Edge of Seventeen Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pandora

Saturn XVII was discovered in 1980 and given the designation of S/1980 S 26. In 1985, it was named after Pandora, the first woman in Greek myth. Saturn has plenty of satellites that surround it, most with designations as their only name. With that in mind, for a quiz on 17, I COULD have chosen S/2004 S 17, S/2006 S 17, S/2019 S 17, S/2020 S 17 or S/2023 S 17... though, akin to the box of Pandora, all hope of getting the answer correct would have been left behind.

Answer: Draco

Draco (with, coincidentally, a right ascension of 17h) has 76 total stars in the constellation, though 17 of these make up the main stars. Most of these stars are only known by their Bayer designation (a Greek letter followed by the constellation name), though several were once known by other names.

In this case, Thuban is designated alpha Draconis. Though it's called alpha, Thuban is not the brightest star in the constellation; that title belongs to gamma Draconis (once named Eltanin).

Answer: WASP-17b

WASP-17b is a large exoplanet that was discovered through the SuperWASP project (WASP standing for Wide Angle Search for Planets). It is alternately named Ditso, and orbits Diwo of the Scorpius constellation. The star is given a similar designation, being also known as WASP-17. Diwo is one of the many stars in the Scorpius constellation, though not one of the main 18.

Answer: The first six were unmanned test flights

Apollo 17 was the 11th manned mission of the Apollo program, and the last time during this program that man was put on the moon (commander Gene Cernan and pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the moon while pilot Ronald Evans orbited above) between December 7-19, 1972. Apollo 1, the first test of the program, did not go as planned, and the three-man crew during ground testing unfortunately all died from a fire during the test. Apollo 11 was the first famously successful moon landing attempt in 1969. Apollo 17 was the sixth successful landing (Apollo 13, unfortunately, did not land on the moon due to an oxygen tank explosion, though positively the crew survived). Because of budget concerns, and given the incidents of both Apollo 1 and 13, the program canceled missions 18, 19 and 20.

Interestingly, Apollo 2 and 3 do not officially exist, and were tests that took place before Apollo 1. When the crew of Apollo 1 died from their test, Apollo became the name in honor of them (the designation they had used for the project). The prior two tests, though not officially considered Apollo 2 and 3, were given the honorific title as part of the program, and naming resumed with the next test as Apollo 4.

Answer: Swan Nebula

One would think the Swan Nebula would be found in the Swan named Cygnus constellation, but it is, instead, found within Sagittarius. The nebula is typically referred to as the Omega Nebula, as the shape is somewhat similar to the capital Greek letter omega, though distorted; as described by John Herschel in 1833.

The constellation also goes by the name of Horseshoe, Checkmark, and Lobster. For the purpose of this quiz, we are more interested in its Messier cataloged designation, M17.

Answer: The Tempest

Uranus XVII is a moon of Uranus that was discovered in 1997 (hence the S/1997 U 2 designation), and named Sycorax to follow suit with the trend of the moons of Uranus being named after Shakespearean characters. Sycorax, in this case, is from "The Tempest", though she is an unseen character in the play.

It is believed that Sycorax (the moon, not the witch) was captured by Uranus, and did not form alongside the planet.

Answer: Hydra

Alphard, designated as alpha Hydrae, is the only bright star in the constellation Hydra, and one of 17 main stars named (with a total of 75 Bayer named stars). Hydra was so named after an ancient Babylonian text's rendition of the constellation for the water serpent, though we now more closely associate the Hydra (as well as the constellation) with the Lernaean monster bested by Hercules, also associated with the constellation.

There is no relation to this beast with the smaller named Hydrus constellation (meaning 'male water serpent', Hydra being female).

Answer: Electra

The Pleiades cluster of stars is found within the Taurus constellation and contains the star 17 Tauri, also known as Electra (not the Carmen variety). Of the Seven Sisters, Electra is only the third brightest, behind Alcyone at Atlas. You may wonder, of course, why Atlas is in the "Seven Sisters" star cluster. Pleione and Atlas are the sister's parents, and are included in the list of bright stars within Pleiades.

Answer: The Whale

Cetus (like cetacean) is the whale constellation. This is a bit odd, because the Cetus of Greek myth was not quite a whale; though it is a sea monster that both Hercules and Perseus were to slay. BD-17 63 is one of the stars within the constellation, and is called Felixvarela. Its orbiting planet, BD-17 63b, is known as Finlay.

Answer: Perseus

The Perseus constellation, named after the Greek hero Perseus, has 19 main stars, and quite a number of nebulae and dark nebulae. Among these are some of the Barnard nebulae. Barnard 15 is the largest of a cluster of three, which also includes 16 and 17. During the 19th century, some atlases included Medusa's severed head in the constellation, but this did not catch on.

The Barnard catalog contains 349 dark nebulae, quite a number of which are found within Perseus (including our favorite Barnard 17).