An observer vacations in Cuba on the 21˚ north latitude line and goes star gazing. How many
degrees above the horizon is the north star?

An observer is located in São Paulo, Brazil, at -23.5˚ (south) latitude. Can the observer see
the north celestial pole?

The same Brazilian observer plants a vertical pole and watches the shadow cast by the sun
over the course of a year. When does the pole cast no shadow at noon?

Which person sees the most circumpolar stars?

As viewed from the north, planets orbit

Direct motion (sometimes called prograde motion) for a planet is

Solar eclipses (sun's disk is blocked) occur during lunar phase

How much time elapses between a star's rising time and setting time?

On the celestial sphere, the zero of the right ascension coordinate is located at

An atom goes from a highly-excited state to a less-excited state.

On January 1, a careful observer notes the exact compass point on the horizon where the sun
rises. A few days later, the sun rises

On July 17, a careful observer notes the exact point on the horizon where the star Altair rises. On July 24, Altair rises at

If the earth’s orbit were exactly circular instead of elliptical, would the heat and cold of the
seasons be different?

If the earth’s axial tilt was changed from 23.5˚ to 33.5˚,

Keeping Kepler’s first law, that orbits are ellipses with the sun at one focus, in mind, what is
at the center of the orbit of Halley's comet?

An X-ray telescope should probably be placed

A visible light telescope should probably be placed

What sort of light has the shortest wavelength?

Which wavelength regime contains potentially ionizing photons?

What sort of light travels the fastest?

What coordinates are useful for locating geographical locations, such as cities, on earth?

What item in this list is not part of “local” coordinates?

What is the ecliptic?

What is the obliquity of the earth, also known less precisely as its “tilt?”

The obliquity of the earth is the angle between which two planes?

During a crescent moon, what causes the dark portion?

Spring tides occur during lunar phase

When is a new moon on the meridian (high in the sky, exactly south)?

When is a third quarter moon on the meridian?

About how long does it take the earth to orbit the sun once?

At about what wavelength does the red supergiant star Betelgeuse, at 2900 Kelvin, emit most
of its light?

At about what wavelength does the earth, at roughly 290 Kelvin, emit most of its light?

Earth emits most of its thermal radiation in the

Molecules of water and carbon dioxide are important for the greenhouse effect on earth. What
sort of spectrum do these molecules exhibit?

An atom with one or more electrons removed is termed

A blue light photon _________ a red light photon

The star Alpha Centauri has a spectrum that looks almost exactly like the sun's. If it is indeed
a twin of the sun, why is it about a hundred billion times fainter in terms of luminous flux?

Chronologically first, this Renaissance thinker published a fairly detailed sun-centered
cosmology that was influential for later scientists. He was a Polish cleric. He was

This Danish gentleman was the most able naked-eye observer of his day. His catalog of
planet positions was used by another to find the true shape of planetary orbits. He was

This Italian scholar ground his own lenses and constructed the first telescope for astronomical
use. He also made contributions to basic physics. He was

If all the water vapor were somehow removed from the earth's atmosphere (this is a thought
experiment), the average earth temperature at ground level would

Which gas is the most effective “greenhouse gas” in the earth's atmosphere as it exists now,
averaged over time and area?

Does Mercury have a greenhouse effect?

Which layer of earth's interior gets the “most liquid” award?

Most earthquakes are associated with

The flattened, rotating disk of cold, dusty gas that gave rise to the solar system 4.5 billion
years ago is called the

As the planets were forming, long ago, and between Mars and Jupiter there is a region where
the average temperature went from above the freezing point of water on the sunward side,
and below the freezing point of water on the outside. This radius is often called

The ages of rocks taken from the lunar highlands have typical ages of

The heavy bombardment phase of solar system formation appears to have been over by age

Heavily cratered terrain generally indicates

Neap tides occur at

How many tidal bulges does the moon raise on the earth's oceans?

Over the course of two orbits around the sun, Mercury spins on its axis

The favored theory for the formation of the moon is usually called

There are now two competing theories for giant planet formation. They are “2-stage
condensation” and