A Starry Night Trivia Quiz

Answer: Betelgeuse

The four named stars make up the left and right shoulders of Orion (Betelgeuse and Bellatrix), and his feet (Saiph and Rigel).

Betelgeuse is the second brightest star in Orion (after Rigel) with an apparent magnitude that varies between 0.2 and 1.2. It also happens to be one of the three stars that makes up the Winter Triangle (along with Procyon and Sirius).

Apparent magnitude is how bright a celestial object appears as seen from Earth - using the star Vega (in the constellation Lyra) as a comparison. A star (or planet) with a 0.0 apparent magnitude would seem to be the same brightness as Vega. The higher the number, the dimmer the star. Negative numbers are brighter.

Answer: Pollux

Alnitak (Zeta Ori), Alnilam (Epsilon Ori), and Mintaka (Delta Ori) make up the three stars of Orion's Belt as seen left to right in the photo.

Alnitak is actually a triple star system, with a close binary and a third that orbits the primary (Alnitak A) at a greater distance. Together, they have an apparent magnitude of 2.0 (about 16% of Vega's brightness).

Alnilam is the brightest of the three with an apparent magnitude of 1.7. It is a blue-white supergiant, and the fourth brightest star in the Orion constellation.

Mintaka is a binary star system with an apparent magnitude of 2.21.

Answer: False

The Big Dipper is actually only an asterism (a formation of stars recognized within a greater constellation, like Orion's Belt within the constellation Orion) within the larger constellation Ursa Major. The 'handle' of the Big Dipper is actually the tail of the Great Bear, while the 'ladle' is just part of the Great Bear's torso.

The seven stars of the Big Dipper are Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Phecda, Merak, and Dubhe. About one light year beyond the second star of the handle (Mizar) is another star, named Alcor.

Answer: The Pointers

Merak and Dubhe are not the only stars in the night sky that are used to locate other significant stars, but they are known simply as 'The Pointers' because they point to that most significant celestial navigation tool - the North Star.

Other examples of pointer stars are the Southern Pointer Stars, Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri (Hadar), that point to the Southern Cross, and Orion's Belt which point out the location of Sirius, the brightest star in the sky aside from our own sun.

Answer: Polaris

Polaris, or Alpha Ursae Minoris, is the star closest to the axis of the Earth's rotation. Thus, it seems as though the sky is rotating around that star. Polaris is not quite exactly centered on the axis, but it is close enough to count.

Polaris is the brightest star of Ursa Minor, with an apparent magnitude of 1.97. It is actually a multiple star, with two close companions to the primary (a supergiant), and two distant components.

Answer: Guardians of the Pole Star

Pherkad's Bayer designation is Gamma Ursae Minoris, and it is the dimmer of the two 'Guardians', with an apparent magnitude of 3.05. The name 'Pherkad' comes from Arabic 'aḫfa al farkadayn', which translates as 'the dim one of the two calves'.

Kochab, or Beta Ursae Minoris, is the second brightest of the constellation, with an apparent magnitude of 2.08.

From roughly 1500 BC until AD 500, Pherkad and Kochab actually served as twin pole stars, although neither of them (then) were as close to the rotational axis of the earth as Polaris currently is.

Answer: Cassiopeia

The Bayer desginations for the five main stars of Cassiopeia are as follows:

Segin - Epsilon Cassiopeiae (apparent visual magnitude: 3.4)
Ksora - Delta Cassiopeiae (apparent visual magnitude: 2.68)
Cih - Gamma Cassiopeiae (apparent visual magnitude: 2.47)
Shedir - Alpha Cassiopeiae (apparent visual magnitude: 2.2)
Caph - Beta Cassiopeiae (apparent visual magnitude: 2.3)

The other answer options are all constellations that border Cassiopeia. Andromeda can be found to the south, Perseus in the southeast, and Cepheus to the north.

Answer: Tycho Brahe

'Tycho's Supernova', or B Cassiopeia, appeared in the sky in 1572 and soon grew brighter than Venus, easily visible in the daytime. It faded from sight in 1574, and the supernova remnant was not rediscovered until 1952 by R. Hanbury Brown and C. Hazard.

Answer: Sagitta (Arrow)

Overall, Sagitta is not a very bright constellation, with the brightest of four main stars being Sham (Alpha Sagittae), with an apparent magnitude of 4.37. That said, it is a yellow bright giant star about 340 times more massive than our own sun.

Answer: Virgo

Altair (Alpha Aquilae) is the brightest star in the constellation Aquila, with an apparent magnitude of 0.77. It is an A-type main sequence star, similar to our own sun.

Deneb (Alpha Cygni) is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus, with an apparent magnitude of 1.25. It is a blue-white supergiant.

Vega (Alpha Lyrae) is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, and is the standard by which the whole scale is measured in regards to apparent magnitude.