Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Set of meteorites, asteroids, comets, meteors photographed by NASA Alamy Stock Photo
space quiz
Quiz: How much do you know about meteors and asteroids?
Ireland saw a meteor shower in our skies this weekend.
IF YOU WERE paying attention this weekend you may have witnessed the “celestial fireworks display” as the Perseid meteor shower reached its peak.
We’re not going to ask you to tell the difference between meteors and asteroids (asteroids are much bigger bigger; meteors are when a bit of an asteroid burns up on entering the Earth’s atmosphere) but we do want to see what you know about them.
Since humans found out about asteroids (in 1801, thanks to an Italian astronomer called Giuseppe Piazzi), we have been fascinated by the possibilities they pose.
Was human life brought to planet Earth via an asteroid? Will a huge shower take us out one day? Who knows. Either way, these travelling space rocks have been the creative inspiration for disaster movies, novels, and theories about the beginning of human life itself.
So, in the weekend that saw the cosmic wonders of asteroids entering the earth’s orbit, we want to know, how much do you know about asteroids and meteors?
What is an asteroid, technically speaking?
A small planet
A rocky leftover remnant left over from the early formation of our solar system, all those years ago
A falling star that hasn't entered a planet's orbit yet
A mysterious object seen in the sky which has bacteria living on it
How did the Italian astronomer who discovered asteroids stumble upon them?
He was creating a new star chart on New Year's Day when he found the asteroid, and thought it was a missing planet
He was trying to figure out the distances of planets from the sun when he found 'Ceres', the first asteroid detected, during a star-gazing session in Sicily
He was trying to prove the existence of asteroids based on a theory that his mentor came up with, but never managed to prove
Between which two planets will you find the 'Asteroid Belt', a vast expanse where millions of asteroids circle the sun?
Venus and Mars
Jupitar and Uranus
Mars and Neptune
Mars and Jupiter
What is the closest an asteroid has come to earth without hitting the planet? This happened in 2020, and NASA only clocked it after it had happened. The asteroid was the size of a car, roughly speaking.
NASA/UPI
10,000 miles
3,245 miles
1,235 miles
1,830 miles
What is a meteoroid?
An asteroid that holds water
A medium sized asteroid
An asteroid that travels faster, hence why they are called "shooting stars"
Another space rock, that ranges in size from a small grain of dust to a small asteroid
The 1998 film Armageddon envisioned an asteroid being due to hit earth in a month, and NASA deploying a team of misfit deep-core drillers to save the planet. How big was the asteroid in the movie supposed to be?
United Archives GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
The size of Wales
The size of Coney Island
The size of Texas
The size of New Orleans
How big is the largest asteroid?
Half the size of Jupiter
Twice the size of Pluto
One third of the size of Earth
A quarter of the size of the moon
Planet Earth has been around for more than 4.5 billion years, so it has had its fair share of run ins with asteroids. How many times do we think it has been hit, and for a bonus, how many times has it been hit by an asteroid so big that scientists think it would have ended humanity?
170 hits, with five so big they may have ended humanity
160 hits, with two that left craters so large they could have wiped out humanity
190 hits, with three so big they could have spelled the end for us
215 hits, with one so big it would have sent us packing
What did the ancient Greeks and Romans think the appearance of comets and meteor showers in the sky meant?
That war was coming
That they heralded the birth of a great figure
That something of importance had just happened, or was about to
That the gods were giving them a warning
You scored out of !
Galileo Galilei
You are an expert at this, go and show them that the world stayed round.
You scored out of !
Brian Cox
You know a lot about asteroids, congrats.
You scored out of !
An actual asteroid
You don't know a lot about asteroids, much like an asteroid, which isn't self-aware, as far as we know.
have your say