Astronomy Pop Quiz!

It's not that hard, and won't take more than five to ten minutes tops.

Originally posted by HowardRoark
A question back at you, how do calibrate angular size with a telescope?

Offhand, I couldn't tell you.

Back at you: What is the Subaru?

You mean other than a nifty car company? It's more commonly known as the Pleadies, M45, or NGC 1432.

[edit on 12/13/2004 by cmdrkeenkid]

1. Looking through the telescope you see an object that appears to have an angular size of 13�. You know this object is 2.2 miles away. What is its true size? (T= (Angular sizeX Distance)/57.3)
Argh I never taught myself that you don't need it in basic astronomy principles.

2. True or False: A constellation is one of 100 areas in the sky.
False im perty sure there are 89.

3. True or False A sundial will tell you the same time of your watch every day of the year.
False. daylight savings

4. Fill In The Blank: Through the course of the year the Sun moves along the Eplipitic, which is a line that passes through the 13 zodiac signs.

5. List the planets in order from the Sun out.
Mercury, Venus, Earth Mars, Jupiter Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto

6. What is the difference between a Solar Day and a Sidereal Day?
A sidereal is the time for the sun to move across the sky. Im goign to guess solar day is a timed period of 24 hrs.
7. What are Kepler�s Laws of Planetary Motion?

8. Describe chromatic aberration:
Uh.. It's what causes the distortion in refractors in their color. Im not sure why but I think thats it.
9. What is the Horizon System? The Equitorial System?
The horizion system and equitorial system are the different mounts for telescopes. THe horizion moves in basic Up down left right or Veritical/ horizontal movement. Equitorial moves you scope in relative to true north and your longituted and lattitude.

10. A telescope has a focal length of 2321 mm. What is this telescope�s magnifying power using a 44 mm eyepiece? (MP=Focal Length/Eyepiece Length)
About 52Xs

11. Fill in the blanks: jupiter is the planet with the shortest period of rotation, while ______Mercury____ is the planet with the longest.

12. A telescope has an objective diameter of 14 inches. What is its theoretical resolving power? (TRP=(4.56 degrees X inches)/Objective)

13. Fill in the blanks: A Lunar Eclipse occurs when the Moon is in the Full phase, while a Solar Eclipse occurs when the Moon is in the New phase.

14. What does NASA stand for?
National arennautics and space adminstration

15. When the Moon is in its Full phase it rises at:

C.) Approximately Sunset


16. What are Kirchoff�s Laws?

17. What is Joseph Fraunhofer's claim to fame?

Finding of neptune?

18. A black body radiation source is what color?
Black

19. This is a diagram of what kind of telescope?

Refractor
20. This is a diagram of what?
Solar Eclipse
Good luck!

1. Looking through the telescope you see an object that appears to have an angular size of 13�. You know this object is 2.2 miles away. What is its true size? (T= (Angular sizeX Distance)/57.3)

About .5 degrees.

2. True or False: A constellation is one of 100 areas in the sky.

False, there are 88 constellations.

3. True or False A sundial will tell you the same time of your watch every day of the year.

False, in fact it only shows the same time as a watch on four days of the year: The Solstices and Equinoxes.

4. Fill In The Blank: Through the course of the year the Sun moves along the ____________, which is a line that passes through the 13 zodiac signs.

Ecliptic

5. List the planets in order from the Sun out.

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto -OR- My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.

6. What is the difference between a Solar Day and a Sidereal Day?

SpookyVince has as good an answer as any: The sidereal day is about 23 h 56 m, while a solar day is 24 hours. A sidereal day is the length of time which passes between a given fixed point in the sky crossing a given projected meridian (line of longitude), and it is shorter than the solar day because of the earth's rotation around the sun. This is because the earth has to rotate slightly more than one turn with respect to the fixed point in order to reach the same earth-sun orientation.

7. What are Kepler�s Laws of Planetary Motion?

1. The orbits of the planets are ellipses, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.
2. The line joining the planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times as the planet travels around the ellipse.
3. The ratio of the squares of the revolutionary periods for two planets is equal to the ratio of the cubes of their semimajor axes.

8. Describe chromatic aberration:

The distortion of light as it passes through a single lense. Blue light focuses closer to the light than red light, which blurs the image. This is corrected by adding another lense or two.

9. What is the Horizon System? The Equitorial System?

Both are methods of finding objects in the sky. The Horizon System only works in one location, and the numbers are constantly changing. It uses altitude above the horizon in degrees, as well as azimuth east or west of north in degrees. Objects don't set or rise at the same azimuth, as this number changes. The Equitorial System, on the other hand, uses the celestial grid, which is like latitude and longitude in the sky. These are called Right Ascension and Declanation.

10. A telescope has a focal length of 2321 mm. What is this telescope�s magnifying power using a 44 mm eyepiece? (MP=Focal Length/Eyepiece Length)

52.75 X magnification

11. Fill in the blanks: __________ is the planet with the shortest period of rotation, while __________ is the planet with the longest.

Jupiter; Mercury

12. A telescope has an objective diameter of 14 inches. What is its theoretical resolving power? (TRP=(4.56 degrees X inches)/Objective)

About .326 degrees

13. Fill in the blanks: A Lunar Eclipse occurs when the Moon is in the _________ phase, while a Solar Eclipse occurs when the Moon is in the _________ phase.

Full; New

14. What does NASA stand for?

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

15. When the Moon is in its Full phase it rises at:

C.) Approximately Sunset

16. What are Kirchoff�s Laws?

1. A dense object will produce a continuous spectrum when heated.
2. A low-density, gas that is excited (meaning that the atoms have electrons in higher levels than normal) will produce an emission-line spectrum.
3. If a source emitting a continuous spectrum is observed through a cooler, low-density gas, an absorption-line spectrum will result.

17. What is Joseph Fraunhofer's claim to fame?

First man to study the spectrum of the Sun. The spectrum is often called the Fraunhofer Spectrum.

18. A black body radiation source is what color?

Trick question, a black body can be any color. It's a perfect absorber and a perfect emitter of radiation.

19. This is a diagram of what kind of telescope?

A Refractor telescope.

20. This is a diagram of what?

A Solar Eclipse.

EDIT: Had to fix some quotes.

[edit on 12/14/2004 by cmdrkeenkid]

So who got the highests score?

Originally posted by Mizar
So who got the highests score?

Oh geez, I forgot about that part! Hang on a moment whilest I tally everything up.

Wanted to take a stab at this...

1. they make programs for that, hehe...
2. false, I know there aren't 100, a little less than that.
3. false, our whole time bit is bogus, daylight savings time, etc. it's got to be off.
4. orbital plane would be my guess at the term
5. easy one...Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto (though the last two sometimes switch as far as distance goes, as they have weird orbits)...
6. no frickin clue...
7. There are three, I know that...1) eliptical orbit with sun at the center, and no idea on the other two...
8. has to do with the way light is split as in a prism I think
9. Ways to find celestial objects
10. more math? again, there are programs for this...
11. I think it's Mercury (shortest), Jupiter (longest) or vice-versa...I know those are the two involved. Since Mercury's close, would make sense...
12. still a nope on the math...not that I can't do it, but why the hell would I do that manually?
13. I'm sure it's full and new, but I don't know which is which...in regards to the question.
14. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (not Need Another Seven Astronauts)
15. When the sun goes down?
16. no idea
17. no idea
18. Black is the presence of ALL color
19. Refraction
20. an eclipse

EDIT: Crap, you already put up the answers...oh well. At least now I can find out those ones I had no clue on. Are you sure about the order on that Mercury/Jupiter one? Doh! I thought you meant orbit around the sun, not daily rotation....



[edit on 14-12-2004 by Gazrok]

These are out of 20, since there were 20 questions...

cpr12r 2/20 (10%)
Gazrok 11/20 (55%)
SpookyVince 13/20 (65%)
HowardRoark 13/20 (65%)
Mizar 14/20 (70%)

Good job to you who attempted it... I know a lot of people had to of looked and decided not to take part because of its length or something. So in my book, you all get A. (/end motivational, pick-me-up speech)

EDIT: Adding Gazrok's late entry

[edit on 12/14/2004 by cmdrkeenkid]

Oldish thread, but I only just read it now. Just thought I'd point out that the answers to Q.11 are Jupiter and Venus

quote: 11. Fill in the blanks: __________ is the planet with the shortest period of rotation, while __________ is the planet with the longest.
Jupiter; Mercury

Maybe I won't miss the next one (if and when it happens)

.
1. 0.499? (mile?)
2. guess, false
3. cloudy day, no, also you would need a different set of markings for summer and winter solstace.
4. plane of the planets? (solar plane?)
5. mercury, venus, earth, mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, pluto
6. guess, solar day when sun is in same position to the surface of the earth (changes a bit each day because of revolution), sidereal is the exact 360 degree rotation of the planet against the background of stars
7. Has to do with sweeping out the same area of the ellipse of orbit in the same time. Means the orbit of a planet in its elliptical path speeds and slows each orbit.
8. maybe doppler affected light color? Objects going away get red, towards get blue.
9. ?
10. 2.32 meter long telescope? MP = 52.75
11. Jupiter-shortest, mercury-longest?
12.
13. full, new
14. National Space and Aeronautic, Administration?
15. C?
16.
17.
18. wouldn't that be X-rays, they aren't visible so they would be black
19. Refracting telescope
20. Solar eclipse

.

Okay here goes...Im not at all good with the telescopic stuff so I'l have a go at the other stuff..


2.I don't understand..you mean is a a legid portion of the sky and is the sky mapped into those in modern astronomy?..In that case I say yes,true, otherwise is don't understand the question

3. False. The sun does not travel as much through the sky in winter as it does in summer...but IMHO on the equator it always does..right??

5. Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto (prior to 1999 it was pluto neptune right?)

7. I did this in school...These laws govern the orbital motion of a body about its star/planet, ..umm letme see if I can explain this...I don't remember them all separately so I'll summarize and the quizmaster will have to see if Im close!!
All planets orbit in elliptical orbits instaed of circular and if the star/parent planet is placed eccentrically than the orbitnig body moves faster when closer to the star/planet and slower when furhter away.And oh yeah theres also something about a equation relating the orbital times and orbital radius one is cubed and the other squared or something...don't remember.. (GOD I want to take a sneak peek so bad!! : ( )

8. This I don't know ..wild guess..something to do with the stars and the colour relating to their temperature??
Blue > White > yellow > red...??

11. This I know, longest is Venus almost an earth year if I remember correctly...and shortest (got this from "2010" sequel to "2001-A space Odessey") is Jupiter, around half a day, aye?

13. Another guess..Lunar eclipse when the moon is full..and solar when the moon is not reflecting any solar light ?(forgot word for that )..

14. C'mon this every kid knows, I think.. National Aeronautics and Space Agency..

16. Isn't kirchoff contribution only to chemistry and semiconductor physics/electronics??

17. Fraunhofer Lines in thge spectrum of the sun!! Yaayie!! I remember..don't remember what they signify but I remember ther were around 600 of 'em!!

18. The question holds the answer? black bodies are black..

20. Solar Eclipse!!

How did I do??

can we have more quizzes please although I may not know much but its fun to rack ones brains..


EDIT: Damn you did put up the answers!! but are you sure on the Jupiter mercury thing..Im quite sure it was Venus because I remember it had a day almost equal to a earth year..

Question number 5 is indeterminate; there are times when the nine planets, based on their order at that time from the sun, are Mercury, Venus...Pluto, and Neptune.

going to be a very long time before neptune is ever further out from the sun then pluto again.

I did a quick run down of the test, and I could do very well with all the questiosn except the ones dealing with telescopes. Tho i do know the differance between a reflector and refractor, it all depends on where you look at it

Venus has the longest period of Rotation (AKA Sidereal Day), Mercury on the other hand has the longest solar day.
BTW, I got 100%, HaHahahhahhahhaha.



[edit on 5-4-2005 by Space_Dork_Boy]