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Class 6 Science: Beyond Earth, 8 practice questions with answers

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These are 8 practice questions on Class 6 Science Chapter 12, Beyond Earth, of the new NCERT textbook, Curiosity. Each has a worked answer and the textbook page it comes from. They cover using the Pole Star to find directions and where it cannot be seen, why a city sky shows fewer stars, why the Sun looks so big, Venus, Mercury and the hottest planet, footprints on the Moon, and what a comet's tail is. Try each one before you open the answer.

These questions are our own, drafted with AI help, and every answer was checked against the textbook page it cites, but no practising teacher has reviewed them yet. If you find a mistake, please tell us.

What the chapter says you need

Facts from the NCERT textbook (Curiosity: Textbook of Science for Grade 6, Chapter 12, printed pages 231 to 252):

Stars, constellations and night sky watching

Question 1. On a family camping trip, Pema stands with her parents on a dark, clear night and finds the Pole Star in front of her. Which direction is she facing, and which direction is on her right?

Answer: she is facing North, so East is on her right. The Pole Star appears nearly stationary in the North direction, so a person in the Northern hemisphere who faces it is facing North. With North in front, East is on the right-hand side and West on the left. (The Pole Star and the North direction, page 235.)

Question 2. Lucas lives in Australia, in the Southern hemisphere. He plans to find North at night by looking for the Pole Star, as his Indian cousin does. Will his plan work?

Answer: no, because the Pole Star cannot be seen from the Southern hemisphere. Not all stars are visible from every place on Earth. The Pole Star helps to locate North only in the Northern hemisphere; from the Southern hemisphere it is not visible at all. (Page 235; the Pole Star is not visible from the Southern hemisphere, page 236.)

Question 3. Tara lives in a big city and can see only a few stars at night. When she visits her grandparents' village, she sees many more. She says, "There must be fewer stars above the city." Find her mistake.

Answer: the stars are the same; the city's sky hides them. In a big city, the sky is rarely clear because of light pollution (too much artificial light at night), smoke and dust, and tall buildings and trees can also block the view. In villages there is less light pollution, so many more stars can be seen. The night sky is best viewed from open, dark areas. (Night sky watching and light pollution, page 236.)

Our Solar System

Question 4. Dorjay says, "The Sun looks far bigger than any other star, so it must be the biggest star there is." Find his mistake.

Answer: the Sun only looks biggest because it is the closest star. The Sun is much closer to us than the other stars, so it appears much bigger than them. The other stars are so far away that they look like points of light, even though some of them are much bigger than our Sun. (The Sun and other stars, pages 239 and 240.)

Question 5. Arjun says, "Mercury is the planet nearest to the Sun, so it must be the hottest planet." Is he right?

Answer: no; Venus is hotter than Mercury, because its atmosphere traps heat. Planets get most of their energy from the Sun, so in general the farther a planet is, the colder it is. But an atmosphere can trap heat and change a planet's temperature a lot. That is why Venus is hotter than Mercury, although Venus is farther from the Sun. (Planets and their temperature, page 242.)

Question 6. Ravi says, "Venus is called the Evening Star, so it must shine with its own light, like the stars." Find his mistake.

Answer: Venus is a planet, not a star, and it shines by reflecting sunlight. Venus is commonly called the Morning Star or the Evening Star because it shines brightly at dawn and dusk, even though it is not a star. Stars shine with their own light, but all the other objects in the Solar System, the planets included, shine because of the sunlight they reflect from their surfaces. (Venus, page 242; stars shine with their own light, page 233; reflected sunlight, page 246.)

The Moon, asteroids and comets

Question 7. The footprints left by astronauts on the Moon are expected to stay there for a very long time. Using what the chapter says about the Moon, explain why.

Answer: the Moon has hardly any atmosphere, and no water or life, to wear them away. On the Earth, wind, water and living things slowly change marks on the ground. The chapter explains that, since there is no atmosphere, water or life on the Moon, features such as its craters stay on its surface for a very long time; the same reasoning applies to footprints. (The Moon's atmosphere and its craters, pages 244 and 245.)

Question 8. Meera says, "A comet's tail is a trail of fire, because the comet is burning." Find her mistake.

Answer: the tail is evaporating frozen material, not fire. Comets are made of dust, gases, rocks and ice. As a comet comes close to the Sun, the frozen material in it starts evaporating, and this evaporating material forms the tail. As the comet moves away from the Sun, it appears dim and cannot be seen with the naked eye. (Comets, pages 245 and 246.)

Questions students ask

What is a constellation? In earlier times, a group of stars forming a pattern was called a constellation. Today the word means one of 88 defined regions of the sky, which often include these star patterns, such as Orion. (Page 233.)

What is the difference between an asteroid and a comet? Asteroids are small, rocky objects with irregular shapes; many of them revolve around the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, in the asteroid belt. Comets are made of dust, gases, rocks and ice; when a comet comes close to the Sun, its frozen material evaporates and forms a long tail. (Pages 245 and 246.)

What is the Milky Way? It is our home galaxy, also called Ākāśha Gangā. On a moonless night, away from city lights, it looks like a faint band of light stretching across the sky. A galaxy has millions to billions of stars, and our Solar System is part of the Milky Way. (Page 247.)

Practise more, and check your marks

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Sources

All opened and read on 22 October 2026. Page numbers are the printed page numbers of the textbook; printed page = PDF page + 230.

The facts are from the textbook pages above. The questions and worked answers are our own. This guide is general information; follow your teacher and the textbook.