Ballpark

Puzzle #5 · 24 September 2026

The five questions from that day's Ballpark, each with its answer, the fact behind it and a link to the source. Rather play it first? It is in the archive.

1. How many years ago did an asteroid strike wipe out all dinosaurs except the birds?

66M years

About 66 million years ago. The asteroid was 10 to 15 km wide and left a crater 150 km across, centered on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Source

Image: ScottRobertAnselmo · CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped

2. As of 2018, how many objects, artworks and specimens were in the Smithsonian's collections?

155M objects

About 155 million, and more than 145.8 million of them belong to the National Museum of Natural History. Source

Image: Nate Lee · CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

3. How many eggs did the average US laying hen produce in 2025?

288 eggs

288 eggs per hen, per USDA. That is roughly one egg every 30 hours, all year long. Source

Image: Stephen Ausmus, USDA ARS · Public domain

4. What was the area of iceberg B-15, among the largest ever observed, when it broke off Antarctica in March 2000?

4,250 square miles

About 4,250 square miles, nearly the size of Connecticut. NASA put it at roughly 170 miles long and 25 miles wide. Source

Image: NASA/GSFC/Robert Bindschadler · Public domain

5. How far away is the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way?

2.5M light-years

About 2.5 million light-years. Even so, it is easily visible with the unaided eye from a dark site. Source

Image: Edoardo Dusina · CC BY 4.0, cropped