Astro 3- HW 1

If Venus has an angular diameter of 30 arcseconds, how does this compare with the angular diameter of the full moon? Compared to the moon, Venus is about -

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  the same size

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  30 times larger

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  1/3600 as large

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  1/30 as large

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  1/60 as large

What is the range of possible values for Right Ascension?

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  0 to 12 hours

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  0 to 23 hours

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  0 to 90 degrees

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  0 to 180 degrees

The mean distance from Earth to the sun is 384,400 km. This can be written as

• 3.844 x 10^-3 km

• 3.844 x 10^-6 km

• 3.844 x 10⁴ km

• 3.844 x 10⁵ km

If the moon rises at 6pm tonight, then tomorrow night it will rise at

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  the same time

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  12 am (midnight)

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  7 pm

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  5 pm

The altitude of the Celestial Pole at your location is equal to your —

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  latitude.

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  longitude.

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  declination.

• azimuth

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  right ascension.

The direction of motion of the moon in the sky, against the background of stars, is —

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  sometimes west to east but mostly east to west.

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  always west to east.

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  always east to west.

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  mostly west to east but sometimes east to west.

The moon subtends an angle of 30 arcminutes as seen from Earth. This angle is —

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  half a degree.

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  all of these

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  less than one radian.

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  more than 60 arcseconds.

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  none of these

The star alpha Centauri will return to exactly the same position in an observer's sky in what time period?

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  24 hours 4 minutes

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  0.25 days

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  23 hours 56 minutes

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  365.25 days

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  24 hours exactly

What is the zodiac?

• The projection of the earth's equator on the celestial sphere.

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  The circle of 56 chalk-filled holes at Stonehenge.

• The path that the earth's pole makes on the celestial sphere over 26,000 years.

• The path of totality on the earth's surface during a solar eclipse.

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  The set of constellations through which the ecliptic passes.

When the moon is directly opposite the sun in the sky, its phase is

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  new

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  full

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  the moon can never be opposite the sun in the sky.

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  gibbous