Echoes Throughout The Night Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Founded in 1919, the International Astronomical Union (shortened to IAU in English or to UAI in its original French) is the foremost global authority on astronomical bodies, objects, and principles. They've got numerous subgroups dedicated to different nomenclatures, working independently on planets, systems, stars, and minor celestial bodies. They established a group of 88 modern constellations in 1928 which are mapped in such a way as to cover the entire night sky without overlap; at the time of writing, it's been nearly 100 years, and the list hasn't changed.

Most of the constellations we recognize today in the Northern Hemisphere are derived from the writings of the ancient astronomer Ptolemy, with the rest filled in later by European explorers and astronomers. Of the constellations named in this quiz, only Columba (the dove), Pyxis (a compass), Phoenix (the mythological bird), Vulpecula (the fox), and Scutum (previously Scutum Sobiescianum, named in honor of King John III Sobieski of Poland) did not originate with Ptolemy.

Cepheus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, and Perseus are not only Greek mythological figures, but all family members. Cepheus and Cassiopeia, rulers of Aethiopia, chained their daughter Andromeda to a rock to appease Poseidon, who has allowed a sea monster to attack their country in response to - and you might see this coming if you're familiar with any Greek myth - Cassiopeia making a boastful claim about either her own beauty or that of Andromeda. Perseus happens to swing by on his way home to Greece from killing Medusa (as he had been tasked with bringing her head to Polydectes, king of the island Seriphos, who resented Perseus for protecting his mother Danaë from his advances) and either beheads the monster Cetus (also a constellation!) or uses Medusa's head to petrify it, which, by one manner or another, results in his marriage to Andromeda. He may also have used Medusa's head to petrify Phineas, who was Andromeda's betrothed. Pegasus, too, is connected to this, as he was born from the blood of Medusa following her decapitation. As constellations, Andromeda and Cassiopeia both border Perseus; Cepheus also borders Cassiopeia, and Pegasus borders Andromeda. Cetus is elsewhere in the sky and is, astronomically, sometimes just regarded as a whale anyway.

Hercules is named for the mythological hero of the same name; in an unusual turn, that's his Roman name, as opposed to the Greek Heracles - a descendant of Perseus (his second or third-great grandson in human terms, but Zeus fathered each of them), best remembered for centuries for his twelve labors and more recently for the Disney film based broadly on his myth. One of his twelve labors involved slaying the Hydra, also remembered in constellation but not to be confused with the similarly-named Hydrus, which is named after a real-world aquatic snake. Eridanus, another modern constellation first recognized by Ptolemy, is the name of a mythological river which turns up in one of Heracles' myths, as he asks the river's nymphs for directions. It's also named in the Aeneid as one of the rivers of Hades.

Orion is a very easy constellation to spot (a rectangle with a straight line of three stars diagonally across make up his torso and belt) but a difficult mythological figure to pin down; he's briefly mentioned in the Odyssey and Ovid wrote a poem on a version of his birth, but there's no central myth to his persona beyond the details that he is a Greek hunter, a giant, and is one of a few figures whose mythology includes a story of their placement in the night sky (Cassiopeia and Andromeda are included here, too). He may have hunted with Artemis and may have been killed by a giant scorpion (now the constellation Scorpius, relevant to astronomy and astrology).

As previously mentioned, the Phoenix - a fire-bird capable of rebirth from its own ashes - originates in Greek mythology, but was not one of Ptolemy's 48 constellations; rather, it was named on a globe created by a group of Dutch explorers and astronomers which was published in 1598. There are a few other figures in Greek mythology who share the name Phoenix, though, including one who tutored Achilles and one who may have been Cepheus' father - yes, the same Cepheus from earlier, though looking too close introduces a second Cassiopeia and a second Phineas (though, admittedly, this one might be more famous than the earlier one by virtue of being an Argonaut).

At last, there is Triangulum, recognized by Ptolemy, which borders Andromeda and Perseus to its north: It is recognized by an isosceles triangle formed by three bright stars, called Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Trianguli. Some stories have been attached to it, including associations with the island Sicily, but there's no getting around the fact that as far as its nomenclature is concerned, it is but a triangle, named accordingly.