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) ______
2. Which of the following answers correctly fills in the blanks in thestatement:
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) ______
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) ______
4. The hour angle of the rising sun on September 21 is ______.
The correct answer is ______
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) ______
6. If the mean Sun transits at 11:48 Central Standard Time, what is my longitude?
The correct answer is ______
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) ______
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 ______
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) ______
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) ______
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) ______
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) ______
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) ______
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) ______
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 ______
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) ______
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) ______
18. On April 27 the declination of the Sun is 10 degrees N. I am located in Gainesville (30 degrees N latitude, 82 degrees W longitude).
Which of the following is (are) correct?
(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) ______
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) ______and (time) ______.
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) ______
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? ______
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) ______
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) ______.
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)______.
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)______.
26. Which of the following prove(s) that the Earth rotates on its axis?
(a) stellar parallax
(b) thecoriolis effect
(c) the aberration of starlight
The correct answer(s) is(are) ______.
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) ______.