Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Consider Earth, Mercury and Venus in their orbits as shown in the diagram below. (This drawing is not to scale, and orbits have been simplified as circles instead of ellipses.)
The position of Mercury in the San Luis Obispo, CA sky at sunrise (6:00 AM) will be:
(A) low over the east horizon.
(B) somewhere high up in the sky.
(C) low over the west horizon.
(D) (None of the above choices, as Mercury would not be visible in the San Luis Obispo, CA sky at that time.)
Correct answer: (A)
At sunset and at midnight, Mercury would be below those observers' local horizon, and would not be visible anywhere in the sky at those times. At sunrise, Mercury would be above that observer's local horizon and would appear close to the rising sun, just above it in the eastern horizon.
Section 30674
(A) : 17 students
(B) : 8 students
(C) : 14 students
(D) : 3 students
"Success level": 44% (including partial credit for multiple-choice)
Discrimination index (Aubrecht & Aubrecht, 1983): 0.48
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