AST 309 (46575) Fall 2003
Quiz 1: Study List

Review Sessions

Review sessions are scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday (Sept 30 and Oct 1) from 5:30 to 7 PM in WEL 1.308.

Be sure to bring your calculator on the day of the quiz, as well as to the review session!

Reminder

You are reminded to make handwritten notes to yourself on one side of an 8.5x11-inch piece of paper, which you may consult during the quiz. These notes will count 10% of your grade. The quiz questions will emphasize your ability to reason and think, not memorize isolated facts, and the notes are intended to reduce your reliance on rote memorization. Your notes must be signed and attached to your quiz when you hand it in.

Study Questions

Here is a list of things that you should be prepared to answer on the first quiz. Typically the questions on the exam will be very similar to the questions on this list--not necessarily identical, but similar. If you can answer all of these questions, you'll probably do fine on the quiz.

Please note that anything on the following list that we have not discussed by the end of class on Tuesday will not be on the quiz.

• List at least 5 different ways of measuring time. Discuss them so as to illustrate the principles that the various methods you listed have in common, and in what ways they differ. Judge whether some of the methods may be better in some ways than others, and explain why this is so.
• Given a date in history on the Gregorian calendar, be able to calculate the day of the week for that date.
• Draw a diagram of the celestial sphere as seen above the horizon, and identify on your drawing the North, East, South and West points; the Zenith and Nadir; the North Celestial Pole; the Celestial Equator and Ecliptic; and the Vernal Equinox. Describe the basic motions of objects in the sky in terms of the diagram: the daily motions, and the ones that take place over longer periods, such as a month or a year. Draw pictures to illustrate what you mean. How do the Sun, Moon, and planets appear to move against the background of the sky during the course of time?
• Given a diagram showing the positions of the Sun, Earth, and planets in the solar system (similar to the visible model of the planets exercise that was just handed back), identify which planets are up at sunset, midnight, and sunrise, and roughly locate them in the sky, dividing the sky into thirds.
• State what is meant by sidereal period and synodic period. Why is each one important? Explain by analogy (e.g., to the hands of a watch, or to a racetrack) why the sidereal and synodic periods differ, and explain the relationship between the two. Given two sidereal periods, calculate the synodic period that corresponds to them. Are certain synodic periods in the solar system of particular importance to us or to other cultures? Which ones? Explain why they are of importance.
• List and explain the conditions that are required for an eclipse of the Sun or Moon to take place. Show how this leads to eclipses occurring during eclipse seasons that are about 6 months apart. Explain why this is only approximate, i.e., why in fact the eclipse seasons occur somewhat more frequently than every six months, or (what is the same thing) why the length of the Eclipse (Draconitic) year is about 346 days instead of 365 days.
• What is the Saros? Why is it important? Explain how ancient astronomers would have used it to predict eclipses (and keep their heads/jobs). What special features of the Saros cycle guarantees that even the kind of eclipse will be repeated?
• More generally, explain the phenomenon of cycles as found in astronomy, with reference to some of the important cycles, e.g., the Saros cycle, the Metonic cycle, the Maya Venus cycle, the Stonehenge eclipse cycle. What happens when one period of the cycle elapses, in terms of the configuration or phenomenon that was true at the start of the cycle?
• Explain how we know that certain preliterate cultures were nevertheless intensely interested in astronomical phenomena. What sorts of things might they have been interested in? Illustrate your answer with specific reference to specific ancient peoples, such as the builders of Stonehenge, various native American peoples, and so forth.
• Draw a diagram that shows the principle that Ptolemy used to estimate the distance to the Moon by timing a lunar eclipse. Use your diagram to explain how he did it.
• What is the Julian Day Count? Why is it important? Give several examples that show how the Julian Day Count would be particularly useful to scholars in different disciplines.
• Describe the basic principles behind the following calendars (include only those calendars that we actually had time to discuss in class before the quiz). Where necessary, define terms of importance, e.g., intercalation, tropical year, synodic month. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of each calendar, with specific reference to the cultures that devised and used them. Do any of them have uses today? Explain.
  
  • Egyptian calendar
  • Sothic calendar
  • Roman calendar
  • Julian calendar
  • Gregorian calendar
  • Islamic calendar
  • Babylonian calendar
  • Hebrew calendar
  • Chinese calendar
  • Maya calendar
    
• Be able to calculate the approximate age of the moon (that is, the number of days since the Moon was new) for any date in the 21st century.
• Explain the principle of the sundial, using a diagram to show how it works. Show how a primitive type of sundial, a gnomon, was used by ancient astronomers to determine the time of winter solstice.
• Define Apparent Solar Time. Explain how it can be determined by direct measurements of the Sun. Explain the difference between Local Apparent Solar Time, Local Mean Solar Time, Standard (Zone) Time, and Universal Time. List and explain the corrections that must be applied to convert between them.
• Define Sidereal Time. Explain how it can be measured with observations of the sky. What is it used for? If you know the Sidereal Time, and also the date of the year, explain how you would determine the Mean Solar Time. For example, if today's date is October 22, one months after the Autumnal Equinox, and it is 8 h Sidereal Time, what is the Local Mean Solar Time?