Elementary Astronomy Chapter 1 and 2 TopHat

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D. I saw a full Moon last night.
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D. I saw a full Moon last night.
Which of the following statements is an observation of the natural world?
A. The Moon cannot be full and not full at the same time.
B. A full Moon is prettier than a crescent Moon.
C. The newspaper says that the Moon was full last night.
D. I saw a full Moon last night.
C. Joe's observations were not reproduced.
Joseph Weber designed a series of devices to detect ripples in spacetime, called gravitational waves. After several years of effort, Joe announced that he had detected gravitational waves. He built several versions of his devices and they all detected the waves. When other people tried to build similar devices, none of them detected anything at all. Joe's evidence was ignored by the scientific community because
A. Joe was an Electrical Engineer and did not belong to the physicist club.
B. Scientists would not believe that there was a possible source for gravitational waves strong enough to register on Joe's detectors.
C. Joe's observations were not reproduced.
D. Joe's observations were sloppily done and not convincing.
D. Other people look near Betelgeuse. They see the star and confirm her report. She becomes famous as the discoverer of the first green star.
Sarah reports that she saw a green star close to the star Betelguese. She really saw it and was quite surprised. The most likely outcome of her report is that:
A. Nobody bothers to check her observation and she becomes famous as the discoverer of the first green star.
B. Nobody bothers to check her observation and nobody believes her either.
C. Other people look near Betelgeuse. They do not see the green star, and attack her report as a mistake or a fraud.
D. Other people look near Betelgeuse. They see the star and confirm her report. She becomes famous as the discoverer of the first green star.
C. I saw the Sun set at 4:55pm on December 22 in Richmond, VA.
Which of the following statements is the most likely to be a reproducible observation?
A. I saw the Sun set at 4:55pm.
B. I saw the Sun set at 4:55pm in Richmond, VA.
C. I saw the Sun set at 4:55pm on December 22 in Richmond, VA.
D. I saw the Sun set twelve hours after it rose.
D. only the south of the arctic circle and north of that antarctic circle.
The daily rising and setting of the Sun happens
A. every day, everywhere on Earth.
B. only north of the arctic circle and south of the antarctic circle.
C. only during the winter near the Earth's poles.
D. only south of the arctic circle and north of the antarctic circle.
b. moving over and under a flat Earth.
At midsummer in Murmansk (which is the largest city north of the Arctic Circle), the Sun stays above the horizon for several days. This observation would conflict with the predictions of a model of the Sun's motion that has the Sun
A. moving around the Earth.
B. moving over and under a flat Earth.
C. remaining still while the Earth goes around the Sun.
B. The distance between Alexandria and Syene.
An early measurement of noon Sun angles at the summer solstice at Alexandria and Syene needed one additional piece of information in order to determine the size of the Earth.
A. The longitudes of Alexandria and Syene.
B. The distance between Alexandria and Syene.
C. The solar time difference between Alexandria and Syene.
D. The difference in height above sea-level between Alexandria and Syene.
C. By using a model of the galaxy that correctly accounts for everything has been measured so far.
You read in an Astronomy book that our Milky Way Galaxy consists of about 200 billion stars. How do you suppose this number was determined?
A. By using a computer and a large telescope to count them all.
B. By counting the stars in our immediate neighborhood and assuming that to be typical of every neighborhood.
C. By using a model of the galaxy that correctly accounts for everything has been measured so far.
D. By picking a number more or less at random since nobody could ever check it.
A. the Celestial Sphere, a sphere that surrounds the Earth.
The stars, as seen from the Earth, appear to be attached to
A. the Celestial Sphere, a sphere that surrounds the Earth.
B. the top of the Earth's atmosphere.
C. the Celestial Net, a mesh of wires surrounding the Earth.
D. the Heliopause, an off-center surface surrounding the Sun.
E. the North Celestial Pole.
B. a sidereal day.
The time it takes for the Celestial sphere to rotate once relative to the Earth is called
A. a solar day.
B. a sidereal day.
C. an astronomical day.
D. a Celestial day.
E. a polar day.
Alpha will be both bigger and brighter than Tau Tauri.Two stars we will discuss later are Alpha Centauri and Tau Tauri. What can you conclude about these stars from their names?B. a constellationAn area of the sky that is marked by a recognizable pattern of stars is called A. a celestial sector. B. a constellation. C. an asterism. D. a stellar neighborhood. E. an astral house.B. Orion.The star Sirius can be located by using the pointer stars in A. The Big Dipper. B. Orion. C. The Little Dipper. D. Leo. E. Cassiopeia.E. never sets.As seen from North America, the constellation Cassiopeia A. sets in the east. B. sets in the west. C. sets in the north. D. sets in the south. E. never sets.D. 6 hours.At 8pm, you see that the pointer stars of the Big dipper and the star Polaris are arranged in a vertical line. How long, give or take a few minutes, would you need to wait to see them arranged in a horizontal line? A. It will never happen. B. 24 hours. C. 12 hours. D. 6 hours. E. 3 hours.B. a few minutes shorter than a solar day.A sidereal day is A. a few minutes longer than a solar day. B. a few minutes shorter than a solar day. C. just the same as a solar day. D. several hours longer than a solar day. E. several hours shorter than a solar day.B. almost exactly equal to a solar day (within a second).A time of 24 hours is A. almost exactly equal to a sidereal day (within a second). B. almost exactly equal to a solar day (within a second). C. different by several minutes from both a solar day and a sidereal day.D. The Ecliptic.The path of the Sun on the Celestial Sphere is called A. The Celestial Equator. B. The Equinox. C. The Solar Trajectory. D. The Ecliptic. E. The Great Circle.C. moves eastward along the ecliptic by 1°.In one day, the position of the Sun on the Celestial Sphere A. does not change at all. B. moves westward along the ecliptic by 1°. C. moves eastward along the ecliptic by 1°. D. moves westward along the ecliptic by 15°. E. moves eastward along the ecliptic by 15°.C. the Summer Solstice.The time when the noon sun is highest in the sky is called A. the Spring Equinox. B. the Winter Solstice. C. the Summer Solstice. D. the Autumnal Equinox.D. the sun is lower in the sky in the winter.One reason that temperatures are lower in the winter than in the summer is that A. the sun is closer to our hemisphere in the winter. B. the sun is farther from our hemisphere in the winter. C. the sun is higher in the sky in the winter. D. the sun is lower in the sky in the winter.The Earth is tilted on its axis, so the sun will be higher in the sky for Australia.The Earth is really tiny compared to the distance from the Sun to the Earth, so all parts of the Earth are at about the same distance from the Sun. Explain how it can be summer in Australia when it is Winter in the United States.