Review of Constellations & Basic Telescope

Astronomy 25

1) What are some prominent constellations up now?

2) What bright stars are in them?

3) What planets can we see easily now?

4) How many moons of Jupiter are visible in a small telescope? Saturn?

5) What is the lucida? an asterism?

6) What are the first six letters of the Greek alphabet? Can you write them?

What do we use them for?

7) What star do we use to align our telescopes? Why?

8) What are the celestial north and south poles and equator?

9) What is declination?

10) What is our latitude? What is the declination of a star at our zenith?

11) What do we call constellations that never rise or set? Name a couple of them. Above what declination do they lie?

12) Below what declination are we unable to see the stars from here?

13) Can we safely look at the sun using a genuine solar filter in our eyepiece?

14) Is the Big Dipper a constellation? Andromeda? Orion’s belt?

15) What are Messier objects?

16) In adjusting a Telrad, how do you establish an object to adjust to?

How do you get it to turn on?

17) What size and type of telescope are we using on the roof?

18) When adjusting the right ascension knob, how tight should the brake be?

How about when adjusting the declination knob?

19) What is the farthest object you can see with your naked eye on a good night?

20) Constellations rise in the ______ and set in the ______. (Direction)

21) About how much westward do the constellations “slip” each night due to the revolution of the earth around the sun?

22) In one hour, how much westward does a star move due to earth’s rotation?

23) Why is there a yellow “B” on our telescopes?

24) The constellations that we can see on any night depend on _____ and _____.

25) How many degrees are there from the horizon to the zenith?