THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
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Altitude:  10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
Julian Date:  2459251.18
2020-2021:  LXXXIV

THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday,  February 5, 2021
Exploratorium XVII: Week 5 Quiz

This exploratorium quiz is unusual in that only one of the articles on
which it is based was actually an exploratorium article.  All the same, we
still had ample material from which we were able to draw.     Most of the
questions pertain to the two-part night sky calendar.

*1. What is the name of the Cross-Quarter day between the Summer Solstice
and Autumnal Equinox?*
a. Beltane
b. Lammas
c.  Imbolc
d. None of the above

*2.  The moon can appear to move close to and even occult which of the
following bright stars? (Could be more or less than one.)*
a. Regulus
b. Spica
c. Aldebaran
d. Antares

*3. Which of the following planets can never be in superior solar
conjunction? (Could be more or less than one.)  *
a. Mars
b. Jupiter
c. Saturn
d. Mercury

*4. __________ is the only naked-eye planet currently visible in the
evening sky.*
a. Mars
b. Jupiter
c. Saturn
d.  Venus

*5.  Earthshine is visible on the moon when it is less than ________%
illuminated.*
a.  20
b.  17
c.  15
d. 11

*6. Agave was punished by ___________, who was her ___________.*
a. Zeus; lover
b. Dionysus; nephew
c.  Apollo; father
d.  Poseidon; grandson

*7.  How was Agave punished?*
a. she killed her son while under the influence of a spell
b. she had to carry water in a pot riddled with holes
c.  she was hung upside down by one toe over a pit of fire
d. she had to watch all the Sharknado sequels in one sitting

*8. When Mercury is at perihelion, it is_________________.*
a.  at its greatest distance from the Sun
b. at its point of least distance from the Sun
c.  at its greatest apparent distance from the Sun in our sky
d. on the other side of the Sun relative to Earth

*9.  ________" is the amount of Mercury's perihelion shift attributable to
effects of General Relativity.*
a. 43
b. 54
c. 78
d. 111

*10. When did Sir Arthur Eddington embark on an expedition to observe the
sky during a total solar eclipse?*
a. 1917
b. 1918
c. 1919
d. 1923




ANSWERS
*1. What is the name of the Cross-Quarter day between the Summer Solstice
and Autumnal Equinox?*
b. Lammas
Perhaps the least well  known Cross--Quarter Day, at least in the United
States, Lammas occurs on August 1st, the mid way point between the summer
solstice and autumnal equinox.   On that date, the average high temperature
in the mid-latitude region reaches its peak.   (The nadir is reached on Feb
2, the Cross-Quarter Day between the winter solstice and vernal equinox.)

*2.  The moon can appear to move close to and even occult which of the
following bright stars? (Could be more than one.)*
a. Regulus
b. Spica
c. Aldebaran
d. Antares
The moon will often appear close to these stars and will also occult, or
move in front of, them.

 * 3. Which of the following planets can never be in superior solar
conjunction? (Could be more or less than one.)*
They can all be in superior conjunction.     However, only Mercury and
Venus can ever be in inferior solar conjunction.

*4. __________ is the only naked-eye planet currently visible in the
evening sky.*
a. Mars
Jupiter and Saturn will emerge into the eastern pre-dawn sky later this
month.  Venus is in the pre-dawn eastern sky now.   Mars is alone in the
evening sky.

*5.  Earthshine is visible on the moon when it is less than ________%
illuminated.*
d. 11
Earthshine is visible when the moon is in the early stages of waxing
crescent or the latter stages of waning crescent.

*6. Agave was punished by ___________, who was her ___________.*
b. Dionysus; nephew
Agave was the sister of Semele, Dionysus' mother.    Agave circulated a
rumour that Semele's lover was not Zeus, as she claimed, but was, instead,
a mortal.    Dionysus punished Agave to avenge his mother's dignity.

*7.  How was Agave punished?*
a. she killed her son while under the influence of a spell
Dionysus cast a spell on the Theban women that caused them all to dance in
a wild frenzy.   When King Pentheus saw them, Agave and the others believed
him to have been a lion.  Some of the women, including Agave, tore him
apart.


*8. When Mercury is at perihelion, it is_________________.*
b. at its point of least distance from the Sun
APHELION =>  at its greatest distance from the Sun
GREATEST ELONGATION =>  at its greatest apparent distance from the Sun in
our sky
SUPERIOR CONJUNCTION =>  on the other side of the Sun relative to Earth

*9.  ________" is the amount of Mercury's perihelion shift attributable to
effects of General Relativity.*
a. 43
Until the development of General Relativity, this 43" shift was
inexplicable.

*10. When did Sir Arthur Eddington embark on an expedition to observe the
sky during a total solar eclipse?*
c. 1919
British astrophysicist Sir Arthur Eddington (1882-1944) led an 1919
expedition to Principle Island in West Africa to observe a total solar
eclipse.  Photographic plates of the star field around the eclipsed Sun
showed that the stars within the Sun's 'vicinity' were deflected by an
amount Einstein's General Relativity predicted.     General Relativity
describes gravity as the "indentations" that material objects induce in
their local space-time regions.  Therefore, the apparent positions of the
stars around the Sun will experience a slight deflection related to the
presence of this indentation.


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