Scanning the Skies Trivia Quiz

The Milky Way is the galaxy in which the solar system is located. Although it is actually a spiral galaxy, from Earth it appears as a band of gas, stars and dust as the location is at the end of one of the arms of the galaxy, known as the Orion Arm.

Meteor showers occur when large numbers of meteors are seen in the sky and heading from the same area and in the same direction. Although they look spectacular, they do not normally reach the Earth, disintegrating in the atmosphere. There are several regular and well known annual meteor showers, such as the Perseids, seen in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere's summer and the Leonids, which occur in November.

The photo shows the Geminids, visible in December.

Orion is one of the 88 recognised constellations in the sky, formed by patterns of stars and named for their resemblance to various creatures or people. In this instance, the constellation is named for a mythical Greek hunter and is known for the three stars in a row across the middle which are said to form Orion's belt. From left to right, the stars are Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.

Other bright stars found in Orion are Betelgeuse, top left, and Rigel, at the bottom right of the picture.

Halley's Comet was the first comet to be identified as one which appeared at regular intervals, albeit around seventy-five years apart meaning few of us get to see it more than once. Halley used historical records to show that the same comet had been recorded several times in the past and predicted the year in which it would return, although he died in 1742, sixteen years before he was proven correct.

The comet was named in his honour.

When the Moon passes in front of the Sun, it is called an eclipse. When the Moon completely obscures the Sun it is a total eclipse and a partial eclipse occurs when the alignment is less precise. Eclipses take place regularly, but can only be seen from Earth in a relatively small region. Looking directly at the Sun is dangerous and can damage the eyes, so there are various techniques and equipment available to enable humans to see the eclipse.

Centaurus A is a galaxy located in the constellation named for the half man half horse beasts of Greek mythology. There is ongoing debate over whether it should be classed as lenticular or elliptical as its shape resembles either and NASA describes it as an active galaxy due to the brightness of its emissions. Astronomers do agree that it has a supermassive black hole at its centre.

The Transit of Venus describes the times when the planet can be seen crossing the Sun - the photograph shows Venus as a black dot in three different positions as it makes its way across the Sun. Venus visibly crosses the Sun at predictable intervals with the closest (in time) transits occurring eight years apart.

There is then a long period of at least a hundred years before two further transits take place. The most recent transits took place in 2004 and 2012 with the next one due in 2117.

This is an asterism, rather than a constellation, meaning it is a pattern of stars forming a pattern and with a popular name. This one is known as the coathanger due to the row of stars resembling the part where clothes are placed with the other four stars forming the hook or handle by which it is hung up. It forms part of the constellation Vulpecula, or the little fox.

The Eagle Nebula lies in the Milky Way and was discovered in the eighteenth century. Thanks to the Hubble telescope and, more recently, the James Webb telescope, astronomers have discovered a birthplace of stars dubbed the Pillars of Creation within the Eagle Nebula and this is what is shown in the photo which accompanies this question.

The magnificent and colourful displays sometimes seen in our skies are called the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) in the Northern Hemisphere and Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) in the Southern Hemisphere. They are associated with the polar regions, but can be seen from other places on Earth - the UK was treated to some spectacular sights in 2024.

The lights are caused by solar storms which sometimes collide with the magnetic fields surrounding the Earth, particularly at the two poles. The colours are caused by the gases in the atmosphere - green is caused by oxygen while nitrogen creates pink and purple shades.