Astronomical observation

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Astronomical observation

1.Describe the observed motion of the stars during one night.

At first sight stars appear not to move in the sky, they are seen static by human eyes. However recently astronomers have found that the stars are moving at fast velocities through space.

The reason why they appear not to be moving is that they are so far away from us, the closest star is Proxima Centauri, which is 40 million million kilometers far away.

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2.Describe the observed motion of the sun in the sky each day, and how this varies over the year, at different latitudes.

From the earth the sun is seen to rise in the east, arc across the sky, and set in the west. However this is only an apparent motion, which happens because the earth spins on its axis from west to east.

The sun is seen to rise higher in the sky in summer than in winter. This occurs because the earth spin is tilted in space. As the earth circles in orbit around the ...

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Punctuation, grammar and spelling are all fine. Minor grammatical errors are seen in places. The layout of the text is done well so we know what the candidate is answering clearly.

The candidate answers a series of questions. The answer to the first question is quite basic, and could have been cut down into one line to succinctly answer the question. The candidate answers the second question better, but again could have been more concise with the answer. They clearly explain why the sun is observed in certain positions throughout the year well. The candidate answers question 3 well with a series of diagrams to explain what they mean, although the diagrams do not correlate directly with the text. The candidate uses basic science overall but answers the questions well.

The candidate answers the set questions well. The candidate should have answered questions concisely to gain higher marks and show an higher understanding of the science, but their observations are explained very well because they use basic knowledge and apply physics to it. The candidate clarifies the science well in some parts, but in others some science is not explained quite as well.