1. The Astronomical Unit (AU) is the average distance between
d) the Sun and the Earth
2. What is the length of the AU?
c) 92 million miles (or 150 million kilometers)
3. The radius of the Sun's planetary system out to Neptune in AU is roughly
c) 30
4. The distance to the nearest star (other than the Sun) in light years is
b) 4 (Alpha Centauri in the deep southern hemisphere)
5. The speed of light in miles per second is
b) 186,000 (300,000 kilometers per second)
6. The Earth's diameter is roughly
e) 13,000 kilometers (8000 miles)
7. The Sun's diameter is how many times that of Earth?
c) 100 (860,000 miles, 1.5 million km)
8. The correct order of planets in DECREASING distance from the Sun is
b) Mars, Earth, Venus, Mercury
9. The correct order of planets in INCREASING distance from the Sun is
c) Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
10. The diameter of our Galaxy in light years is roughly
d) 100,000 (though it actually extends well beyond that)
11. The Earth is actually in the shape of an oblate spheroid because of its
b) rotation (which throws it out at the equator)
12. The latitude of the Earth's equator is
a) 0 degrees
13. A city is 2/3 of the way from the equator to the north pole. Its latitude
is
d) 60 degrees north
14. The latitude of Champaign-Urbana is
c) 40 degrees north
15. If you were to stand at the north pole of the Earth, the stars would
move
a) to your right parallel to the horizon (since you are rotating to our
left)
16. If your latitude were 33 degrees north, what would be the altitude of the
north celestial pole?
e) 33 degrees (They are always the same.)
17. At what latitude is the north celestial pole at the Zenith?
e) 90 degrees N (see the previous question)
18. A star on the celestial equator appears to rise
c) exactly east (since the celestial equator always runs from due east
to due west)
19. A star is 45 degrees north of the celestial equator. Where will it rise
for an observer at the Earth's equator?
c) in the northeast (Stars north of the celestial equator always rise to
the north of east.)
20. A star is 10 degrees from the north celestial pole. Where will it set for
an observer at Urbana?
e) it won't set, but will be circumpolar (At Urbana, the pole is 40
degrees up, but the star is only 10 degrees from the pole, so it can't seem to
reach the ground.)
21. Where would none of the sky be circumpolar?
c) equator (since the poles are now on the horizon)
22. Where would you see the most circumpolar stars?
b) south or north poles (since the celestial pole is in the zenith)
23. If you lived at equator, what would be at (or pass through) your
zenith?
c) the celestial equator (since the poles are on the horizon and the
celestial equator is always 90 degrees from the poles)
24. The celestial meridian
a) runs from the south point of the horizon through the zenith to the
north point of the horizon (thus splitting the sky into its
eastern and western hemispheres)
25. The celestial equator runs
e) from the east point of the horizon to the west point