The apparent motion of stars through the sky.
Diurnal Motion
The point on the sky directly above my head.
Zenith
Where the Earth-Sun orbital plane intersects the Earth-Moon orbital plane.
Line of Nodes
Well known "connect-the-dot" star patterns.
Constellations
One complete rotation of the Earth (360o).
Sidereal Day
The time it takes the Moon to make one complete orbit around the Earth (360o).
Sidereal Month
The day of the year in Provo when the Sun is up for the shortest number of hours.
Winter Solstice
The first day of fall.
Autumnal Equinox
The north end of this will be pointed towards Vega in about 13,000 years.
Celestial Pole
This is exactly 24 hours long.
Solar Day
This always blocks at least half of my view of the Celestial Sphere.
Horizon
Stars that never rise or set.
Circumpolar
Motion of Earth's Celestial Pole and Celestial Equator with respect to the stars due to the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon.
Precession
The path of the Sun across the Celestial Sphere.
Ecliptic
The Sun will reach its highest point in the sky on this day.
Summer Solstice
You will only see a partial solar eclipse if you are standing in this shadow zone.
Penumbra
The direction of the Earth's rotation about its axis is the same as the direction of its revolution about the Sun. How does a solar day compare to a sidereal day on Earth?
A solar day is always longer
Which of the following groups of moon phases is above the horizon at 9:00 am?
New Moon, Third quarter, and waning gibbous
If the Moon is highest in the sky at 9:00 pm tonight, what moon phase will be highest sky two weeks later?
Waning Crescent
If a small weather satellite is orbiting the Earth at an altitude very far above the Earth's surface and the large International Space Station is orbiting Earth at an altitude quite close to the Earth's surface, what can you say about the length of time i
The distant, small weather satellite has a longer orbital period
How does the Moon rotate to keep one face pointed toward Earth at all times?
It rotates approximately once per month
You look to the eastern horizon as the Moon
first rises and discover that it is in the new moon phase. Later that same day, when the moon reaches its highest position in the sky, which of the moon phases shown at right will the Moon look like?
New Moon
If you were going to send a spacecraft to circle the Moon and photograph the entire far side (the side not visible from Earth), during which lunar phase (as seen from Earth) would you do the photography?
New moon
What two conditions must be met in order for a solar eclipse to occur?
d. The Moon must be new and cross the Earth-Sun orbital plane
To make the seasons on Earth be the same in both the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time, what thing would have to change about the current state of the Earth-Moon-Sun system?
The amount of direct sunlight and hours of daylight would have to be the same all year long in both hemispheres
Retrograde motion was important in the development of our understanding of the solar system because
Its description in terms of the heliocentric model is much simpler in
comparison to its description in terms of the geocentric model
Precession of the Earth's spin axis results in a
Gradual shift in the position of the north celestial pole and the location of the
vernal equinox on the celestial sphere
If you are located in the continental US on the 14th of February, how will the position of the Sun at noon be different two weeks later?
It will have moved to a position higher in the sky.
If I see the star Sirius in the constellation of Canis Major rise at 8 pm tonight, at what time approximately did it rise two weeks earlier?
9 pm
Which of the following best describes what would happen to the orbital period of a planet if the mass of the planet were doubled but it stayed at the same orbital distance?
It would orbit with the same speed
Tycho Brahe demonstrated that the supernova of 1572 was not a nearby (close to Earth) event by
Proving that it did not show parallax over the course of a night
The eccentricity of a planet's orbit describes
Its shape compared to that of a circle
Why is the period between two successive full moons not equal to the Moon's orbital period, or sidereal month?
The Earth-Moon system is also orbiting the Sun.
In a penumbral lunar eclipse
Some light from the Sun is blocked from hitting the Moon, but not all of the Sun's light is blocked. Consequently to the casual observer on Earth, the
Moon does not appear to be undergoing an eclipse.
In the northern hemisphere, summertime occurs when
Sunlight falls more directly on the northern hemisphere, heating it more than at other times of the year