Note: Each Question counts 2 points. 80 points correspond to 100%.

Where you find the remark: (More than one answer), providing all correct answers leads to full credit. One correct answer leads to 1 point. Second answer incorrect leads to subtraction of the first point.

1. What is 1.6 X 10 ^{6 ?}

1. 160,000
2. 600,016
3. 1,600,000
4. 16,000,000

2. To measure (for example, length, time, mass) means to ______________________ (short answer) it with a known (length, time, mass).

3. In our model of the solar system the styrofoam ball that represents the sun has a diameter of 14 cm and is at a distance of 15 m from the model Earth. Everything has shrunk. How large do you see the model sun from a distance of 15 m as compared with the real sun in the sky?

1. The model sun appears smaller because it is a smaller object
2. The model sun appears the same because both distance and size have shrunk by the same amount
3. The model sun appears larger than the real sun because it is closer

4. Saturn has about 10 times the radius of Earth. How much larger is its volume than that of Earth?

1. 10 times larger
2. 30 times larger
3. 1000 times larger
4. 100 times larger
5. I need to know the value of it to answer this question

5. On my trip to a conference in Argentina in December I arrived at the Buenos Aires Airport in a hefty snowstorm. What is incorrect in this sentence?

Short answer __________________________________________________

6. You lead an expedition to the South Pole. You are close to the pole in June. How do you figure out, when you are exactly at the pole? You are there when you observe that

1. the South Star is exactly at the horizon;
2. the sun passes exactly overhead;
3. the South Star is seen exactly overhead;
4. the stars move around you exactly parallel to the horizon.

7. Refer to the following figure:

A space probe has been launched, and it is moving in the direction of the fat arrow. Suddenly the thrusters stop working at the position of the arrow. Which of the trajectories in the figure will the probe follow now?

8. How did ancient Greek philosophers conclude that the Earth is a sphere?

1. The horizon looks like a full circle surrounding the observer.
2. The sky looks like a huge dome surrounding the Earth.
3. They noticed that the Earth's shadow on the Moon during a lunar eclipse is round.
4. They sailed around the Earth.

9. In Durham, NH, a star is observed to rise in the northeast. This star will be above the horizon

1. for only less than half a day
2. for exactly half a day
3. for more than half a day
4. I need to know which time of the year it is to answer this question.

10. It is found that the Sun is Å 300 times farther away from the Earth than the Moon. What do you conclude about the size of the Sun from the fact that the Sun is covered exactly by the Moon during a total solar eclipse?

Short answer __________________________________________________

11. The schematic below shows the sun as taken with multiple exposures of the sun during sunset close to fall equinox taken from your professor's high school. What is the geographic latitude of your professor's home town?

1. 40 north
2. at the equator
3. 50 north
4. 50 south
5. The sun is not a good object to measure this because it changes its location in the sky over the year.

12. You have measured the angular size of Saturn in the sky. What else do you need to know to deduce its diameter?

1. Saturn's mass
2. Saturn's distance from the Earth
3. Saturn's rotation period
4. Saturn's distance from the Sun

13. 1 Astronomical Unit (1 AU) is

1. the size of a star;
2. the age of the universe
3. the distance of the Earth from the Sun
4. the distance of the Moon from the Earth

14. From which observation could Galileo deduce that the sun rotates?

Short answer _____________________________________________

15. How do we measure time?

1. We compare it with a regular motion
2. We wait, till we feel enough time has elapsed
3. We cannot measure time

16. Velocity is

1. mass/volume
2. length/time
3. length2
4. time/length
5. length/time2

17. The figure below shows the Earth, with the Earth's North Pole (N) at the top. Which arrow points to the southern celestial pole?

18. When you travel to Florida for your vacation where will you find Polaris (the North Star) in the sky?

1. Polaris will be lower in the sky than in NH
2. Polaris will be not be visible from Florida
3. Polaris will be higher in the sky than in NH

19. During a solar eclipse the sun may not be completely covered, although the moon is dead centered with the sun. What is the reason for this phenomenon?

1. The Sun has grown larger.
2. The Sun is at a greater distance.
3. The Moon has shrunk.
4. The Moon is at a greater distance than usual.
5. This is called an ________________ Eclipse (1 Bonus Point)

20. You read on the science page of the Boston Globe that Venus is at its Maximum Eastern Elongation, i.e. a relatively good observing condition. When and where do you expect to find Venus in the sky?

1. high on the Meridian at midnight
2. in the western sky after sunset
3. in the eastern sky before sunrise
4. in the eastern sky after sunset

21. How did Copernicus explain the loops (retrograde motion) of the outer planets in the sky in his model of the solar system?

1. The planets move on epicycles.
2. The Earth passes the outer planets with a higher speed on its orbit around the sun.
3. The outer planets pass the Earth with a higher speed on their orbit around the sun.
4. The rotation of the planets about their axis produces the loops.

22. On its orbit around the sun a planet

1. moves at higher speed when it is farther away from the Sun
2. moves at higher speed when it is closer to the Sun
3. does not change its speed at any time
4. moves backward on its orbit when it is in opposition

23. According to Kepler's 3rd Law the quantity (Distance from the Sun)3/(Orbital Period)2 is...

1. a constant for all planets in the solar system.
2. increasing with distance from the sun.
3. decreasing with distance from the sun.

24. By using the detailed observations of Tycho Brahe about the motion of Mars Kepler

1. found that planets move exactly on circles around the Sun
2. confirmed that the planets orbit around the Earth
3. found that planets do not move on circles, but on ellipses
4. found that Tycho Brahe's observations were not exact enough to conclude anything.

25. Earth orbiting satellites are kept from flying away by the mutual attraction through the force of gravity. Which of the following sentences is true?

1. The satellite pulls stronger on Earth than the Earth on the satellite.
2. The satellite is flying freely without a force acting on it.
3. The satellite pulls with the same force on Earth as the Earth on the satellite.
4. The Earth pulls stronger on the satellite than the satellite on Earth.

26. An object is in a straight motion and does not change its speed. What do you conclude?

1. A constant force keeps the object moving.
2. No force is involved to keep the object moving at the same pace.
3. You have to touch the object to draw a conclusion on whether there is a force involved or not.

27. The sidereal period of a planet is the time in which the planet completes one orbit with respect to the ___________________ (Short answer).

28. Refer to the following figure:

Which of the following phases are impossible to explain in the model by Ptolemy, but found in the model by Copernicus? (More than one answer)

1. New Venus
2. Half Venus
3. Crescent Venus
4. Gibbous Venus

29. What was used to define the number of days in a week and their names?

1. The 7 bright stars of the Pleiades
2. Sun, Moon and the 5 planets that are visible without a telescope
3. The 7 planets up to Neptune excluding Earth
4. The 7 wonders of the world

30. The first astronauts on Mars will see the Earth moving in the Martian sky like we see from Earth

1. The inferior planets
2. The superior planets
3. The Moon
4. It is not possible to see the Earth from Mars.

31. A lunar eclipse occurs on April 3. When will be the next opportunity for a lunar eclipse?

1. About 3 months later
2. About 6 months later
3. About 9 months later
4. About 1 month later

32. The moon's diameter in the sky is one-half degree. If it were twice as far away from us, its diameter would be

1. one degree.
2. one-half degree.
3. one-quarter degree.

33. Why don't eclipses occur at every new or full Moon?

1. The Moon's orbital plane is inclined 5 degrees from the Earth's orbital plane.
2. There is an eclipse at every new or full moon, but they are only visible from special places on the Earth.
3. Eclipses only occur when the Moon is closest to the Earth.

34. Mars is close to Opposition. Where do you find Mars shortly after sunset.

1. low in the western sky
2. high in the sky in the south
3. close to Polaris
4. low in the eastern sky

35. A force (more than one answer)

1. changes the speed of an object
2. does not influence the motion of objects
3. changes the direction of motion of an object
4. changes the mass of objects

36. The seasons on Earth come from the fact that

1. Earth is farther away from the Sun in winter than in summer
2. Earth's axis is tilted with respect to the axis of the Earth's orbit around the Sun
3. the Sun emits less light in winter than in summer

37. We are inside the Earth and face NH. We see a star passing the location of NH. If we stand in Durham and watch the sky where will we find this star?

1. The star will just rise in NH
2. This star will not be visible from NH
3. This star will be exactly overhead
4. The star will just set in NH

38. The constellation of Orion is

1. only visible from locations in the southern hemisphere
2. only visible around midnight
3. always visible in the sky over Durham
4. rising exactly in the East and setting exactly in the West

39. It is waning half Moon. Where do you look for the Moon shortly after midnight?

1. I would not see the Moon at this time.
2. The Moon will just be rising in the East.
3. The Moon will almost be setting in the West.
4. The Moon will be high in the sky in the South.
5. The answer depends on the time of the year.

40. From the southern hemisphere of Earth the planets are seen

1. crossing the sky in its northern part
2. crossing the sky in its southern part as here
3. never

Bonus Question 1:

From where on Earth are we able to see only half of the entire sky, no matter how long we are watching?

1. We can see all stars from any point on Earth. We only have to wait through an entire year to be able to see all stars.
2. We can see only half the sky on the equator, because it cuts the sky exactly into a northern and a southern half.
3. On one of the poles we can only see half the sky, because none of the stars ever rises or sets here.
4. There is no such place on Earth. We can always see more than half of the sky, because the apparent rotation of the sky brings other constellations into sight.

Bonus Question 2:

You are somewhere in NH. From the way the situation looks like you can derive into which general direction you are looking. Which answer is correct?

1. West
2. South
3. North
4. East

   This is a ________________________ (short answer) crescent Moon. 1 Bonus Point

Reserve Questions

xx. The method by which we can derive something that we cannot directly measure from measurements of other quantities is called:

1. combustion
2. deduction
3. reduction
4. collection

xx. From the appearance of the phases of the Moon the Greeks reasoned that the Moon is _________________ (Short answer).