Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! A friend is trying to develop a question that tests the receivers knowledge of astronomy. I'm thinking: What's a black hole? "They are fairly well known and the persons I'll ask are reasonably intelligent", says Discovery1. "You could ask what's a quasar?" pipes Zaphod. "If they say it's a tv set then you'll know their competency level!" "Ask them what the rings of Saturn are made of, and no, it's not lost luggage!!" says Hamster. "That's easy. It's made of all of those socks that go missing somewhere between the washer and the dryer!" answers Zaphod. "I might also ask them if they know how many terrestrial extra-solar planets have been detected (a good trick question)." suggests DrCarstairs. "You could ask people to name all of the planets in the solar system." says Hamster. We bundle on over to the Bad astronomy forums for some insightful advice. Grapeofwrath gives an intriguing response. ~I was thinking of the "wince" test, he says. Have the candidate seated in front of you facing to the side so that they only see you in their peripheral vision, and study their reactions as you say the following phrases: 1) "Grant rejected." If they wince, they're a professional astronomer. 2) "Grades due tomorrow." If they wince, they're an academic astronomer. 3) "Precession of the equinox." If they develop a nervous tic, they're an astrologer. 4) "Rain clouds." If they start crying, they're an amateur astronomer. "The Planets are too easy but what about the constellations" I ask. An Astronomer should know those. "There are 87, that's a tough one." replies Grapesofwrath. "How about just asking for the Zodiacal ones." "Isn't there a danger you might detect a good Astrologer rather than an Astronomer?" I say. We considered other interrogations... "What kind of object M31 is and specifically what makes it special." JS Princeton "Explain the astronomical magnitude scale." R.A.F. These really are more observation-based questions, though. Theoretical cosmologists, for example, hardly have use for explaining the magnitude scale and may not even know what M31 is. Specialization just makes us more and more ignorant of the big pictures. So we went back to broadbased questions. "What is a Lightyear, AU's, parcecs?" Smaug "How many moons does Mars have?" jest "There's the infamous dark side of the moon fallacy. You can catch them out there." nebularain "You could ask if they know what a nebula is and what a planetary nebula is." Gsquare ......and so it went. So just what is a good question to test an Astronomers competency and did you spot the deliberate mistake above?
