Middle Georgia State University

Course title: ASTR 1010K

Chapter 1 Homework

1)Where is the horizon?

2. In Figure 1-8, what is another name for the “Sun’s annual path around the celestial sphere”?

3. What is the celestial sphere, and why is this ancient concept still used today?

4. What is the ecliptic, and why is it tilted with respect to the celestial equator?

5. What is precession, and how does it affect our view of the heavens?

6.What is the line of nodes, and how is it related to solar and lunar eclipse?

7. At which phase(s) of the moon does a solar eclipse occur? A lunar eclipse?

8. Why can’t a person in Australia use the Big Dipper to find north?

9. How many more sidereal months than synodic months are there in a year? Why?

10. Can one ever observe an annular eclipse of the moon? Why or why not?

11. How long was the exposure for the photograph of circumpolar star trails in Figure 1- 11?

12. Assuming that the sun makes an angle of ½*in our sky and is at a distance of 1.496X10^11m, what is the sun diameter? Divide this value by 2 to find the sun’s radius and explain why this result is slightly different from the value given in Appendix E-8 at the back of the book.