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
Fourth Quarter, Observations

Dr Jamie Love Creative Commons Licence 1997 - 2011

Hello and welcome to your last observational exam. This will test your knowledge of the materials covered in the Fourth Quarter of this course particularly in Lessons 39, 42, 45 and 46 so you might want to review them before taking this exam. Part of lesson 40 is also helpful.

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 towards the western horizon soon after sunset in late autumn or early winter. I’ve labeled two stars - Vega and Deneb.

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

Polaris
Antares
Altair
Hamal

2 : What is the constellation I have circled and labeled "B" in this image?

ARIES
CAPRICORNUS
SAGITTARIUS
AQUARIUS

3 : What is the constellation I have circled and labeled "C" in this image?

ARIES
CAPRICORNUS
AQUARIUS
SCORPIUS

The image below shows a view more towards the southern horizon but it contains some of the sky in the previous image including the bright star Altair. I have also drawn the Square of Pegasus. That should help orient you and get you started so you can answer the following questions.

4 : What is the name of the constellation in which I have placed an "A"?

ARIES
CAPRICORNUS
AQUARIUS
PISCES

5 : What is the name of the dim constellation in which I have placed a "B"?

ARIES
SAGITTARIUS
AQUARIUS
PISCES

6 : I have placed a "C" in the center of a pattern that you should recognize as the distinguishing feature of this constellation. The "C" is in the western most of what large constellation?

PISCES
ARIES
TAURUS
AQUILA

7 : What is the name of the star labeled "D"?

Vega
Deneb
Hamal
Sheratan

8 : What is the name of the star labeled "E"?

Hamal
Algenib
Sirius
Arcturus

9. What is the name of the constellation that includes "D" and "E" as its brightest stars.

ARIES
AQUILA
CYGNUS
TAURUS

The image below shows the view overhead as seen from the North Pole. I haven't copied the entire sky, just the view from 90o to 45o, so the edge of the circle is the 45o declination line. I have labeled several stars to help you get oriented and I hope you recognize the bright constellation at the lower right of the drawing.

10. What is the star labeled "A"?

Dubhe
Alkaid
Mizar
Polaris

11. What is the star labeled "B"?

Alkaid
Mizar
Alderamin
Eltamin

12. What is the star labeled "C"?

Alwaid
Eltamin
Thuban
Altair

13 : What is the dim star labeled "D"? Hint: this star was the "North Star" when the pyramids were built.

Polaris
Alwaid
Eltamin
Thuban

14 : What is the name of the large constellation that twists its way from star "C" to star "D" and beyond?

CASSIOPEIA
URSA MAJOR
URSA MINOR
DRACO

15 : The star labeled "B" is the brightest star in what constellation? Hint : the "B" is a corner of this house-shaped constellation.

CASSIOPEIA
CEPHEUS
PERSEUS
AURIGA

This image to the right shows the Square of Pegasus and an area of sky to the south of the square.

16 : What is the star labeled "A"?

Alpha Centauri
Hamal
Diphda
Fomalhaut

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

Fomalhaut
Alnair
Al Dhanab
Ankaa

Below is the southern sky as viewed from the South Pole showing the stars within the -45 declination circle.

18 : What is/are the object(s) labeled "A"?

the Milky Way.
the Andromeda Galaxy.
a pair of quasars.
the Magellanic Clouds

19 : What is the star labeled "B"?

Alpha Centauri
Beta Centauri
Proxima Centauri
Polaris

20 : What is the name of the constellation I have labeled "C"?

CYGNUS
GRUS
CRUX AUSTRALIS
CENTAURUS


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.