HOMEWORK #1
1.
Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) The hour angle of the Vernal Equinox is 0 hours.
(b) The synodic month is the elapsed time between two
successive new Moons.
(c) The sidereal day is the elapsed time between
successive transits of a fixed star.
The correct answer(s) is(are)
___b and c____
2. Which of the following answers correctly fills in the blanks in
the statement:
If my latitude is 40 degrees south and the Sun is at 15 degrees
north declination, it will rise in the _____ (direction), transit
_____ degrees _____ (direction) of the zenith, and set in the _____
(direction).
The correct answer(s) is(are)__north of east, 55 degrees, north, north
of west ____
3. Which of the following answers correctly fills in the blanks in
the statement:
The daily motion of the Sun takes it _____ (direction) along
the _____ at a rate of _____.
The correct answer(s) is(are) westward, diurnal circle, 15 degrees per
hour____
4.
The hour angle of the rising sun on September 21 is
_.
The correct answer is __18 hours______
5.
Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) Copernicus system required epicycles.
(b) The equinoxes appear to drift westward along the
celestial equator with a period of 26000 years.
(c) Tycho proposed that the Sun went around the Earth.
The correct answer(s) is(are) __a and c______
6. If the mean Sun transits at 11:48 Central Standard Time, what is
my longitude?
The correct answer is ___87 degrees west_________
7.
Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) The declination of the Sun on September 21 is 23 1/2
degrees south.
(b) A lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun comes between the
Earth and the Moon.
(c) When a lunar eclipse occurs the eastern side of the
Moon disappears first.
The correct answer(s) is(are) ___c only_____
8. The time is 6 pm and the Moon will rise in three hours. What is
the phase of the Moon?
The correct answer is ___Waning Gibbous_____
9. Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) There are fewer solar eclipses than lunar eclipses.
(b) Solar eclipses occur at new moon.
(c) There are two solar eclipse seasons per year.
The correct answer(s) is(are) _b and c_______
10. Which of the following is/are conditions necessary for a total
solar eclipse to occur?
(a) the Moon near a node
(b) the Sun at an equinox
(c) the Moon near apogee
The correct answer(s) is(are) __a only______
11. Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) An astronomical unit is the average distance between
the Earth and the Moon.
(b) Aristotle believed that the Earth was flat.
(c) The Moon's nodes precess westward along the ecliptic
plane.
The correct answer(s) is(are) __c only______
12. Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) The celestial equator intercepts the observer's
horizon due east and due west only for those located
in the tropics.
(b) An observer in New York sees more circumpolar stars
than we do in Gainesville.
(c) Tycho is remembered for his accurate measurements of
the positions of the planets.
The correct answer(s) is(are) ____b and c____
13. Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) Kepler's third law states that "the radius vector
sweeps out equal areas in equal times".
(b) Jupiter is an inferior planet.
(c) The totally eclipsed moon is reddish in color.
The correct answer(s) is(are) ___c only_____
14.Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) High tide occurs after the Moon transits.
(b) The Earth raises tides on the Moon.
(c) The Moon's axial tilt causes its libration in
longitude.
The correct answer(s) is(are) ___a and b_____
15. If the right ascension of the Sun is 11 hours, then the right
ascension of the third quarter moon is _____ hours.
The correct answer is ____5 hours____
16. Which of the following is(are) correct?
(a) Aristotle believed that the Earth rotated on its axis.
(b) Eratosthenes determined the circumference of the
Earth.
(c) Ptolemy proposed epicycles to explain the retrograde
motion of the superior planets.
The correct answer(s) is(are) ___b and c_____
17. Which of the following is(are) correct?
(a) A mean solar day is the elapsed time between
successive transits of the mean Sun.
(b) On March 21 the Sun is located at the vernal equinox.
(c) The Earth's orbital motion around the Sun causes the
Sun to appear to move through the sky at the rate of 4
minutes per day eastward along the celestial equator.
The correct answer(s) is(are) ____a and b____
18. On April 27 the declination of the Sun is 10 degrees N.
located in Gainesville (30 degrees N latitude, 82 degrees W
longitude).
Which of the following is(are) correct?
I am
(a) The right ascension of the Sun is 14 hours 24 minutes.
(b) The Sun will set south of West.
(c) The Sun will transit 20 degrees south of the zenith.
The correct answer(s) is(are) ___c only_____
19. If it is 2:00 PM on 9/14 in the Eastern Standard Time zone the
date and time at 120 degrees east longitude are (date) _9/15_______
and (time) ____3 AM_______.
20. Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) There are two spring tides each month.
(b) The Moon raises higher tides on the Earth than does
the Sun.
(c) If the Earth were entirely water the tides would be
about 50 feet high.
The correct answer(s) is(are) __a and b______
21. If the sidereal time is 16 hours 20 minutes and the right
ascension of a star is 13 hours 10 minutes, what is the star's hour
angle? ___3 hours 10 minutes____
22. Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) The eccentricity of a planet's orbit is its average
distance from the Sun.
(b) Perihelion is the point of closest approach to the Sun
in a planet's orbit.
(c) When Venus is an "Evening star" it has an eastern
elongation.
The correct answer(s) is(are) ____b and c____
23.
Which of the following is (are) discoveries made by Galileo?
(a) Saturn has four moons.
(b) Venus goes through a complete set of phases.
(c) Planets have visible disks.
The correct answer(s) is(are) ______ b and c________.
24.
Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) Kepler's third law states that the force of action equals
the force of reaction.
(b) Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity explained the
precession of the perihelion of Mercury.
(c) Of the forces in nature, the gravitational force is
stronger than the electromagnetic force.
The correct answer(s) is(are)____b only________.
25.
Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) The edge of a long ellipse looks like a hyperbola.
(b) The eccentricity of a circle equals zero.
(c) The center of gravity of two masses is closer to the more
massive one.
The correct answer(s) is(are)______b and c_______.
26.
Which of the following prove(s) that the Earth rotates on its axis?
(a) stellar parallax
(b) the coriolis effect
(c) the aberration of starlight
The correct answer(s) is(are) ____b only________.
27.
Which of the following statements is (are) correct?
(a) An astronomical unit is the average distance between the Earth
and the Moon.
(b) One can determine the mass of a planet by watching a moon go
around it.
(c) Conic sections are used to determine the temperature in a
planet's atmosphere.
The correct answer(s) is(are) ____b only________.