Q 01/05

Aristarchus is called the ancient version of which astronomer, who revived his Sun-centred idea in 1543?

A) Galileo Galilei

B) Nicolaus Copernicus

C) Johannes Kepler

D) Giovanni Domenico Cassini

Answer · why

B) Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus published the same basic idea some eighteen centuries after Aristarchus, and probably arrived at it independently.

Q 02/05

Which Greek mathematician preserved the outline of Aristarchus's lost Sun-centred theory?

A) Archimedes

B) Euclid

C) Eratosthenes

D) Apollonius

Answer · why

A) Archimedes

Archimedes summarised the theory in a short treatise written for his king, and that summary is the main reason anyone knows Aristarchus proposed it.

Q 03/05

A famous Greek treatise estimated how many grains of what would fill the vast universe of Aristarchus?

A) Wheat

B) Salt

C) Sand

D) Barley

Answer · why

C) Sand

Sand, at most 10 to the 63rd power grains of it, was the estimate, and the author had to invent a new way of naming huge numbers just to state it.

Q 04/05

Aristarchus put the Sun 18 to 20 times farther away than the Moon; what is the true multiple?

A) About 40

B) About 400

C) About 4,000

D) About 40,000

Answer · why

B) About 400

About 400 times is the true figure, because the angle he measured as 87° is really close to 89° 50′, far too fine a difference for the instruments of ...

Q 05/05

The lunar crater named after Aristarchus, about 40 km wide, is deeper than which famous chasm?

A) Mariana Trench

B) Valles Marineris

C) Puerto Rico Trench

D) Grand Canyon

Answer · why

D) Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is shallower than this crater, which spans almost 25 miles and sinks more than 2 miles (3.5 km) deep.