QUESTION 1. Which of the following causes seasons on the Earth?
The Earth is closer to the Sun during summer and father away during winter.
The tilt of the Earth's axis.
The Sun's varying light output.
The eleven-year sunspot cycle.
QUESTION 2. This image of Earth was taken by the Galileo spacecraft while en route to Jupiter. South America is at the center of the image and Antarctica is fully illuminated at the bottom of the image.
True or False: This image was taken during northern hemisphere summer.
True
False
QUESTION 3. Which of these arguments for why the phases of the Moon can't be caused by the Earth's shadow is incorrect?
Because we can see lunar phases in the daytime
Because the terminator isn't always rounded like the Earth
Because full moons are only visible from the nightside of the Earth, when the Earth is between the Moon and Sun
Because the Earth's shadow doesn't ever fall on the Moon
QUESTION 4. The "dark side of the Moon" is the same as the far side of the Moon, because the far side always points away from the Sun.
True
False
QUESTION 5. This diagram shows the Moon orbiting the Earth, looking down on the Earth and Moon from above (looking down at the north pole of the Earth). If you filled in the dark part of the moon with a black marker, how should the illumination of the Moon throughout its orbit be drawn?
(note: the arrow is used in the next question)
QUESTION 6. What is the phase of the Moon if it is at the position in its orbit indicated by the diagonal arrow in the figure for the previous question?
QUESTION 7. What is the phase of the Moon if it rises at sunrise?
Quarter
Gibbous
New
Full
QUESTION 8. Earth doesn't experience a solar eclipse every month because of unpredictable weather patterns.
sometimes the moon is too far away.
the moon always keeps its same side toward the Earth.
the moon's position is not always within the plane of the Earth's orbit.
its sometimes nighttime when the eclipse occurs.
QUESTION 9. Galileo's observations of the gibbous phase of Venus specifically proved that:
the Moon orbits the Earth
all of the planets orbit the Sun
Venus orbits the sun
Earth orbits the sun.
QUESTION 10. Tycho Brahe demonstrated that the supernova of 1572 was not a nearby (e.g., atmospheric) event by
by measuring significant parallax over the course of one night, suggesting that it was as far away as the stars
proving that it did not move past the background stars like a planet in our solar system.
by measuring no parallax over the course of one night, suggesting that it was as far away as the stars
showing that it did not get brighter and fainter as Earth moved toward and away from it over the course of a year.