Unit 3: Our Sky Test Review

Why do stars rise and set

• Gravity

• Earth's rotation on its axis

• Earth's Tilt

• Earth's revolution around the sun

How many constellations fill the sky?

• 88

• 2000

• 13

• 12

What is the celestial sphere in relation to our sky?

• Imaginary sphere the zodiac stars appear to originate from

• A spherical location with its edges defined as the edges of the Milky Way

• A myth created to explain the path the zodiacs take in the sky

• Imaginary sphere all stars in the sky appear to lie on

What refers to the constellations that never disappear below the horizon as viewed from Earth?

• Seasonal

• Asterisms

• Zodiac

• Circumpolar

All large bodies in the solar system orbit in ...

I. the same direction

II. the same plane

III. a retrograde motion

• I and II

• II and III

• I and III

• I, II, and III

• None of the above

What is the asterism that lies within the constellation nicknamed the "Big bear"?

• Little Dipper

• The Teapot

• Big Dipper

• The Summer triangle

What is the main reason for Earth's seasonal changes?

• Earth's distance from the sun

• Earth's axis tilt

• Earth's counterclockwise rotation

• Earth's climate change

What causes the apparent retrograde motion of the planets?

• As Earth passes another planet, the other planet appears to move backward with respect to the background stars, but the planet's motion does not actually change.

• The other planets never really appear to move backward; the background stars shift due to Earth's revolution around the Sun.

• Apparent retrograde motion is an illusion created by turbulence in Earth's atmosphere.

• As Earth passes another planet, its gravitational pull slows down the other planet so that it appears to be traveling backward.

The Moon always shows nearly the same face to Earth because

• the Moon does not rotate.

• the Moon rotates once in the same amount of time that it takes the Moon to orbit Earth once.

• the Moon rotates once in the same amount of time that it takes Earth to orbit the Sun once.

• sunlight always hits the same face of the Moon

What makes the North Star, Polaris, special?

• It appears very near the north celestial pole.

• It can be used to determine your longitude on Earth.

• It is the brightest star in the sky.

• It is the star straight overhead.