Exam 1: Discovering the Night Sky

A solar day is the time it takes Earth to rotate on its axis between two consecutive solar positions (for example,high noon to high noon or sunset to sunset).A sidereal day is the time it takes Earth to rotate on its axis between two consecutive positions of a distant star (Vega on the eastern horizon to Vega again on the eastern horizon).Which is longer?

On the day of the vernal equinox (approximately March 21 each year),which of the following conditions holds?

The autumnal equinox is the time of the year when:

The plane in which Earth orbits the Sun is called the:

The celestial equator is defined as the:

How often does the Sun cross the celestial equator in a given year?

We can occasionally see a total eclipse of the Sun on Earth because the:

Where on Earth would you have to be to observe a particular total solar eclipse?

The approximate date around March 21 represents the beginning of which season for people living in New Zealand?

Where would you have to be to see the south celestial pole on your horizon?

What was the approximate declination of the Sun on September 22 this year?

The phenomenon of precession of Earth's spin axis is caused by the:

How long will it take,in solar time,for the Big Dipper,to return to the same position in an observer's sky?

(8.0 × 10⁵)/(2 × 10³)=

What kind of eclipse occurs when the Moon's shadow does NOT extend all the way from the Moon to Earth?

From Earth's North Pole,how long does the Sun remain above the horizon once it first appears at the beginning of spring?

The change in the declination of the Sun between March 21 and June 21 is approximately:

The present position of the vernal equinox in the sky is in the constellation:

At what time of the year will the shadow of a vertical pole (a sundial)at any site in the northern hemisphere be the shortest?

The line of nodes of the Moon's orbit is the: