---
title: The Milky Way — how Mova does on the tests · Space
description: Lesson 23 of the space course of Mova's primary school: 0 of 11 tests right, exam 1 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/23-the-milky-way/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/) / [Space](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/) / 23

# The Milky Way

<!-- .vintro -->
**Tests:** 0 of 11 right · **Exam:** 1 of 4 right · **Kind:** plain · **Understood:** 5 of 15 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72`

<!-- .vabout -->
Lesson 23 of the space course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/space/23-the-milky-way/).

<!-- .vabout -->
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/).

<!-- div qa no -->

### Test 1 · wrong ✗ {#t1}

<!-- .q -->
Tom says "the Milky Way is a chocolate bar, not a real thing in space". What should you tell him?

- **1.** It is just a thin cloud of dust floating around the Earth — **← Mova's choice** · score 13
- **2.** It is our real galaxy, and the bar is named after it — **✓ the right answer** · score 13
- **3.** It is another, older name for the Moon and its pale light — no support
- **4.** He is right, it is only a sweet that was named after a star — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 13, tied with another option at 13 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 23, line 6: «The Milky Way is our galaxy, a huge disc of a few hundred billion stars, and the Sun is just one of them.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «milky way» (+5); it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same thing acted on «galaxy» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). The right option, 2, scored 13. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/t1/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Test 2 · wrong ✗ {#t2}

<!-- .q -->
Why does the Milky Way look like a band across the sky, not a round blob?

- **1.** The Earth's air stretches the round galaxy into a band — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** The galaxy is a long thin tube — no support
- **3.** We are inside a flat disc and look along it — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** Only one row of stars exists — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/t2/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Test 3 · wrong ✗ {#t3}

<!-- .q -->
If you could watch from far outside, which picture would show the Milky Way?

- **1.** A long straight line of stars — no support
- **2.** A ring with nothing inside — no support
- **3.** A round ball of stars — **← Mova's choice** · score 10
- **4.** A flat pinwheel with a bar in the middle — **✓ the right answer** · no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 10, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 17, line 10: «Star colours show their temperature: red stars are coolest at about 3,000 °C, the Sun is yellow-white at about 5,500 °C, and blue-white stars can be over 20,00…», reached through what was said in the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same doer «sun» (+4). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/t3/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Test 4 · wrong ✗ {#t4}

<!-- .q -->
How many times has the Sun gone round the galaxy since the dinosaurs died out 66 million years ago?

- **1.** About 66 times — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Less than once — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** It does not move at all — no support
- **4.** Thousands of times — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/t4/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Test 5 · wrong ✗ {#t5}

<!-- .q -->
camping in the Highlands n there's this pale milky stripe across the sky. what is it

- **1.** Mist rising slowly from the hills and the lochs — no support
- **2.** A long white trail left behind by an aeroplane — no support
- **3.** The Milky Way, our galaxy seen from inside — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** Light glowing up from a far-off city like Glasgow — **← Mova's choice** · score 5

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 17, line 15: «On a very dark, clear night away from towns, you can see about 2,000 to 3,000 stars at once with the naked eye, but in a city only a few dozen, because street…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «street lights» (+4); the same place «city» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/t5/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Test 6 · wrong ✗ {#t6}

<!-- .q -->
In a game the Sun sits right in the middle of the galaxy. What is wrong?

- **1.** The Sun is outside the galaxy — **← Mova's choice** · score 10
- **2.** The Sun is at the very outer edge — no support
- **3.** Nothing, the Sun really does sit right in the middle of the galaxy — no support
- **4.** The Sun is far out, about 26,000 light years from the centre — **✓ the right answer** · score 7

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 10, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 23, line 15: «The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are two small galaxies near ours, seen as misty patches in the southern sky.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «large magellanic clouds» (+4); the same circumstance (+4); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). The right option, 4, scored 7. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/t6/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Test 7 · wrong ✗ {#t7}

<!-- .q -->
Which is true about the black hole at the centre of our galaxy?

- **1.** It will swallow the Earth some time next year, bit by bit — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** It is about 4 million times the mass of the Sun — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** It is only a myth, and there is no evidence for it at all — no support
- **4.** It is about the size and mass of the Earth, only darker — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/t7/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Test 8 · wrong ✗ {#t8}

<!-- .q -->
Mia in Melbourne sees two misty patches far from the Milky Way's band. What are they likely to be?

- **1.** Two comets that never move — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Dust on her telescope — no support
- **3.** The Magellanic Clouds, small galaxies — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** Two clouds of smoke from fires — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/t8/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Test 9 · wrong ✗ {#t9}

<!-- .q -->
Your nan says she could see the Milky Way from her garden as a girl but you can't today. Most likely why?

- **1.** Stars were brighter in the past — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** More light pollution now — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** The Milky Way has moved away — no support
- **4.** Her eyes were special — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/t9/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Test 10 · wrong ✗ {#t10}

<!-- .q -->
News says "the Milky Way WILL crash into Andromeda". What is the fairer way to put it?

- **1.** It will certainly happen within our own lifetime, maybe soon — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** They might merge in billions of years, but it is uncertain — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** It can never happen at all — no support
- **4.** It already happened last century — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/t10/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Test 11 · wrong ✗ {#t11}

<!-- .q -->
Why did people before Galileo not know the Milky Way was made of stars?

- **1.** They thought the faint stars were only planets, not far-off suns — **← Mova's choice** · score 5
- **2.** The stars are too faint to see one by one without a telescope — **✓ the right answer** · score 5
- **3.** The stars were not there before 1610 — score 4
- **4.** Nobody ever looked up at night — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 19, line 5: «People have watched stars die: Chinese astronomers saw a "guest star" in 1054, a supernova blazed in 1987, and neutron stars crashing together, first seen in 2…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «people» (+3); the same action «think» (+2). The right option, 2, scored 5. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/t11/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1}

<!-- .q -->
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the structure of the Milky Way?

- **1.** It is an elliptical galaxy of a few thousand stars — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** It is a spherical cloud of gas which surrounds the Earth and the Moon — no support
- **3.** It is a barred spiral galaxy, a disc of a few hundred billion stars — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** It is an irregular cluster of nine planets — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/e1/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e2}

<!-- .q -->
Ascertain the approximate distance of the Sun from the centre of the galaxy.

- **1.** About one hundred light years — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** About one hundred thousand light years — no support
- **3.** About twenty-six thousand light years — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** About one astronomical unit — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/e2/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa ok -->

### Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓ {#e3}

<!-- .q -->
Identify the principal reason for which the Milky Way is no longer visible from most homes in Britain and the USA.

- **1.** Light pollution — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** The recession of the galaxy from the Earth — no support
- **3.** Atmospheric dust from volcanoes — no support
- **4.** The excessive brightness of the Moon — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/e3/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- div qa no -->

### Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e4}

<!-- .q -->
Select the response that is consistent with the established facts concerning the object designated Sagittarius A\*.

- **1.** It is a bright star in the constellation Sagittarius — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** It is a small galaxy near the Milky Way — no support
- **3.** It is a black hole at the centre of the galaxy, first imaged in 2022 — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** It is a planet orbiting a distant star — no support

<!-- .why -->
**Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/23-the-milky-way/e4/)

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [22. Distances and light years](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/22-distances-and-light-years/)
- next →: [24. Galaxies and the Big Bang](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/24-galaxies-and-the-big-bang/)
- ↑ back to [Space](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/)