Principles of Astronomy is copyright protected, is the sole property of the author (Dr Jamie Love © 1997 - 2011) and is sold exclusively by Merlin Science. Any form of reproduction by any media is strictly forbidden.

In this sample, only the first quarter of the course is available. The remaining section are included in the complete hypertextbook, which does not have the advertisements displayed here in this sample. To learn more about the course and hypertextbook, visit the Principles of Astronomy website.

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Astronomy Exam First Quarter, Academic Dr Jamie Love © 1997 - 2011 Hello and welcome to your first exam. This will test your knowledge of the materials covered in the first 12 lessons (the First Quarter) of this course. 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. 1 : Your extended hand, held wide open, plus your fist, cover the distance between two stars. How far apart are they (approximately)? Two light-years. 10 degrees 90 degrees 30 degrees 2 : If you were at the North Pole, Polaris would be ... at your zenith. at your northern horizon. below the horizon. anywhere! It depends on the time of day. 3 : Right ascension is the sky's equivalent to the Earth's ... latitude. longitude. altitude. meridian. 4 : Azimuth is the ... angle, measured in degrees, above the nearest horizon. horizontal direction (angle) or bearing of an object in the sky. point in the sky (on the "celestial sphere") directly overhead. great circle on the celestial sphere that passes through your zenith and also through both celestial poles. 5 : The amount of light that a telescope can collect is limited by the telescope's ... chromatic aberration. focal point. aperture. eyepiece. 6 : The magnifying power of a (refracting) telescope can be calculated ... using sophisticated computer simulations. from the focal lengths of the two lenses. from the diameters of the two lens. from the price of the telescope. 7 : The Celestial Equator ... divides the night sky into two hemispheres - north and south. passes though ORION's belt (roughly). both of the above two answers are correct. divides the night sky into two hemispheres - east and west. 8 : If your latitude is 30o, what is the most southerly declination of a star for it to be circumpolar? +90 +60 +30 -30 9 : A star with a (relative) magnitude of 4 is _________ than a star with a magnitude of 3. dimmer brighter farther away larger 10 : A ___________ is the time taken for any object in the Solar System (such as the Moon) to return to the same position relative to the Sun as seen from Earth. year solar time sidereal period synodic period 11: (Give this some though. Maybe draw it out so you can better see what you are trying to discover.) The First Quarter Moon rises around ... local sunset local midnight local noon local sunrise 12 : Sunrise or sunset, as seen from the surface of the Moon, appears to us here on Earth as the Moon’s ... maria. rays. Lunar Transient Phenomena (LTP). terminator. 13 : The color of a star is due to its ... surface temperature. composition. distance. twinkling. 14: Stars are categorized, from COOLEST to HOTTEST, along the scale labeled ... A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K W, O, B, A, F, G, K, M, R, N, S S, N, R, M, K, G, F, A, B, O, W H-R 15 : Luminosity is a measure of how bright the star really is when compared to ... it's absolute magnitude. it's relative magnitude. another star. our Sun. 16 : The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, or simply the H-R diagram, plots ... star color (or temperature) along the horizontal axis and luminosity along the vertical axis. star color (or temperature) along the vertical axis and luminosity along the horizontal axis. star color (or temperature) along the horizontal axis and relative magnitude along the vertical axis. star color (or temperature) along the horizontal axis and absolute magnitude along the vertical axis. 17 : An inferior planet at its greatest eastern elongation is best seen ... around midnight. around noon. just after sunset. just before sunrise. 18 : When a planet is less than one astronomical unit (AU) from Earth AND shares the same RA as the Sun, that planet must be ... Venus! Mercury! at superior conjunction. at inferior conjunction. 19 : A superior planet can be seen to retrograde when it is near ... conjunction. quadrature. opposition. the Moon. 20 : If the Earth were stationary, an inferior planet would be seen to retrograde after it has reached ... its greatest western elongation. its greatest eastern elongation. conjunction. quadrature. 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.