Exam 1: Discovering the Night Sky

An observer in the southern hemisphere will see increasing numbers of circumpolar stars as the observer's:

Which one of the following is NOT a zodiac constellation?

Polaris,the "pole star," is at present:

Which of the following phrases is the only one that truly and meaningfully describes the side of the Moon away from the Sun?

Earth would NOT have seasons if:

The time interval from seeing the bright star Regulus rise over the eastern horizon until it rises again the following evening is:

The bright star Procyon is seen to rise on the eastern horizon at 10:00 p.m.on December 1.At approximately what time will this star rise one week later,on December 8?

Any star (except the Sun),when viewed from low latitudes and mid-latitudes,will rise in the east about:

The time that elapses before the Sun returns to the same point in space in the solar system compared with the background stars in our sky is one:

If you were standing on the South Pole (with the south celestial pole in your zenith)at the time of the vernal equinox,where would you see the Sun all day?

From any location on Earth,the zenith defines a direction:

If BOTH the direction of Earth's rotation about its axis and the direction of its revolution around the Sun were reversed,the length of a sidereal day would be:

On December 1 at 10:00 p.m.,the bright star Procyon will just be rising on the eastern horizon.When would this star rise on Christmas Day (24 days later)?

The difference in declination angles between the north and south celestial poles is:

How much larger is the radius of the Sun (6.96 × 10⁸ m)than the radius of Earth (6.38 × 10⁶ m)?

Which of the following directions remains fixed in the sky relative to an observer"s horizon?

If a modern astronomer describes a faint star as being in the constellation Cygnus,the Swan,you know that the star is:

The waxing gibbous phase of the Moon occurs between the two positions of

A science fiction writer,writing a story about inhabitants on Earth in 14,000 A.D.who have survived a disaster that included the loss of modern navigational aids,describes them traveling due north across barren wastes by walking toward Polaris,the Pole Star.What is wrong with this situation?

Precession of Earth's axis of rotation is caused by: