This work was created by Dr Jamie Love and Creative Commons Licence licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Astronomy Exam
Second Quarter, Observations

Dr Jamie Love Creative Commons Licence 1997 - 2011

Hello and welcome to your second observational exam. This will test your knowledge of the materials covered in the Second Quarter of this course particularly in Lessons 14, 19 and 23. You might want to have a quick review of those lessons before taking this exam.

Self Evaluation Test - Pretest info

When you choose an answer you will get a "pop-up" response indicating whether you got it right or wrong and providing feedback. This immediate feedback is a learning tool so read each reply carefully. I suggest that the first time you take the test, you simply stick with your original answers, complete the test and submit it for a grade. This will give you an idea of what you have learned so far and is more like a "regular" test. (Whatever that is. ) Your answers will be graded and each one will be scored Correct or Wrong. Once you have the score and the list of incorrect answers you can use your "Back Button" to return to your exam and correct your errors. This second time with the exam you can carefully read each response, learn from it and choose the right answer – then submit your perfect score for a final grade.


Self Evaluation Test
Choose the best answer by selecting one of the buttons. When you get to the bottom of the page, submit your answers.

The image below is a piece of the sky with west to the left, soon after sunset on the first day of May. Use this image to tell me where you would look to find each of the following objects. Note that some may require magnification to be seen but you should still know where they are. Planets are not shown (because their position changes but these sights won't - not during your lifetime).

1 : What is found at the location labeled "A"?

This is location of the Crab Nebula.
This is location of the Ring Nebula.
This is location of the Praesepe cluster.
This is location of the Beehive cluster.

2 : What is found at the location labeled "B"?

This is location of Trapezium.
This is location of the Hyades.
This is location of the Pleiades.
This is location of the Ring Nebula.

3 : What is found at the location labeled "C"?

This is location of Trapezium.
This is location of the Praesepe cluster.
This is location of the Hyades.
This is location of the Ring Nebula.

4 : What is found at the location labeled "D"?

This is location of the Ring Nebula.
This is location of the Praesepe cluster.
This is location of the Beehive cluster.
This is location of Trapezium.

The image below is a large piece of the southern sky with the Big Dipper at the top to help orient you.

5 : What is the star labeled "A"?

Capella
Deneb
Spica
Arcturus

6 : What is the star labeled "B"

Alphekka
Rasalhague
Rasalgethi
Rigel

7 : What is the star labeled "C"?

Regulus
Denebola
Alphard
Procyon

8 : What is the star labeled "D"?

Alphard
Denebola
Alphekka
Rasalhague

9. What is the star labeled "E"?

Spica
Alphard
Regulus
Denebola

Great. Now let's see if you remember the constellations these stars are in.

10. What is the name of the constellation that is the home of star "A"?

BÖÖTES, the Herdsman
VIRGO, the Virgin
LEO, the Lion
CORONA BOREALIS, the Northern Crown

11. What is the name of the constellation that is the home of star "B"?

HERCULES
CORONA BOREALIS, the Northern Crown
CORVUS, the Crow
LYRA, the Harp

12. What is the name of the constellation that is the home of stars "C" and "D"?

HYDRA, the Water Snake
CORONA BOREALIS, the Northern Crown
CORVUS, the Crow
LEO, the Lion

13 : What is the name of the constellation that is the home of star "E"?

HYDRA, the Water Snake
CORONA BOREALIS, the Northern Crown
VIRGO, the Virgin
LEO, the Lion

The small piece of sky seen below shows a view towards the southern horizon shortly after sunset in early spring. I've labeled a few stars to help orient you. Use them to identify the stars and constellations in these next four questions.

14 : What is the star labeled "A"? Hint : this lonely star is the only bright star immediately south of Regulus.

Spica
Vega
Arcturus
Alphard

15 : What is the name of the constellation that is the home of star "A"? Hint, this constellation is long and extends from that circlet of stars near Procyon through star "A" and well off to the left side of this image.

HYDRA, the Water Snake
HERCULES
CORVUS, the Crow
LYRA, the Harp

16 : What is the object labeled "B" in this image?

Alphekka
The Pleiades
Praesepe
Rasalhague

17 : What is the name of the constellation that is the home of "B"? Hint, this constellation is between LEO and GEMINI.

HERCULES
CANCER, the Crab
CORVUS, the Crow
LYRA, the Harp

The image below of the Great Summer Triangle shows you some familiar stars and constellations. I have labeled Vega to help orient you.

18 : What is the star labeled "A" in this image?

Alkaid
Deneb
Altair
Denebola

19 : What is the star labeled "B" in this image?

Gemma
Alkaid
Altair
Denebola

20 : What object is found at location "C"?

The Ring Nebula
The Crab Nebula
The Pleiades
The Praesepe star cluster


You can now submit your exam to for grading. If your answers were less than perfect you will receive a score and a list of Incorrect (and Correct) replies. Then you can use your "Back Button" to return to this page and correct your earlier errors. Once you have corrected all your earlier errors (by rechoosing a correct answer when you were told you are wrong), you will get a perfect score.


This work was created by Dr Jamie Love and Creative Commons Licence licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.