a. Capella is nearly overhead, as seen from Rochester. That means that the Declination of Capella must be nearly the same as the latitude of Rochester. Dec = approx +43 degrees b. Actual values from a catalog: RA = 05:16:41 Dec = +45:59:52 c. Capella is nearly overhead, very close to the meridian (the line half-way between East and West. It runs down the middle of the sky, from North to South). That means that the local sidereal time must be about the same as the Right Ascension of Capella: RA = approx 05:16 d. Sirius is to the east of the meridian, so it hasn't yet reached it. If we guess that it takes roughly 12 hours for Sirius to move from eastern to western horizon, across the sky, then it should take about 6 hours to move from eastern horizon to the medidian. The picture shows Sirius closer to the meridian than the horizon -- so, more than halfway there. Perhaps in 1 to 2 hours it will reach the meridian. Alteratively, if we look up the Right Ascension of Sirius, we find RA = 06:45. That means it will take about (06:45 - 05:16) = 1:29 to move to the median. Yes, that agrees with the rough estimate. e. Alkaid is low in the north-eastern sky. I'd estimate altitude = 15 degrees, azimuth = 20 degrees f. The local Rochester time (Eastern Standard Time) is 19:44:18. Since it is still standard time, Rochester time is 5 hours behind Universal Time. Thus, Universal Time is 00:44:18 on 2014 Feb 11 -- even though the date in Rochester is 2014 Feb 10. g. The Julian Date is 2456699.531 h. Alphonse lives in Paris, we live in Rochester, NY. How far apart are these locations in longitude? Paris: 2 degrees East of Greenwich Rochester: 78 degrees West of Greenwich So the locations differ by 80 degrees of longitude. The Moon in Paris will appear about 80 degrees away from its location in Rochester, and it will appear farther west. In Rochester, the Moon is currently 10 or 20 degrees East of the meridian. If we move it 80 degrees to the West, it will cross the meridian and move into the western portion of the sky -- but it will still lie above the horizon. Alphonse should look low in the western sky to see the Moon. i. Regulus will pass behind the asteroid Erigone on UT 2014 Mar 20 06:00 (well, it starts a few minutes earlier and ends a few minutes later, but this is close enough). That corresponds to local Rochester time 2014 Mar 20 02:00, or 2 AM. Where will Regulus be? Using the "xephem" program, I find it will be at altitude 44 degrees, azimuth 237 degrees In other words, moderately high in the south-western sky. If there are no clouds, we should be able to see it!