ACTUAL Exam Questions and CORRECT
Answers
Astronomical Unit - CORRECT ANSWER - The average distance between earth and the
sun; 93 million miles
Light Year - CORRECT ANSWER - The distance light travels in one year; 6 trillion miles
Parsec - CORRECT ANSWER - Determined by geometry; 3.26 light years
Astronomical Mass - CORRECT ANSWER - Mass of the earth; 6x10^24 kg
Weight - CORRECT ANSWER - How gravity pulls on an object
Mass - CORRECT ANSWER - How much matter an object contains
Aristotle - CORRECT ANSWER - Created the geocentric theory and recorded retrograde
motion
Retrograde Motion - CORRECT ANSWER - The apparent backward motion of planets
due to earth's orbit
Ptolemy - CORRECT ANSWER - Theorized incorrectly that the planets move in epicycles
Epicycles - CORRECT ANSWER - The smaller orbits that planets were believed to make
as they orbit
, Deferents - CORRECT ANSWER - Name given to the large orbits of the planets by
Ptolemy
Copernicus - CORRECT ANSWER - Created the heliocentric theory
Four Proofs of Heliocentric Theory - CORRECT ANSWER - 1. Retrograde Motion
2. Parallax of Stars
3. Seasons
4. Aberration of Starlight
Aberration of Starlight - CORRECT ANSWER - Apparent colors of stars change due to
the doppler effect
Parallax of Stars - CORRECT ANSWER - Stars appear to move across our sky
Perihelion - CORRECT ANSWER - Point in January when the earth is the closest to the
sun
Aphelion - CORRECT ANSWER - Point in July when the earth is the farthest from the
sun
Kepler's First Law - CORRECT ANSWER - Planets travel around the sun in elliptical
orbits with the sun off to one side
Kepler's Second Law - CORRECT ANSWER - The planets move faster when they are
closest to the sun and slower when they are farther away from the sun
Kepler's Third Law - CORRECT ANSWER - T^2 = D^3
T = time in earth years