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ASTRONOMY 4
DeAnza College
Fall, 2011
First Midterm Exam
Instructions:
1. On your Parscore sheet (using a #2 pencil):
a. Write and fill in the bubbles for your 8-digit ID number. Leave the right-most two
columns blank.
b. Fill in the A bubble in the TEST FORM columnWrite and bubble in your name
in LastName FirstName form (i.e. family name then given name separated by a
space). Dont leave any blank spaces on the left.
c. Leave blank: areas for phone number, exam number, and code.
2. Please print your name and sign your name in the appropriate spaces at the top of this page.
3. This is a closed-book, closed-notes exam. No reference materials of any kind are to be
used during the exam.
4. Your exam should have five pages (including this one).
Please check to make sure that it does.
5. Mark your answers on this booklet as well as filling in the bubbles on your Parscore sheet.
6. Turn in your Parscore sheet inside your exam booklet.
Good luck!

PART I: Multiple choice / True-False (90% of the exam's points)

On your Parscore sheet:
A = A correct answer (True)
B = An incorrect answer (False)
You are to mark at least one answer True in each lettered question group.
A. Who among the following is credited with having made the most precise measurements of
planets' positions without using a telescope?
T F 1) Ptolemy
T F 2) Tycho Brahe
T F 3) Galileo
T F 4) Kepler
B. At the equator of the Earth, which one/ones of these would always be straight overhead?
T F 5) the North Celestial Pole
T F 6) the zenith
T F 7) a point on the Celestial Equator
T F 8) the Ecliptic
C. The retrograde motion of Jupiter is explained by
T F 9) its motion along more than one circle according to the geocentric model.
T F 10) its motion along more than one circle according to the Ptolemaic model.
T F 11) Earth catching up with Jupiter and passing it in orbit according to the heliocentric
model.
T F 12) the fact that Jupiter has a very complicated orbit around the Sun; it doesnt always
travel in the same direction.
D. What causes the seasons?
T F 13) Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer than it is in the winter.
T F 14) Earths orbit is elliptical.
T F 15) Earths axis is tilted relative to a perpendicular to its orbit plane.
T F 16) The Sun gets slightly brighter and dimmer with a one-year period.
E. Which of the following is/are Terrestrial bodies?
T F 17) Earth
T F 18) Earths moon
T F 19) Neptune
T F 20) Pluto
F. Which of the following is/are true about the Moons motion around the Earth?
T F 21) It moves toward the East through the constellations by some amount per day.
T F 22) It moves toward the West through the constellations by some amount per day.
T F 23) It takes about a month to go all the way around once.
T F 24) It takes about a year to go all the way around once.

G. Tycho Brahe
T F 25) had a pet moose.
T F 26) made very precise measurements of planets positions on the celestial sphere.
T F 27) had a metal nose.
T F 28) died from mercury poisoning.
H. The word "parallax" refers to
T F 29) seeing an object against the background from different points of view.
T F 30) the ruler of the universe in Babylonian mythology.
T F 31) a mathematical computation that was used by the Aztecs to predict eclipses.
T F 32) the differing pull of gravity on objects of different mass.
I. An Astronomical Unit is
T F 33) a unit of distance.
T F 34) a unit of mass.
T F 35) the average distance from Earth to the Sun.
T F 36) the semi-major axis of Earth's orbit.
T F 37) any unit which expresses an astronomical quantity.
J. According to Kepler's laws, where is a planet moving fastest in its orbit?
T F 38) at perihelion
T F 39) at aphelion
T F 40) when it's farthest from the Sun
T F 41) when it's closest to the Sun
T F 42) Kepler's laws imply that any one planet always moves at the same speed no matter
where it is in its orbit.
K. The apparent path of the Sun against the background of the Stars during the year
T F 43) is called the "epicycle".
T F 44) is called the "ecliptic".
T F 45) is caused by the Sun's slow motion around the Earth.
T F 46) is caused by the Earth's orbital motion around the Sun.
L. If we see a galaxy about two million light years away from us, then
T F 47) we are seeing it as it was about two million years ago, not as it is right now.
T F 48) it is one of the most distant of all galaxies.
T F 49) it is closer to us than most galaxies are.
T F 50) No galaxy can be two million light years from us, since that would be inside our
Solar System.
M. E. Which of the following is/are true about the orbital motion of the planets?
T F 51) They all orbit in the same direction.
T F 52) They all orbit in about the same plane.
T F 53) They are all elliptical.
T F 54) They are all perfectly circular.

N. Which of the following can be seen from Cupertino on a clear, dark autumn night?
T F 55) The great summer triangle.
T F 56) The constellation Cassiopeia (the lady in the chair).
T F 57) The star Vega.
T F 58) The star Altair.
O. Which of the following is/are example(s) of angular distance?
T F 59) ten minutes of arc
T F 60) a degree
T F 61) thirty seconds of arc
T F 62) a light year
P. Which of the choices above is the smallest angular distance among the group?
T F 63) ten minutes of arc
T F 64) a degree
T F 65) thirty seconds of arc
T F 66) a light year
Q. Which of the following is/are true about motions in the solar system that cause changes in the
sky as seen from Earth?
T F 67) Earth rotates clockwise as seen from the North.
T F 68) Earth revolves counterclockwise as seen from the North.
T F 69) The Moon revolves clockwise as seen from the North.
T F 70) The planets revolve counterclockwise as seen from the North.
R. Which of the following do you live in?
T F 71) the Andromeda Galaxy.
T F 72) the Milky Way Galaxy.
T F 73) the Solar System.
T F 74) the Virgo Supercluster.
S. What did European religious leaders think of Copernicuss ideas?
T F 75) Catholic leaders supported them, but Protestant leaders deplored them.
T F 76) Protestant leaders supported them, but Catholic leaders deplored them.
T F 77) Protestant and Catholic leaders supported them.
T F 78) Protestant and Catholic leaders deplored them.
T. Which of the following is/are true about the terms rotation and revolution?
T F 79) Rotation means spin on an axis.
T F 80) Revolution means orbiting around something else.
T F 81) The Earths revolution period is one year.
T F 82) The two terms mean the same thing.

U. Which of the following was/were discovered by Galileo using a telescope?

T F 83) the rings of Uranus
T F 84) the brightest moons of Jupiter
T F 85) mountains on the Moon
T F 86) the phases of Venus
V. According to the "Cosmos" episode about Kepler's life,
T F 87) Kepler and Tycho Brahe got along very well and worked easily with each other for
many years.
T F 88) Tycho Brahe's lifestyle and friends annoyed Kepler.
T F 89) Kepler developed his laws of planetary motion only after Tycho Brahe died.
T F 90) Kepler's work was motivated by his religious beliefs.

PART II: Short answer (10% of the exam's points)

PLEASE ANSWER ON THIS PAPER, NOT ON YOUR PARSCORE.
What does the size of the star image in a photograph tell you?