What is the oldest recorded eclipse in human history?
- A) 1226 B.C.E. China
- B) July 11, 1097, New Mexico
- C) Nov. 30, 3340 B.C.E., Ireland
- D) April 3, 33 C.E., Jerusalem
Source: Dziana Hasanbekava/Pexels
Answer:
C) Nov. 30, 3340 B.C.E., Ireland
Source: Wikipedia
How did ancient Chinese scribes describe eclipses?
- A) “The Moon is reborn.”
- B) “The Sun has been eaten.”
- C) “The sky is broken.”
- D) “The stars are misaligned.”
Source: Freepik
Answer:
B) “The Sun has been eaten.”
CEphoto, Uwe Aranas/Wikimedia Commons
In which religious text is a solar eclipse mentioned in relation to Mohammed's life?
- A) The Bible
- B) The Quran
- C) The Torah
- D) The Bhagavad Gita
Source: Pexels
Answer:
B) The Quran
Source: Mustafa-trit20/Wikimedia Commons
What did the Maya use to document astronomical events, including eclipses?
- A) Oracle bones
- B) Stone tablets
- C) Codices
- D) Petroglyphs
Source: Wikimedia
Answer:
C) Codices
Source: Kungl/Wikimedia Commons
Which celestial event did Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity get validated by?
- A) A lunar eclipse
- B) A meteor shower
- C) A solar eclipse
- D) The appearance of a comet
Source: janeb13/Wikimedia Commons
Answer:
C) A solar eclipse
Source: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
How often was the 2017 total solar eclipse visible in the contiguous U.S. before its occurrence?
- A) 28 years
- B) 38 years
- C) 48 years
- D) 58 years
Source: Nblahmd/Wikimedia Commons
Answer:
B) 38 years
Source: Eric Rothermel
According to the London Evening Post, what extreme reaction did a woman have to the 1748 solar eclipse?
- A) She threw a festival.
- B) She locked herself up and cut her arm.
- C) She climbed the highest tower to get closer.
- D) She wrote a poem.
Source: Michael Sprague/Wikimedia Commons
Answer:
B) She locked herself up and cut her arm.
Source: RDNE Stock Project/Pexels
What did the Vikings believe caused eclipses?
- A) Dragons eating the Sun
- B) The Sun hiding in shame
- C) Two wolves chasing the sun and moon
- D) A giant covering the Sun with his shield
Source: Nation.Cymru
Answer:
C) Two wolves chasing the sun and moon
Source: Sci.News
What unique belief did Indigenous Australians hold about the cause of an eclipse?
- A) A distant tribe on the moon was angry.
- B) A great serpent swallowed the Sun.
- C) The Sun and Moon were marrying.
- D) The stars were rearranging themselves.
Source: Yampupata/Wikimedia Commons
Answer:
A) A distant tribe on the moon was angry.
Source: Wikimedia
How did the ancient Babylonians protect their royalty from the perceived threat of an eclipse?
- A) By hiding them in secret chambers
- B) By placing a commoner on the throne
- C) By conducting special rituals
- D) By sending them out to sea
Source: Freepik
Answer:
B) By placing a commoner on the throne
Source: NOIRLab, M. Zamani/Wikimedia Commons
What was the unusual public reaction in Europe to the solar eclipse in 1230?
- A) Panic and chaos
- B) Public celebrations
- C) People went back to bed
- D) A surge in religious conversions
Source: Pixabay/Pexels
Answer:
C) People went back to bed
Source: Kristin Vogt/Pexels
What is documented to have ended due to an eclipse in Turkey in 585 B.C.?
- A) A festival
- B) A reign of a king
- C) 15 years of war
- D) A period of famine
Source: Štefan Štefančík/Unsplash
Answer:
C) 15 years of war
Source: Adobe Stock
How did Christopher Columbus use an eclipse to his advantage?
- A) By predicting weather changes
- B) By navigating the sea
- C) By subjugating native Jamaicans
- D) By discovering new land
Source: Alamy
Answer:
C) By subjugating native Jamaicans
Source: Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
Who used a balloon to watch an eclipse from over 2 miles high in the air?
- A) Albert Einstein
- B) John Couch Adams
- C) Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev
- D) Arthur Eddington
Source: Pixabay/Pexels
Answer:
C) Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev
Source: Wikipedia
When will the next total solar eclipse be visible in the United States?
- A) 2024
- B) 2026
- C) 2029
- D) 2030
Source: Freepik
Answer:
A) 2024
Source: NASA/Wikimedia Commons