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Assignment 2
Multiple Choice
Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
____
1. What would you have to change about the Earth to stop our planet from having significantly different seasons?
a. its distance from the Sun
b. its diameter
c. the amount of water on its surface
d. the tilt of its axis
e. the orbit of the Moon around it
____
2. A "New Age" bride and groom, who are enchanted by the Sun, want to get married on the day when it is highest in the sky. If they live in the United States, around what day of the year will the wedding take place?
a. winter solstice
b. spring equinox
c. autumnal equinox
d. summer solstice
e. you can't fool me, the Sun's maximum height in the sky is roughly the same throughout the year
____
3. In Australia (in the Southern Hemisphere) when are the days the shortest and the nights the longest?
a. in late December
b. in late March
c. in late June
d. in late April
e. days and nights are pretty much the same length throughout the year in Australia
____
4. Which of the following is an important part of the reason it is hotter in summer in North America than in winter?
a. the Earth is closer to the Sun in summer
b. the Sun's rays hit the Earth more directly in the Summer, and spread out less
c. the cloud cover over the entire surface of the Earth is much less in summer
d. the nights are much longer in summer, allowing temperatures to stabilize
e. we see the full Sun in summer, instead of one of its partial phases
____
5. In what location on Earth could an eager math student NOT use her solar­powered calculator at any time at all during the course of a day in June?
a. the North Pole
b. the equator
c. the South Pole
d. anywhere on the International Date Line
e. none of the above
____
6. Some college students decide to form a secret society that would meet each year after graduation at a time when the day and night were the same length. Which of the following would be a time they could meet?
a. January 1
b. December 22
c. September 23
d. June 22
e. they can meet at any of the above times; day and night are always roughly the same length
____
7. An eccentric billionaire wants to build a mansion in a location on Earth where the effect of the seasons is the least pronounced ­­ where summer and winter are not that different. Where should his personal astronomer advise him to build?
a. at the equator
b. at the North Pole
c. at the South Pole
d. at the Tropic of Cancer (23º N)
e. in Bayonne, New Jersey
____
8. If there really were a Santa Claus at the North Pole, what would the cycle of the seasons be like for him and Mrs. Claus?
a. pretty much the same as in the continental United States
b. six months of light, followed by six months of darkness (or at least dark twilight)
c. pretty much the reverse of the seasons in the continental U.S., with winter in June, and summer in December
d. the North Pole is always in darkness (it never sees the Sun, which is blocked by the Earth's equator)
e. the Sun only shines there during the two shopping weeks before and after the Christmas holidays
____
9. Taking astronomy in college ruins you for having any kind of ordinary job, so after graduation you decide to become the leader of a new religious cult. You decide to hold a big religious festival around the time that the days are shortest and the nights are longest in the United States. At what time of year will these celebrations be held?
a. in late August
b. in late December
c. in late June
d. in late March
e. in late September
____ 10. The time it takes for the Sun to return to the same place in our sky after the Earth has rotated once is called:
a. a solar day
b. a sidereal day
c. the ante meridian time
d. a year
e. an equinox period
____ 11. Why is there a 4­minute difference between the solar day and the sidereal day?
a. because the Earth's rotation is variable, due to the pull of the Moon
b. because the stars slowly change their orientations in the Galaxy
c. because the Earth is going around the Sun in the course of a year
d. because the Earth's axis is tilted by about 23 degrees
e. no one knows the reason; we just have to accept the difference as an unsolved mystery
____ 12. During the period we have daylight savings time, we
a. keep our clocks the same, but adopt shorter hours
b. add one hour to local standard time
c. add an additional time zone to the ones in the United States
d. subtract four minutes from the length of the day
e. put some of the sunshine into a special bank, so we can use it during the colder months
____ 13. What time of day (roughly) will a new moon rise?
a. at sunset
b. at about noon
c. at midnight
d. at sunrise
e. a new moon can rise at any time of day, depending on what part of the year we are in
____ 14. A dashing Romanian count asks his sweetheart to marry him. She says she will give her reply when the Moon is full. If he asked when the Moon was at first quarter, how long will he have to wait?
a. about a month
b. about a week
c. about a day
d. about three weeks
e. about a year minus a week
____ 15. You and some friends decide (during a party during the full moon) that you cannot live without having the secret recipe for the veggie burger they serve in the cafeteria. So you decide to plan a break­in to steal the recipe from the chef's office. So that you don't get caught, you want to carry out your plan when there is no moonlight in the evening. What is the next phase of the Moon with no evening moonlight (i.e. when the Moon rises roughly at midnight or later)?
a. new moon
b. the next full moon
c. first quarter
d. a very slim waxing crescent
e. third quarter
____ 16. A friend of yours who takes her astronomy class very seriously challenges you to a contest to find the thinnest crescent moon you can find just after new moon. What time of day is best for looking for this very thin crescent?
a. midnight
b. noon
c. late morning
d. 3 to 4 am
e. just as the sun is setting, or just after
____ 17. A serial killer from a strange cult that follows astrology only kills his victims when the Moon is full. He leaves a note on the body of his latest victim, explaining that the murder was committed when the Moon was rising. What time of day did the murder take place?
a. roughly around sunset
b. roughly around sunrise
c. roughly about midnight
d. roughly around noon
e. you'd need to cast a horoscope to know the answer; we don't have enough information
____ 18. A writer of mystery novels wants to portray something gruesome happening just as the full moon is at its highest point in the sky. What time of day will this gruesome event occur?
a. roughly noon
b. roughly midnight
c. roughly at sunset
d. roughly at sunrise
e. that depends on the season of the year
____ 19. Why does the Moon show phases in the course of a month?
a. clouds get in the way of the Moon's light and cover up parts of it
b. the Earth's shadow falls on the Moon to different degrees as the Moon goes around
c. the angle the Moon makes with the Sun changes and we see differing amounts of reflected sunlight
d. the light of the Earth is reflected to different degrees as the Moon turns around it
e. because without phases there could be no vampire and werewolf stories
____ 20. During what phase of the Moon is the Moon up only during the night hours and all night long?
a. new moon
b. first quarter
c. third quarter
d. full moon
e. waxing crescent
____ 21. What phase of the Moon must it be to have a solar eclipse?
a. full moon
b. new moon
c. first quarter
d. third quarter
e. it can be any phase as long as the orbits are lined up
____ 22. What phase of the Moon must it be to have a lunar eclipse?
a. full moon
b. new moon
c. first quarter
d. third quarter
e. it can be any phase as long as the orbits are lined up
____ 23. When it comes to our place in the solar system today, which model do we accept?
a. geocentric
b. heliocentric
c. Ptolemaic
d. Aritotelean
e. self­centered
____ 24. The strip of the sky through which the Sun, the Moon, and the bright planets appear to move in the course of a year is called:
a. the zodiac
b. the celestial equator
c. the circumpolar zone
d. the horizon
e. the asteroid belt
____ 25. Which of the following is NOT an argument for showing that the Earth must be round:
a. during an eclipse of the Moon, the shadow of the Earth is always seen to be round
b. when ships travel a large distance away, we see their hulls disappear first and their masts disappear last
c. the height of the North Star changes as we travel to different latitudes
d. photographs of the Earth from space always show a round body
e. the Sun is seen blocking different constellations in the course of a year
____ 26. Which ancient Greek thinker suggested (long before Copernicus) that the Earth is moving around the Sun?
a. Aristotle
b. Aristarchus
c. Eratosthenes
d. Hipparchus
e. Zorba
____ 27. How did Eratosthenes measure the size of the Earth?
a. by walking about one­quarter of the way around its circumference
b. by measuring the times of sunrise in each of the four seasons
c. by determining the parallax of the Moon and finding the size of its orbit
d. by measuring the height of the Sun in the sky on the same day in two cities at different latitudes
e. by asking Aristotle who knew everything
____ 28. Which of the following was NOT done by Hipparchus, the great ancient astronomer?
a. compiled a pioneering catalog of the positions of hundreds of stars
b. created the system of star magnitudes that we still (alas) use today
c. discovered that the Earth has a motion called precession
d. explained retrograde motion
e. you can't fool me; Hipparchus did all of the above
____ 29. When a planet temporarily moves westward in the sky over the course of several weeks or months (instead of eastward, as it typically does), we call it:
a. precession
b. ecliptic motion
c. retrograde motion
d. circumpolar motion
e. rude
____ 30. Which of the following is NOT a result of the Earth's precession?
a. the Earth wobbles (like a spinning top) with a period of 26,000 years
b. where the Earth's axis points in the sky changes over the centuries and millennia
c. Polaris will no longer be the North Star in several thousand years
d. the Earth's axis will no longer be tilted in several thousand years
e. the signs of the zodiac most astrologers use are no longer in accord with the constellations in which the Sun is currently found over the course of the year
____ 31. The slow tipping of the Earth's axis in a circle with a period of about 26,000 years is called:
a. precession
b. ecliptic motion
c. retrograde motion
d. deferential motion
e. revolution
____ 32. The great astronomer of ancient times who summarized and improved a system of circles upon circles to explain the complicated motions of the planets (and published the system in a book now called The Almagest) is:
a. Hipparchus
b. Copernicus
c. Ptolemy
d. Pythagoras
e. Alfonso the Wise
____ 33. In Ptolemy's system the planets orbit the Earth and not the Sun. How did the system explain the retrograde motion of planets like Jupiter?
a. the planets were not moving along the ecliptic but all over the celestial sphere
b. the planets moved in very elongated ellipses, and their speed in orbit changed radically over the course of a year
c. the Sun moved among the planets, and pulled them out of their circular orbits
d. the planets moved on a small circle whose center in turn circled a point near the Earth
e. you can't fool me, Ptolemy's system did not include ANY explanation of retrograde motion
____ 34. In what fundamental way did the work of Galileo differ from his predecessors who had thought about the sky?
a. Galileo consulted many authorities before coming to scientific conclusions, instead of working on his own
b. Galileo translated the works of the ancient Greek astronomers, and relied on their wonderful abilities to think through difficult problems
c. Galileo used instruments and experiments to show him what nature was doing, instead of relying on pure logic
d. Galileo relied on the revelations of the Bible to tell him what was happening in the sky
e. Galileo believed that the Earth was the center of the solar system, and everything revolved around it
____ 35. The scientist who first devised experimental tests to demonstrate the validity of the heliocentric model of the solar system was
a. Copernicus
b. Ptolemy
c. Galileo
d. Eratosthenes
e. Lippershey
____ 36. Which of the following was NOT done by Galileo Galilei?
a. turning the telescope to the sky and believing what it showed his eyes
b. discovering four large moons around Jupiter
c. discovering that Venus goes through phases (like the Moon)
d. resolving the Milky Way into many, many stars
e. explaining retrograde motion with the heliocentric hypothesis
____ 37. The Renaissance astronomer who wrote the pioneering book that suggested the Earth probably orbits the Sun (instead of the other way around) was:
a. Newton
b. Ptolemy
c. Eratosthenes
d. Halley
e. Copernicus
Assignment 2
Answer Section
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. ANS: D
3. ANS: C
5. ANS: C
7. ANS: A
9. ANS: B
11. ANS: C
13. ANS: D
15. ANS: E
17. ANS: A
19. ANS: C
21. ANS: B
23. ANS: B
25. ANS: E
27. ANS: D
29. ANS: C
31. ANS: A
33. ANS: D
35. ANS: C
37. ANS: E