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Old 24-July-2005, 06:00 PM
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Default 4th Annual Astronomy Challenge

It's time for this year's Astronomy Challenge. This is another Bricker quiz, like the first one, or the second one, or the third one, with similar rules. This time, each answer is a list, with as many objects in the list as the number of the question, order may be important. Since there are so many answers to each question, I'm limiting the number of questions to eight this time. No partial credit, perfect score is 8. You might want to check some of those earlier quizzes to get the flavor of the game (and some hints!).

1. What is the exact speed of light, in miles per second? (make sure all fractions are reduced and proper)
2. Which two twin stars are "obviously" in the wrong zodiac constellation? (answer order is alphabetical)
3. Name the slowest rotating objects known, in the solar system, in order.
4. After the Sun sets, what are the levels of darkness?
5. What are the common modes of telescope tracking speeds, in descending order
6. List the current top BABB rankings, and the post counts needed to reach them, in descending order
7. Name the naked-eye visible planets, in order of their apparent maximum brightness
8. Who were the last persons to set foot on the moon, in the reverse order of when they first did it?
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Old 25-July-2005, 06:36 AM
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An explanation of "reduced and proper", with regards to question number 1, is available at Mathworld: Reduced Fraction and Proper Fraction
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Old 25-July-2005, 07:04 AM
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Just a nitpick, but for question 1, I think it would depend on the medium. You probably mean in a vacuum?
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Old 25-July-2005, 11:22 AM
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Default Re: 4th Annual Astronomy Challenge

1. What is the exact speed of light, in miles per second? (make sure all fractions are reduced and proper)
186, 282.3970512208701185079137835

2. Which two twin stars are "obviously" in the wrong zodiac constellation? (answer order is alphabetical)
Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali

3. Name the slowest rotating objects known, in the solar system, in order.
1: Venus
2: Mercury
3: Sedna


4. After the Sun sets, what are the levels of darkness?
1: Start of Civil Twilight (sunset) to End of Civil Twilight (Sun 6° below horizon)
2: End of Civil Twilight to End of Nautical Twilight (Sun 12° below horizon)
3: End of Nautical Twilight to End of Astronomical Twilight (Sun 18° below horizon)
4: Night


6. List the current top BABB rankings, and the post counts needed to reach them, in descending order
1: Bad PostDoc (5001 Posts)
2: Bad PhD (2001 Posts)
3: Bad Master (1001 Posts)
4: Bad Grad (501 Posts)
5: Bad Fellow (301 Posts)
6: Bad Intern (201 Posts)


7. Name the naked-eye visible planets, in order of their apparent maximum brightness
1: Earth
2: Venus
3: Jupiter
4: Mars
5: Mercury
6: Saturn
7: Uranus


8. Who were the last persons to set foot on the moon, in the reverse order of when they first did it?
1: Harrison Schmitt
2: Gene Cernan
3: Charles Duke
4: John Young
5: James Irwin
6: David Scott
7: Edgar Mitchell
8: Alan Shepard
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Old 25-July-2005, 02:21 PM
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1. 299792458 m/s
2. Pollux, Castor
3. George, Venus, Mercury
4. civil twilight, nautical twilight, astronomical twilight, night
5. Zip, Swift, Slue, Slow, Stop
6. ToSeek (13000), Candy (9600), Glom (7400), Maksutov (5700), The Supreme Canuck (5500), Humphrey (5200)
7. Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
8. Ardan, Barbicane, Nicholl, Satellite, Diana, chicken, chicken
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Old 25-July-2005, 02:22 PM
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Please clarify question three:
Quote:
3. Name the slowest rotating objects known, in the solar system, in order.
How many objects?
In what order? Order of rotational speed from slowest to fastest? In order of distance from the Sun? In alphabetical order?

Thanks.
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Old 25-July-2005, 02:36 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by A Thousand Pardons
7. Name the naked-eye visible planets, in order of their apparent maximum brightness
Quote:
Originally Posted by A Thousand Pardons
7. Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
OK, I can see calling the Moon a planet by some definitions (including mine), but the Sun??? I suppose it is a "wanderer" versus the "fixed stars", but has any culture actually thought of the Sun as being a planet?

And how is Pluto (nevermind Neptune) a naked-eye visible planet? Perhaps because you can see it with your naked eye in a picture??

Lastly, how are you defining "apparant maximum brightness". And why isn't Earth in that list somewhere...
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Old 25-July-2005, 02:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pumpkinpie
Please clarify question three:
Quote:
3. Name the slowest rotating objects known, in the solar system, in order.
How many objects?
In what order? Order of rotational speed from slowest to fastest? In order of distance from the Sun? In alphabetical order?

Thanks.
"with as many objects in the list as the number of the question"

So 3 in this case, presumably in increasing order of rotation speed.
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Old 25-July-2005, 02:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pghnative
Quote:
Originally Posted by A Thousand Pardons
7. Name the naked-eye visible planets, in order of their apparent maximum brightness
Quote:
Originally Posted by A Thousand Pardons
7. Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
OK, I can see calling the Moon a planet by some definitions (including mine), but the Sun??? I suppose it is a "wanderer" versus the "fixed stars", but has any culture actually thought of the Sun as being a planet?

And how is Pluto (nevermind Neptune) a naked-eye visible planet? Perhaps because you can see it with your naked eye in a picture??

Lastly, how are you defining "apparant maximum brightness". And why isn't Earth in that list somewhere...
ATP generally provides his own list of sample answers to his questions. It should be obvious that these answers aren't necessarily correct.
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Old 25-July-2005, 02:43 PM
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current scores
4 Eroica
1 A Thousand Pardons
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Old 25-July-2005, 03:00 PM
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1. What is the exact speed of light, in miles per second? (make sure all fractions are reduced and proper)
186, 282.3970512208701185079137835

2. Which two twin stars are "obviously" in the wrong zodiac constellation? (answer order is alphabetical)
Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali

3. Name the slowest rotating objects known, in the solar system, in order.
1: Venus
2: Mercury
3: Moon


4. After the Sun sets, what are the levels of darkness?
1: Start of Civil Twilight (sunset) to End of Civil Twilight (Sun 6° below horizon)
2: End of Civil Twilight to End of Nautical Twilight (Sun 12° below horizon)
3: End of Nautical Twilight to End of Astronomical Twilight (Sun 18° below horizon)
4: Night


6. List the current top BABB rankings, and the post counts needed to reach them, in descending order
1: Bad PostDoc (5001 Posts)
2: Bad PhD (2001 Posts)
3: Bad Master (1001 Posts)
4: Bad Grad (501 Posts)
5: Bad Fellow (301 Posts)
6: Bad Intern (201 Posts)


7. Name the naked-eye visible planets, in order of their apparent maximum brightness
1: Earth
2: Venus
3: Jupiter
4: Mars
5: Mercury
6: Saturn
7: Uranus


8. Who were the last persons to set foot on the moon, in the reverse order of when they first did it?
1: Harrison Schmitt
2: Gene Cernan
3: Charles Duke
4: John Young
5: James Irwin
6: David Scott
7: Edgar Mitchell
8: Alan Shepard
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Old 25-July-2005, 03:10 PM
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current scores
5 Eroica
5 ToSeek
1 A Thousand Pardons

OK, I'm going to give you guys number 4, but I like my answer better

PS: subsequent answers supersede previous answers, but you can post a new answer to a single question without affecting the score for the other questions

PSS: to make it even easier (and to encourage cribbing), you can declare your answers to be the same as another poster's, then just post answers to the questions you think that they got wrong.
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Old 25-July-2005, 03:51 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by A Thousand Pardons
current scores
5 Eroica
5 ToSeek
1 A Thousand Pardons
How can Eroica and I both have 5 right when our answers are all the same except for one?
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Old 25-July-2005, 03:55 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ToSeek
How can Eroica and I both have 5 right when our answers are all the same except for one?
I think that should be a good hint
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Old 25-July-2005, 04:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by A Thousand Pardons
Quote:
Originally Posted by ToSeek
How can Eroica and I both have 5 right when our answers are all the same except for one?
I think that should be a good hint
Ah, good point.
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Old 25-July-2005, 04:09 PM
 
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1. What is the exact speed of light, in miles per second? (make sure all fractions are reduced and proper)
186, 282.3970512208701185079137835

2. Which two twin stars are "obviously" in the wrong zodiac constellation? (answer order is alphabetical)
Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali

3. Name the slowest rotating objects known, in the solar system, in order.
1: Venus
2: Iapetus
3: Mercury

4. After the Sun sets, what are the levels of darkness?
1: Start of Civil Twilight (sunset) to End of Civil Twilight (Sun 6° below horizon)
2: End of Civil Twilight to End of Nautical Twilight (Sun 12° below horizon)
3: End of Nautical Twilight to End of Astronomical Twilight (Sun 18° below horizon)
4: Night

5. What are the common modes of telescope tracking speeds, in descending order
slew set guide sidereal lunar

6. List the current top BABB rankings, and the post counts needed to reach them, in descending order
1: Bad PostDoc (5001 Posts)
2: Bad PhD (2001 Posts)
3: Bad Master (1001 Posts)
4: Bad Grad (501 Posts)
5: Bad Fellow (301 Posts)
6: Bad Intern (201 Posts)

7. Name the naked-eye visible planets, in order of their apparent maximum brightness
1: Earth
2: Venus
3: Jupiter
4: Mars
5: Mercury
6: Saturn
7: Uranus

8. Who were the last persons to set foot on the moon, in the reverse order of when they first did it?
1: Harrison Schmitt
2: Gene Cernan
3: Charles Duke
4: John Young
5: James Irwin
6: David Scott
7: Edgar Mitchell
8: Alan Shepard
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Old 25-July-2005, 04:21 PM
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1.
186, 282.3970512208701185079137835 miles per second
2.
Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamal
4.
1: Start of Civil Twilight (sunset) to End of Civil Twilight (Sun 6° below horizon)
2: End of Civil Twilight to End of Nautical Twilight (Sun 12° below horizon)
3: End of Nautical Twilight to End of Astronomical Twilight (Sun 18° below horizon)
4: Night
6.
1: Bad PostDoc (5001 Posts)
2: Bad PhD (2001 Posts)
3: Bad Master (1001 Posts)
4: Bad Grad (501 Posts)
5: Bad Fellow (301 Posts)
6: Bad Intern (201 Posts)
8.
1: Harrison Schmitt
2: Gene Cernan
3: Charles Duke
4: John Young
5: James Irwin
6: David Scott
7: Edgar Mitchell
8: Alan Shepard

Regarding No. 7:
ATP, from your answer to ToSeek's question I gather that you think that their answers to No. 3 are both wrong, and from that I deduce that you count their answer to No. 7 correct -I have an issue here: 4 Vesta is a (minor) planet, and it is clearly a naked-eye object at maximum brightness. So either your question contains too many answers, or we have to discount Earth as trivial, or, well, there was a glitch in the question.
So I submit my answer cum correction:
1: Earth
2: Venus
3: Jupiter
4: Mars
5: Mercury
6: Saturn
7: 4 Vesta
8: Uranus

And don't tell me Vesta is no planet because it's a minor planet.....
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Old 25-July-2005, 04:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ToSeek
ATP generally provides his own list of sample answers to his questions. It should be obvious that these answers aren't necessarily correct.
Well, if you say so.

But where the line is drawn between an obviously absurd answer and where creative wordplay is involved is not always obvious.
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Old 25-July-2005, 04:36 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arneb
2.
Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamal
I don't take off for mispellings
Quote:
And don't tell me Vesta is no planet because it's a minor planet.....
The IAU says there are nine planets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pghnative
But where the line is drawn
I also provide my own score

current scores
6 IMO
5 Eroica
5 ToSeek
4 Arneb
1 A Thousand Pardons
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Old 25-July-2005, 04:54 PM
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