--- title: Olympiad: stars, light and space history ★★★ — how Mova does on the tests · Space description: Lesson 32 of the space course of Mova's primary school: 3 of 12 tests right, exam 2 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/) [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/) / 32 # Olympiad: stars, light and space history ★★★ **Tests:** 3 of 12 right · **Exam:** 2 of 4 right · **Kind:** ★★★ · **Understood:** 8 of 16 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72` Lesson 32 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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/). 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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/). ### Test 1 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t1} ★★★ Finn from Glasgow, on a dreich night: "Took me light years to finish my homework, ken." What is wrong with that, besides the joke? - **1.** It should be "light months", which is a time — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** A light year is only one day, so it is too short — no support - **3.** A light year is a distance, not a length of time — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Nothing: a light year is just a very long time — no support **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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t1/) ### Test 2 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t2} ★★★ Priya: "Vega's light left it 25 years ago, so if it changed last week we'd still see the old Vega." Check the claim. - **1.** True, but only for red stars, not blue ones — score 4 - **2.** False: Vega's light gets here in 8 minutes — score 7 - **3.** True: we see Vega as it was 25 years ago — **✓ the right answer** · score 5 - **4.** False: we always see stars as they are now — **← Mova's choice** · score 8 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 8, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 22, line 4: «So when you look at a star you see old light, like getting a postcard posted long ago: you see the star as it was, not as it is now.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: its «because» matches the remembered cause (+4); the same action «see» (+2); the same thing acted on «star» (+2). The right option, 3, scored 5. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t2/) ### Test 3 · ★★★ · right ✓ {#t3} ★★★ Tyler from Ohio: "Red's hot and blue's cold, like the taps, no cap." What is true for stars? - **1.** He is right: it works just like the taps — no support - **2.** Blue-white stars are hottest, red coolest — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6 - **3.** Every star is the same heat, colour is dust — no support - **4.** Yellow stars like the Sun are the hottest — score 6 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 17, line 7: «A star is a huge ball of hot gas, mostly hydrogen and helium, that makes its own light.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «star» (+3); the same property (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t3/) ### Test 4 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t4} ★★★ Gran: "The Pole Star's the brightest star in the sky, that's how sailors found it." What is right? - **1.** The Pole Star is really the planet Venus — no support - **2.** Polaris is the brightest, but it moves about — no support - **3.** She is right: the Pole Star is the brightest — **← Mova's choice** · score 11 - **4.** Sirius is brighter; Polaris is found by the Pointers — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 3 with score 11, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 32, line 14: «Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky; Polaris, the Pole Star, is not, but it stays almost still above due north and is found with the Pointers of the…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «sirius» (+4); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same property (+1). 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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t4/) ### Test 5 · ★★★ · right ✓ {#t5} ★★★ Jack, rough: "Shut up, the Sun's gonna go supernova and we're all dead." What will a Sun-like star really do? - **1.** Become a red giant, then a white dwarf — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 9 - **2.** Shrink and cool down into a giant planet — no support - **3.** Turn into a black hole in a year or two — no support - **4.** Explode as a supernova, just as he says — score 9 **Why:** It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 1 with score 9, tied with another option at 9 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 19, line 7: «In about 5 billion years the Sun will become a red giant, swallowing Mercury and Venus and possibly the Earth.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «become» (+3); the same thing acted on «red giant» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t5/) ### Test 6 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t6} ★★★ Amara says, "Gagarin went first, then the satellite, then the dog." Put it right. - **1.** Laika, then Sputnik 1, then Gagarin — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** She is right; that was the order — no support - **3.** Sputnik 1, then Laika, then Gagarin — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Gagarin, then Laika, then Sputnik 1 — no support **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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t6/) ### Test 7 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t7} ★★★ Mum: "The Moon's moving off by 3.8 centimetres a year, nothing really." About how far in 1,000 years? - **1.** About 3.8 metres — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** About 38 metres — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** About 3.8 kilometres — no support - **4.** About 380 metres — no support **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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t7/) ### Test 8 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t8} ★★★ Liam from Dublin: "Sure Voyager'd get to Proxima before me nan's birthday, it's grand." How long would it really take? - **1.** About 8 minutes — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** About 75,000 years — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** About 4.2 years — no support - **4.** About 47 years — no support **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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t8/) ### Test 9 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t9} ★★★ An astronaut texts from the space station: "stars r not twinkling up here lol, broken??" Best answer? - **1.** Stars twinkle only on clear summer nights — **← Mova's choice** · score 5 - **2.** The window glass stops them from blinking — no support - **3.** Not broken: twinkling comes from air, and you're above it — **✓ the right answer** · score 2 - **4.** Yes: stars switch off their twinkle in space — score 5 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. 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 32, line 13: «Stars twinkle because moving air bends their light; above the air, as on the International Space Station, they shine steadily.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «stars» (+3); the same action «twinkle» (+2). The right option, 3, scored 2. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t9/) ### Test 10 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t10} ★★★ Zara from Bristol: "Helium were found on Earth first, then they spotted it in the Sun, proper job." Check the claim. - **1.** True: it was found in party balloons first — **← Mova's choice** · score 4 - **2.** False: it was first found on the Moon — score 4 - **3.** True, and the name means "from Earth" — no support - **4.** False: it was seen in the Sun first, in 1868 — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 14, line 8: «Uranus was the first planet discovered with a telescope, found by William Herschel in Bath, England, in 1781.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «discover» (+3); the same property (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). 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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t10/) ### Test 11 · ★★★ · right ✓ {#t11} ★★★ Kofi: "Apollo 11 was 1969 and the station's had people since 2000, so that's about 21 years apart." What is the real gap? - **1.** 31 years — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** 29 years — no support - **3.** 21 years — no support - **4.** 41 years — no support **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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t11/) ### Test 12 · ★★★ · wrong ✗ {#t12} ★★★ "I've told you a million times: Sirius is 8.6 light years away and shines 25 times brighter than the Sun!" Which number is hyperbole? - **1.** A million times — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** 8.6 light years — **← Mova's choice** · score 8 - **3.** None of them — no support - **4.** 25 times — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 31, line 4: «Picture Ruby from Cardiff at the bus stop, moaning "It took a million years for the bus, I'm tamping" - "a million years" is hyperbole, not a number to count,…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «million years» (+2); the same thing acted on «hyperbole» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). The right option, 1, 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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/t12/) ### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1} State the approximate age of a ten-year-old observer at the moment when the light of Proxima Centauri now reaching him departed that star. - **1.** About fourteen years — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** About six years — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** About four years — no support - **4.** About ten years — no support **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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/e1/) ### Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e2} Arrange the following stellar colours in order of increasing surface temperature: blue-white, red, yellow. - **1.** Blue-white, yellow, red — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Yellow, red, blue-white — no support - **3.** Red, yellow, blue-white — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Red, blue-white, yellow — no support **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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/e2/) ### Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓ {#e3} Identify the earliest of the following events. - **1.** The launch of Sputnik 1 — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** The landing of Apollo 11 — no support - **3.** The orbital flight of Laika — no support - **4.** The flight of Yuri Gagarin — no support **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/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/e3/) ### Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓ {#e4} Explain why stars observed from the International Space Station do not twinkle. - **1.** The station spins too fast for twinkling — no support - **2.** Their light does not pass through moving air — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 7 - **3.** The station's windows filter starlight — no support - **4.** The stars are much nearer to the station — score 6 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 32, line 13: «Stars twinkle because moving air bends their light; above the air, as on the International Space Station, they shine steadily.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «stars» (+5); the same action «light» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/space/32-olympiad-stars-light-and-space-history/e4/) - ← previous: [31. Olympiad: planet puzzles ★★★](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/31-olympiad-planet-puzzles/) - ↑ back to [Space](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/space/)