Brian, great link!. This is important and I will forward the link to various people; HD, HW, a couple of research scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory who study perception in earth science education.

But, I have my own hypothesis on why the Harvard students and professors were so clueless: too much time indoors studying and not enough time out at night baying at the moon. The only academic award I ever won was for best average in a large intro astronomy class. I received a subscription to "Sky and Telescope". I did this by going out drinking until midnight the night before the final. My undergraduate university did not have a good reputation and at the time the drinking age was 18. The dorms actually sponsored 40 keg parties outdoors at the dorms. Nothing like crowd-land skiing (slaloming) on a slope after a few drinks (shifting gates). Lots of time to look at the moon and thing deep thoughts about it. (?).

Since HD does not drink and is a good student, I wonder if she would get those questions correct?
Chris