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Astronomy Olympiad Olympiad Astronomy — practice questions — page 2

Explore 120 free Olympiad Astronomy questions in Astronomy Olympiad Astronomy. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Olympiad Astronomy questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 31–60 of 120.

The early Greeks pictured the stars as fixed to a giant turning ball. They called it the:Read the answer and worked solution →A modern student is told the nightly turning of the sky is really caused by:Read the answer and worked solution →Earth's axis extended outwards meets the sky at two points called the celestial:Read the answer and worked solution →An observer in San Francisco at latitude 38 degrees north sees the north celestial pole at:Read the answer and worked solution →A traveller moves closer to the equator and sees the sky turn differently. This depends on her:Read the answer and worked solution →A hiker finds the star that shifts least as the northern sky turns. That star is:Read the answer and worked solution →A full circle drawn right around the celestial sphere contains how many degrees?Read the answer and worked solution →Against the background stars, the Sun creeps eastwards each day by roughly:Read the answer and worked solution →The yearly path the Sun traces around the celestial sphere is called the:Read the answer and worked solution →Because of its eastward drift, the Sun rises later each day than the stars by about:Read the answer and worked solution →The ecliptic is tilted away from the celestial equator by an angle of about:Read the answer and worked solution →The Sun climbs north then swings south through the year because the ecliptic is:Read the answer and worked solution →The Sun, Moon and planets all stay inside an 18 degree belt of sky called the:Read the answer and worked solution →Ancient Chinese, Egyptian and Greek watchers grouped stars into patterns called:Read the answer and worked solution →The Big Dipper is only a star pattern inside Ursa Major, so it is called an:Read the answer and worked solution →Earth's axis slowly swings around a circle, a motion astronomers call:Read the answer and worked solution →One complete circle of Earth's precession takes roughly how many years?Read the answer and worked solution →Because of precession, the bright star Vega will be the North Star in about:Read the answer and worked solution →A planet appears to move briefly westwards as Earth overtakes it. This is called:Read the answer and worked solution →Ptolemy explained planet loops with a small circle riding on a bigger one. The small circle is the:Read the answer and worked solution →Copernicus concluded that Earth is a planet and that every planet circles the:Read the answer and worked solution →In 1609 Galileo showed Venetian officials a new instrument that magnified nine times. It was a:Read the answer and worked solution →Catch the sky termsRead the answer and worked solution →Pop the old sky modelsRead the answer and worked solution →Run the sky gatesRead the answer and worked solution →Slice the sky circlesRead the answer and worked solution →Earth centred or Sun centredRead the answer and worked solution →Sort the sky factsRead the answer and worked solution →Type the numberRead the answer and worked solution →Sky watching bingoRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

The early Greeks pictured the stars as fixed to a giant turning ball. They called it the:

  1. Celestial sphere
  2. Planetary system
  3. Universal circle
  4. Heavenly ladder
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: A. Celestial sphere

1. The Greeks needed a picture for the fixed pattern of stars. 2. They imagined a great ball carrying the stars around us. 3. That picture is the celestial sphere. _Source: OpenStax Astronomy 2e, Chapter 2, Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy._

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A modern student is told the nightly turning of the sky is really caused by:

  1. Moon pulling
  2. Earth spinning
  3. Stars drifting
  4. Sun orbiting
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: B. Earth spinning

1. The sphere of stars does not actually rotate. 2. The planet we stand on turns instead. 3. So the motion comes from Earth spinning. _Source: OpenStax Astronomy 2e, Chapter 2, Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy._

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Earth's axis extended outwards meets the sky at two points called the celestial:

  1. Poles
  2. Belts
  3. Rings
  4. Lines
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Correct answer: A. Poles

1. The axis pierces the imaginary sphere at two spots. 2. These are the north and south points of the sky. 3. So they are the celestial poles. _Source: OpenStax Astronomy 2e, Chapter 2, Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy._

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