Cosmology MCQs with Answers
What is the current age of the universe according to modern cosmology?
a) 13.7 billion years
b) 4.6 billion years
c) 10 billion years
d) 20 billion years
Answer: a) 13.7 billion years
What is the prevailing theory for the origin of the universe?
a) Big Bang theory
b) Steady-state theory
c) Pulsating universe theory
d) Oscillating universe theory
Answer: a) Big Bang theory
What was the initial state of the universe at the moment of the Big Bang?
a) Extremely hot and dense
b) Cold and empty
c) Filled with dark matter
d) Expanding rapidly
Answer: a) Extremely hot and dense
What is the term used to describe the rapid expansion of the universe in its early stages?
a) Inflation
b) Acceleration
c) Contraction
d) Oscillation
Answer: a) Inflation
What is the observed relationship between the distance and recessional velocity of galaxies?
a) Hubble’s law
b) Kepler’s law
c) Newton’s law
d) Einstein’s law
Answer: a) Hubble’s law
What is the term used to describe the hypothetical substance that makes up a large portion of the universe’s mass and energy?
a) Dark matter
b) Dark energy
c) Anti-matter
d) Neutrinos
Answer: a) Dark matter
What is the estimated percentage of dark matter in the universe?
a) 27%
b) 5%
c) 68%
d) 10%
Answer: a) 27%
What is the term used to describe the force that is driving the accelerated expansion of the universe?
a) Dark energy
b) Gravity
c) Electromagnetism
d) Nuclear force
Answer: a) Dark energy
What is the age of the universe at which the cosmic microwave background radiation was emitted?
a) 380,000 years
b) 1 million years
c) 1 billion years
d) 10 billion years
Answer: a) 380,000 years
What is the name given to the era in the early universe when the first neutral atoms formed?
a) Recombination
b) Inflation
c) Nucleosynthesis
d) Annihilation
Answer: a) Recombination
What is the term used to describe the idea that the universe is expanding uniformly in all directions?
a) Isotropy
b) Homogeneity
c) Inflation
d) Expansion
Answer: b) Homogeneity
What is the estimated percentage of ordinary matter in the universe?
a) 5%
b) 27%
c) 68%
d) 95%
Answer: a) 5%
What is the name of the cosmic event that marked the beginning of the universe?
a) Singularity
b) Inflation
c) Big Bang
d) Cosmic microwave background
Answer: c) Big Bang
What is the term used to describe the boundary of a black hole beyond which no information can escape?
a) Event horizon
b) Singularity
c) Ergosphere
d) Photon sphere
Answer: a) Event horizon
What is the name of the mission launched by NASA in 1990 to study the universe from space?
a) Hubble Space Telescope
b) Chandra X-ray Observatory
c) Spitzer Space Telescope
d) James Webb Space Telescope
Answer: a) Hubble Space Telescope
What is the name of the satellite mission that provided detailed measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation?
a) Planck
b) WMAP
c) COBE
d) Fermi
Answer: a) Planck
What is the term used to describe the idea that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate?
a) Cosmic inflation
b) Dark matter
c) Dark energy
d) Cosmic microwave background
Answer: c) Dark energy
What is the estimated age of the universe when the first galaxies formed?
a) 200 million years
b) 1 billion years
c) 5 billion years
d) 13.7 billion years
Answer: b) 1 billion years
What is the term used to describe the process by which stars and galaxies form from the gravitational collapse of matter?
a) Structure formation
b) Stellar evolution
c) Nucleosynthesis
d) Supernova explosion
Answer: a) Structure formation
What is the name of the theory that suggests our universe is just one of many universes existing simultaneously?
a) Multiverse theory
b) Parallel universe theory
c) Quantum theory
d) String theory
Answer: a) Multiverse theory
What is the term used to describe the time interval between the emission and detection of light from distant objects?
a) Lookback time
b) Age of the universe
c) Hubble time
d) Expansion rate
Answer: a) Lookback time
What is the term used to describe the observed redshift of galaxies, indicating their motion away from us?
a) Doppler shift
b) Blueshift
c) Gravitational redshift
d) Hubble redshift
Answer: d) Hubble redshift
What is the name of the concept that suggests the universe is isotropic and homogeneous on large scales?
a) Cosmological principle
b) Inflationary principle
c) Hubble principle
d) Quantum principle
Answer: a) Cosmological principle
What is the term used to describe the expansion of space itself between distant galaxies?
a) Metric expansion
b) Cosmological expansion
c) Inflationary expansion
d) Galactic expansion
Answer: a) Metric expansion
What is the name of the concept that suggests the laws of physics are the same everywhere in the universe?
a) Principle of locality
b) Principle of universality
c) Principle of conservation
d) Principle of symmetry
Answer: b) Principle of universality
What is the term used to describe the era in the early universe when protons and neutrons combined to form atomic nuclei?
a) Nucleosynthesis
b) Inflation
c) Recombination
d) Annihilation
Answer: a) Nucleosynthesis
What is the estimated percentage of dark energy in the universe?
a) 68%
b) 27%
c) 5%
d) 95%
Answer: a) 68%
What is the term used to describe the concept that the universe has no center or preferred location?
a) Copernican principle
b) Hubble principle
c) Anthropic principle
d) Cosmological principle
Answer: a) Copernican principle
What is the term used to describe the concept that the laws of physics are fine-tuned to allow for the existence of life?
a) Anthropic principle
b) Copernican principle
c) Hubble principle
d) Cosmological principle
Answer: a) Anthropic principle
What is the term used to describe the observed small fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation?
a) Anisotropy
b) Homogeneity
c) Isotropy
d) Inflation
Answer: a) Anisotropy
What is the name of the mission launched by NASA in 2001 to study the cosmic microwave background radiation?
a) WMAP
b) Planck
c) COBE
d) Fermi
Answer: a) WMAP
What is the term used to describe the hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and drives the accelerated expansion of the universe?
a) Dark energy
b) Dark matter
c) Cosmic rays
d) Neutrinos
Answer: a) Dark energy
What is the estimated age of the universe when the first stars formed?
a) 200 million years
b) 1 billion years
c) 5 billion years
d) 13.7 billion years
Answer: a) 200 million years
What is the term used to describe the process by which galaxies cluster together due to the force of gravity?
a) Large-scale structure formation
b) Stellar evolution
c) Galaxy mergers
d) Dark matter halos
Answer: a) Large-scale structure formation
What is the name of the mission launched by ESA in 2009 to map the galaxy in three dimensions?
a) Gaia
b) Hubble Space Telescope
c) Chandra X-ray Observatory
d) James Webb Space Telescope
Answer: a) Gaia
What is the term used to describe the concept that the properties of the universe are suitable for the existence of intelligent life?
a) Fine-tuning
b) Anthropic principle
c) Copernican principle
d) Hubble principle
Answer: b) Anthropic principle
What is the estimated percentage of dark matter and dark energy combined in the universe?
a) 95%
b) 68%
c) 27%
d) 5%
Answer: a) 95%
What is the term used to describe the current era of the universe, characterized by the accelerated expansion?
a) Dark energy era
b) Dark matter era
c) Inflationary era
d) Age of the universe
Answer: a) Dark energy era
What is the term used to describe the theoretical concept of an infinitely expanding universe?
a) Eternal inflation
b) Oscillating universe
c) Steady-state universe
d) Primordial universe
Answer: a) Eternal inflation
What is the term used to describe the process by which galaxies collide and merge with each other?
a) Galaxy mergers
b) Galactic cannibalism
c) Tidal disruption
d) Supermassive black hole formation
Answer: a) Galaxy mergers
What is the estimated percentage of baryonic matter in the universe?
a) 5%
b) 27%
c) 68%
d) 95%
Answer: a) 5%
What is the term used to describe the concept that the universe is expanding at different rates in different regions?
a) Cosmic variance
b) Hubble flow
c) Dark flow
d) Inflationary flow
Answer: a) Cosmic variance
What is the estimated age of the universe when the first galaxies formed?
a) 200 million years
b) 1 billion years
c) 5 billion years
d) 13.7 billion years
Answer: a) 200 million years
What is the term used to describe the process by which light is stretched to longer wavelengths as the universe expands?
a) Redshifting
b) Blueshifting
c) Gravitational lensing
d) Cosmic microwave background
Answer: a) Redshifting
What is the name of the mission launched by ESA in 2013 to study the cosmic microwave background radiation with unprecedented precision?
a) Planck
b) WMAP
c) COBE
d) Fermi
Answer: a) Planck
What is the term used to describe the idea that the universe has a finite age and began at a specific point in time?
a) Cosmic singularity
b) Big Bang theory
c) Infinite expansion
d) Eternal inflation
Answer: b) Big Bang theory
What is the name of the mission launched by NASA in 2018 to study the formation and evolution of galaxies?
a) James Webb Space Telescope
b) Hubble Space Telescope
c) Chandra X-ray Observatory
d) Spitzer Space Telescope
Answer: a) James Webb Space Telescope
What is the term used to describe the process by which light is deflected by the gravitational field of massive objects?
a) Gravitational lensing
b) Redshifting
c) Cosmic variance
d) Dark flow
Answer: a) Gravitational lensing
What is the term used to describe the era in the early universe when matter and radiation were tightly coupled?
a) Photon epoch
b) Lepton epoch
c) Nucleosynthesis epoch
d) Inflationary epoch
Answer: a) Photon epoch
What is the term used to describe the concept that the universe is expanding from a single point in space?
a) Cosmic expansion
b) Big Bang expansion
c) Inflationary expansion
d) Hubble expansion
Answer: b) Big Bang expansion
What is the estimated age of the universe when the first galaxies formed?
a) 200 million years
b) 1 billion years
c) 5 billion years
d) 13.7 billion years
Answer: a) 200 million years
What is the term used to describe the process by which galaxies cluster together due to the force of gravity?
a) Large-scale structure formation
b) Stellar evolution
c) Galaxy mergers
d) Dark matter halos
Answer: a) Large-scale structure formation
What is the name of the mission launched by ESA in 2009 to map the galaxy in three dimensions?
a) Gaia
b) Hubble Space Telescope
c) Chandra X-ray Observatory
d) James Webb Space Telescope
Answer: a) Gaia
What is the term used to describe the concept that the properties of the universe are suitable for the existence of intelligent life?
a) Fine-tuning
b) Anthropic principle
c) Copernican principle
d) Hubble principle
Answer: b) Anthropic principle
What is the estimated percentage of dark matter and dark energy combined in the universe?
a) 95%
b) 68%
c) 27%
d) 5%
Answer: a) 95%
What is the term used to describe the current era of the universe, characterized by the accelerated expansion?
a) Dark energy era
b) Dark matter era
c) Inflationary era
d) Age of the universe
Answer: a) Dark energy era
What is the term used to describe the theoretical concept of an infinitely expanding universe?
a) Eternal inflation
b) Oscillating universe
c) Steady-state universe
d) Primordial universe
Answer: a) Eternal inflation
What is the term used to describe the process by which galaxies collide and merge with each other?
a) Galaxy mergers
b) Galactic cannibalism
c) Tidal disruption
d) Supermassive black hole formation
Answer: a) Galaxy mergers
What is the estimated percentage of baryonic matter in the universe?
a) 5%
b) 27%
c) 68%
d) 95%
Answer: a) 5%
What is the term used to describe the concept that the universe is expanding at different rates in different regions?
a) Cosmic variance
b) Hubble flow
c) Dark flow
d) Inflationary flow
Answer: a) Cosmic variance