about Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and the scientific efforts required to protect the planet from potential impacts.

All four pairs accurately reflect the official United Nations calendar for international years as established by recent General Assembly resolutions.

Notes:
The correct answer is [A] 1 and 2.The theory of the expanding universe, primarily associated with the Big Bang model, suggests that the fabric of space-time itself is stretching, causing galaxies to move away from each other over time. Scientists cite several key observational phenomena as evidence for this expansion.

• Detection of Microwaves in Space (Statement 1 is Correct): The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) is the “afterglow” of the Big Bang. As the universe expanded, the high-energy radiation from the early universe stretched into longer wavelengths, eventually becoming microwaves. Its uniform detection across the sky provides a “snapshot” of the early universe and confirms that it has been expanding and cooling for billions of years.
• Observation of Redshift Phenomenon (Statement 2 is Correct): When light from distant galaxies is observed, its wavelength is shifted toward the red end of the spectrum. This is known as cosmological redshift. Edwin Hubble discovered that the further away a galaxy is, the faster it appears to be receding from us, which is a direct consequence of the expansion of space.

• Movement of Asteroids (Statement 3 is Incorrect): The movement of asteroids within our solar system is governed by local gravitational forces (primarily from the Sun and planets). Their orbits do not provide evidence for the expansion of the universe, which occurs on a much larger, cosmological scale between galaxies.
• Occurrence of Supernova Explosions (Statement 4 is Incorrect): While specific types of supernovae (Type Ia) are used as “standard candles” to measure the rate of expansion and discovered that the expansion is accelerating, the mere “occurrence” of a supernova explosion is a stellar life-cycle event and not, in itself, evidence for the expansion of the universe.

The expansion of the universe does not mean that everything is getting larger; gravity holds together local structures like stars, solar systems, and galaxies. It is the vast “empty” space between distant galaxy clusters that is stretching.

Notes:
The correct answer is 1 and 3 only. While both asteroids and comets are “leftovers” from the formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago, they have very different compositions and behaviors.

• Composition (Statement 1 is Correct): Asteroids are primarily made of rock and metal. They are essentially “minor planets” that failed to coalesce into a full planet. Comets, however, are often described as “dirty snowballs.” They consist of frozen gases (like water ice, ammonia, and methane) mixed with dust and rocky material.
• Location (Statement 2 is Incorrect): Most asteroids are indeed found in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. However, comets are not found between Venus and Mercury. Instead, they originate from the far outer reaches of the solar system, specifically the Kuiper Belt (beyond Neptune) and the Oort Cloud (a vast spherical shell surrounding the solar system).
• Appearance (Statement 3 is Correct): As a comet approaches the Sun, the heat causes its frozen gases to vaporize (sublimate). This creates a “coma” (an atmosphere of gas and dust) and the iconic glowing tail that points away from the Sun. Asteroids, being made of solid rock and metal, do not contain enough volatile ice to create such a tail.

Notes:
Asteroid 2024 YR4 was recently confirmed by NASA to not collide with the Moon in 2032. It is an Apollo-type asteroid, meaning its orbit crosses Earth’s orbit but remains mostly outside it. It was discovered in 2024 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Chile. In its name, Y indicates discovery in the second half of December, while R4 shows it was the 117th asteroid identified in that period. It is a Near-Earth Object (NEO) with size about 174–220 feet (53–67 metres). It likely originated from the central Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Notes:
A new study found that Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) not only changed the motion of an asteroid but also slightly altered the orbit of the asteroid pair around the Sun. DART was launched in 2021 by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to test asteroid deflection technology. It was the first planetary defence mission to change an asteroid’s path using the kinetic impact method. The spacecraft targeted a binary asteroid system of Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos. In 2022, the spacecraft intentionally crashed into Dimorphos to alter its orbit around Didymos. The impact successfully changed the asteroid’s motion, proving humans can potentially deflect hazardous near-Earth objects in space.

Notes:
Astronomers discovered asteroid 2025 PN7 in September 2025 as Earth’s latest quasi-satellite. ‘Quasi’ means almost; the asteroid is not gravitationally bound but orbits the Sun in resonance with Earth. It is an Arjuna-class near-Earth asteroid, named after Mahabharata’s Arjuna. 2025 PN7 orbits the Sun while staying close to Earth and will remain in this quasi-satellite state for approx 128 years. It was first spotted on August 2, 2025, by Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 (Pan-STARRS 1) in Hawaii.

Notes:
PROBA-3 is the European Space Agency’s first mission for demonstrating precision formation flying, using two spacecraft to simulate an extended structure in orbit. It will be launched aboard ISRO’s PSLV-XL. The mission’s main scientific objective is to provide artificial solar eclipses to study the solar corona, not asteroid deflection. Thus, statements 1, 2, and 3 are correct.

Notes:
Recently, comet 3I/ATLAS from outside our solar system was spotted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Chile. ATLAS is an asteroid impact early warning system developed by the University of Hawaii and funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It uses four telescopes — two in Hawaii, one in Chile, and one in South Africa. These telescopes scan the sky every night for moving objects. ATLAS also detects dwarf planets, supernova explosions, and light from stars eaten by supermassive black holes.

Notes:
The world celebrates June 30 as World Asteroid Day to mark the Tunguska event, a huge asteroid explosion over Siberia, Russia, in 1908. The Tunguska event flattened about 2,000 square kilometres of forest with energy equal to 185 Hiroshima bombs. World Asteroid Day aims to raise awareness about asteroid risks and encourage investment in space science and technology. The United Nations General Assembly passed resolution A/RES/71/90 in 2016 to declare June 30 as International Asteroid Day after a proposal from the Association of Space Explorers, supported by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

Notes:
China recently launched the Tianwen-2 probe to collect samples from the asteroid 2016HO3 and explore the distant main-belt comet 311P. It was launched using the Long March 3-B rocket. The mission will continue till the end of 2027. Earlier in 2021, China’s Tianwen-1 mission landed on Mars with an orbiter, lander, and the Zhurong rover. Tianwen-3 is planned for launch around 2028 to collect and return samples from Mars. Tianwen-4 is expected to explore Jupiter around 2030.