The Constellations -- NOT Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lepus

"Lepus" is the Latin for "hare", and this small constellation lies just below the very distinctive winter constellation of Orion. Columba is "the dove", Corvus "the crow", and Pavo "the peacock". If Pavo is unfamiliar, it is because it is found in the southern celestial hemisphere and not so named until 1588.

Answer: Cancer

Cancer is the fourth sign of the zodiac and in Latin means "crab". Aquarius (the eleventh sign of the zodiac) is "the water-carrier", Bootes "the herdsman", and Auriga "the charioteer".

Answer: Andromeda

The zodiac is made up of the traditional twelve signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces, although the line of the ecliptic around which the zodiac is based now runs through the constellation of Ophiuchus as well. But there has been no move to establish Ophiuchus as a thirteenth sign of the zodiac.

Answer: Ursa Minor

Much of the southern celestial hemisphere was not known until explorers began to travel to the southern parts of the earth in the 16th century. Dorado ("the swordfish" or "the mahi-mahi") lies in the far south and cannot be seen very easily from northern latitudes, Crux is well-known as "the Southern Cross" (seen on the flags of Australia and New Zealand), and Centaurus ("the centaur") is best-known for containing the closest stars to our solar system (Proxima and Alpha Centauri). Ursa Minor is as far north as you can get, as its brightest star is the North Star, Polaris.

Answer: Ursa Major

The Milky Way marks the centre of our galaxy and extends as a giant circle across the sky. It touches as many as 30 constellations, 19 in the northern sky and 11 in the southern sky. Some of these include Orion, Taurus, Perseus, Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Aquila, Scorpius, and Sagittarius, the direction of the centre of the galaxy.

Answer: Scorpius

The Summer Triangle is a distinctive grouping of three stars which form a very nice isosceles triangle: Vega (Alpha Lyrae), Deneb (Alpha Cygni), and Altair (Alpha Aquilae) -- "Alpha" denotes the brightest star in a constellation. The brightest star in Scorpius is Antares, a very noticeable red supergiant in the southern summer sky, but it is not part of the Summer Triangle.

Answer: Corona Borealis

Corona Borealis is a circlet of stars known as "the Northern Crown" and is best seen in the northern sky during the summer. Cetus is "the sea-monster" from the myth of Perseus and Andromeda, Hydra the monstrous serpent killed by Heracles at Lerna, and Draco means "dragon" and winds its way around the north polar constellations. Four thousand years ago its brightest star, Thuban (Alpha Draconis), was the North Star in the sky.

Answer: Pisces

Pisces is the twelfth sign of the zodiac and represents a pair of fish -- in Latin "pisces" is the plural of "fish". Taurus "the bull" is the second of the zodiac and lies close to Orion the hunter who is hunting the bull, Aries "the ram" is the first sign of the zodiac and is said to represent the ram with the Golden Fleece, and Pegasus is the winged horse of Greek myth.

Answer: Libra

Libra, "the scales", is the only non-animate sign in the zodiac (its seventh sign). The other three constellations all lie in the southern sky and used to form a single huge constellation, Argo Navis ("the ship Argo") on which Jason and the heroes sailed in their quest for the Golden Fleece.

In 1930 the International Astronomical Union formally divided Argo Navis into Vela ("the sails"), Puppis ("the stern"), Carina ("the keel"), and Pyxis ("the compass").

Answer: Orion

Orion is a mighty hunter, mentioned as early as Homer in his "Odyssey" (eighth century BC), but he does not have a divine father. One version of his death has him killed by Scorpius ("the scorpion") and for this reason the two constellations appear in opposite parts of the heavens.

Hercules (Greek Heracles) was in myth the son of Zeus and Alcmena, and Perseus the son of Zeus and Danae. Gemini is a bit trickier since the name means "the twins", referring to Castor and Pollux, known in Greek as the Dioscuri or "sons of Zeus".

They are both sons of the Spartan princess Leda, but only Pollux has Zeus for a father. Castor's father was the Spartan king Tyndareus.