Enjoyed last night's Topix, but it was also a slight disappointment. In order to throw some of the better players off, they threw a couple of questions related to something other than astronomy. I consider that to be a little below the belt. On a Thursday-night Topix of "Venus", I expect the questions to be about the planet, not on a Renaissance painting of the namesake goddess. Although about 11 of the 15 questions were about the planet, but it should have been 15 questions.
None of the astronomy questions were (in my opinion) very hard, and this is why there were several perfect scores in last night's game. (I would rather have seen no more than one perfect score, otherwise I would consider Topix to have been too easy.)
To the curious who may have missed the game, here were the questions, paraphrased by my feeble memory...
Venus is the solar system's ______ planet ((hottest)
Venus completes its orbit in just under this many days (225)
In 1991 which mission started orbiting Venus taking radar images of the entire planet? (Magellan)
Venera 3 became the first spacecraft to land on another planet on March 1 of which year? (1966)
Venus de Milo is sculpture that is famous for her missing (arms)
Of all planetary orbits, Venus is the (least eccentric).
Venus' atmosphere is 96 percent (carbon dioxide).
Venus has an almost identical diameter to which other planet? (Earth)
"The Worship of Venus" was completed around 1520 by this painter. (Titian)
The symbol for Venus is identical to the symbol for (female)
Venus is the Roman goddess of love and beauty. Who is the Greek equivalent? (Aphrodite)
The two "continents" of Venus are Aphrodite Terra and ______ Terra? (Ishtar)
Which feature does the planet Venus lack? [clouds, magnetic field, volcanoes, impact craters, atmosphere] (magnetic field)
Maxwell Montes, the highest mountain on Venus, is named for this scientist (James Maxwell)
That is 14 of the 15 questions, and I might not have named the correct Renaissance painting; the artist in question painted four works with "Venus" as part of the title.
-- RWM