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Cheesy Pie wrote:

EASTstroudsburg13 wrote:The star name in Epsilon Eridani just signifies what constellation it's in and how bright it is within its constellation. Thus, the star is in the constellation Eridanus and it's the fifth brightest star in that constellation. Did they give you other information besides the star name?

That's mostly true, but Rigel (Beta Orionis) is brighter than Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis). The Greek letter name (or whatever it's called) also has something to do with the star's location in the constellation

Can someone explain this concept to me? I think I read it once a while back, but couldn't find anything online about it when I searched recently. If you had a link to a site I could just read that If its to complex/bothersome to explain otherwise.

Watch the test exchange, I will be putting up the 2012 PA state astronomy exam in the next couple of days. Unfortunately, they collected all of my exams and answer sheets, so I will not have a complete distribution of scores; however I can say that the range (out of 100 possible) was 88 to 6. The mean score was about 40. If you medaled, I will remember your raw score, so send me a private message and I'll be glad to tell you what your score was. Some people have mentioned that the exam was easier than last year, and the scores support this.

My philosophy regarding exam-writing for Science Olympiad is that the exam should be too hard and too long for the alloted time. The exam must differentiate up to 40 different teams (at least, at the state level); if it is too easy, then the supervisor must split hairs at the top to determine who the winners are.

Returning veterans in this event: more of the same next year. I'm not aware of the topic for next year, but I have heard rumors about high-mass stars (Wolf-Rayet, etc.). Go beyond the rules; seek out classifications for the subject matter. For example, this year white dwarf stars would certainly be considered as a stage in stellar evolution. Within the white dwarf category, there are several classifications; ZZ Ceti pulsating white dwarfs, helium-neon white dwarfs, PNNV variables, and so on.

A couple more things. The bonus is always identification of a prominent astronomer who has something to do with the subject matter. This year it was Chushiro Hayashi, who described the path of protostars on the HR diagram as they approach the main sequence from the upper right (the Hayashi track). A lot of people inexplicably guessed Chandrasekhar, which boggles my mind; right continent of origin, I suppose, but really? Next year, who knows?

Also - did anyone like the Condescending Willy Wonka meme on the cover? I hope you weren't in too much of a hurry to appreciate some astronomy humor.

Well I understood the meme, if the bonus was on that I could have gotten it. I couldn't identify the astronomer and think I left it blank. Why I didn't think of Hayashi I don't know. Knew it wasn't Chandrasekhar, so Hayashi would have been at least a good guess.

The PA Regionals and States Exams (for Astronomy, of course) have been posted by JCicc on the test exchange. Just to help gauge how you would compare to the rest of the competition, the high score for the Regional Exam was 96/100 and that for the State exam was 88/100 (assume every question is worth one point). Good luck to all!

Do any of you know if the Nationals test is up?

The Nationals test was mad fun... and long. Pretty much every question required extensive knowledge in DSO's, calculations, and the stellar evolution theme. Really good test, but also really hard.

And I love the quality of the images. Finally, the pictures are colored and not horribly mutilated.

And a question for the winning team - approximately what percent of the test were you sure you got right and what percent do you think you got right?
A/B/C for us was 50/25/10, 70/50/25. Did any team finish?

BYHscioly wrote:Do any of you know if the Nationals test is up?

The Nationals test was mad fun... and long. Pretty much every question required extensive knowledge in DSO's, calculations, and the stellar evolution theme. Really good test, but also really hard.

And I love the quality of the images. Finally, the pictures are colored and not horribly mutilated.

And a question for the winning team - approximately what percent of the test were you sure you got right and what percent do you think you got right?
A/B/C for us was 50/25/10, 70/50/25. Did any team finish?

I just checked the AAVSO site and it hasn't been posted yet.

I too thought it was a very well-written and very difficult test, both of which made it a great event. I agree that it was a lot of fun... I was very stressed during the test but enjoyed doing it.

When my partner and I were talking after the event, we were fairly confident, maybe thinking we got around 60% of the test right (although judging by the percentage score for first place last year, 69%, we probably got over 60% in the end) . We finished all but one question, because we couldn't even think of a guess for one of them. I'm not sure about each individual part though, my partner and I were confident in most of A, a fair amount of B, and C was eh.

I'm glad you both thought the test was good! pjgscioisamazing's winning score was a 68%.

The exam, key, and full solutions to the physics questions will be up in a couple weeks, sorry, it takes time for the AAVSO to process it. Hopefully it's online by June.

tad_k_22 wrote:I'm glad you both thought the test was good! pjgscioisamazing's winning score was a 68%.

The exam, key, and full solutions to the physics questions will be up in a couple weeks, sorry, it takes time for the AAVSO to process it. Hopefully it's online by June.

How many total points were there on the test?

About 136, \pm 1.