Download Astronomy 101 Practice Exam Winter 2014 Name: You may use a

Astronomy 101
Practice Exam
Winter 2014
Name:
You may use a calculator and your own brain. Answer short answer questions by circling the
answer that best answers or completes the question, filling in the blank(s), or giving a short word
answer. All questions are worth five points each. Good Luck!
Formulas you may need:
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1. What is the reason for the seasons?
What is responsible for the annual motion of the stars?
2. The path the Sun traces on the celestial sphere is
called the _______________.
The band of constellations through which the Sun
moves is called the ____________.
3. Fully label moon phases A and B on the diagram to
the right. Place a letter “C” where the moon would
be waning crescent.
B
A
Earth
After a full moon, about how long is it until a new
moon?
a) A month
b) 2 weeks c) a week
d) 6 hours
4. The solar system spans _________ astronomical units from the Sun to Saturn.
The Milky Way is __________ light years across.
How is a light year defined (in words, not numbers)?
5. Draw a quick sketch of the Sun, Moon, and Earth lined up for a solar eclipse. The phase of
the moon for this eclipse must be __________.
6. Why aren’t there eclipses each month?
Where is the zenith?
Sun
7. Label seasonal Points A, B, C, and D below on the Sun’s path on the celestial sphere, from
our perspective, and write the date beside it. For example, “B” is summer solstice, Jun 21.
B
A
Sun
Earth
Celestial Equator
C
D
8. What force holds the galaxy together? ____________
What force holds the protons together in the nucleus of an atom? ____________
The __________force plays a role in radioactive decay, and how long stars live.
9. Give two reasons why it is colder in the winter than in the winter.
10. Summarize the scientific method.
11. What is retrograde motion? How did the heliocentric view explain it?
12. You observe an asteroid with a period of 5 years. How many AU’s is it from the Sun?
Show your work.
13. Tycho Brahe provided us with the best _______________ of the planets ever recorded
without a telescope.
____________ ____________ recognized the patterns in those observations.
____________ ____________ provided the explanation for those patterns.
14. What is Kepler’s 2nd Law of Planetary motion?
15. Name two things that Galileo saw in his telescope that supported the heliocentric view.
16. What is Newton’s First Law of Motion?
17. ____________ ____________ is a metaphor for the process of discriminating between
models/explanations based on their simplicity (simpler is better).
What was Ptolemy’s contribution to the geocentric theory?
18. Name the planets in order from nearest to the Sun to farthest from the Sun.
Write the size (in Earth Diameters) underneath each planet.
19. A planet in retrograde motion
a) rises in the west and sets in the east
b) shifts westward with respect to the stars
c) shifts eastward with respect to the stars
d) will be at the north celestial pole
20. You watch a planet orbit a distant star. It takes 6.0 years to complete an orbit at a distance of
4.0 AU from the star. What is the mass of the star in solar masses? Show your work.
You later measure the mass of the planet to be 3.0 earth masses. You want to orbit the planet
at a distance of 11 earth radii. What orbital speed should you set in your navigation
computer? Show your work.
Extra Credit:
1. What is the phase of the Moon today?
2. How many earth diameters across is the Sun?
3. What time of day does a 1st quarter moon rise?
a) sunrise
b) 12 noon
c) sunset
d) midnight