A Journey Through the Southern Night Sky Quiz

Answer: Inverted

The constellations do not change, it is only the viewer's orientation that changes due to the fact that the Earth is a sphere. Of course you could always lie on your back with your head pointing north to get a northern hemisphere viewpoint.

Answer: Orion

All the other constellations are only visible from the northern hemisphere. Orion sits on the celestial equator and is visible from both hemispheres. Orion contains the famous Horsehead Nebula, which lies just south of Alnitak, one of the three stars on Orion's belt.

Answer: Centaurus

Centaurus contains Alpha Centauri which is the fourth brightest star in the sky and Beta Centauri which is the tenth brightest. Centaurus also contains the Boomerang Nebula, which due to the rate at which it is expelling gas from its central star, is known as the coldest known place in the universe in the early twenty-first century.

Answer: Canis Major

Canis Major along with Canis Minor are two constellations of the southern sky which represent the two dogs following Orion (the hunter) through the night sky. Canis Major is one of the original constellations that were catalogued in ancient Greece when it was visible in the northern sky.

In ancient Greece, Sirius rose during the hottest part of the summer, and was named Sirius which means scorching. The Greeks referred to the hot days in summer as dog days, as only dogs would be mad enough to go out in such heat (Englishmen were not around at the time), which led to Sirius becoming known as the Dog Star, and the constellation named after it as Big Dog.

Answer: Crux

Better known as the Southern Cross, Crux measures covers only six degrees of the sky (your closed fist at arms length covers ten degrees). As there is no bright star close to the celestial south pole, using the two stars on the long axis as pointers, Crux is a useful aid to finding it.

Answer: Large Magellanic Cloud

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is one of the few galaxies visible with the naked eye. The LMC contains approximately 10 billion stars, compared to our Milky Way's 100 billion stars. At some distant point in the future the Milky Way will probably consume the LMC.

Answer: Mensa

Mensa lies just south of the Large Magellanic Cloud close to the south celestial pole. Mensa derives from the latin Mons Mensae (Table Mountain). French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille called it that as a reference to the site from which he made his observations: Table Mountain in Cape Town South Africa.

Answer: Hydra

Stretching from Cancer to Libra, Hydra covers 102 degrees of the sky. Hydra is so long it takes over six hours to completely rise above the horizon.

Answer: Sagittarius

Sagittarius contains the famous Pistol Star, which is about 200 times as massive as our Sun and four million times as luminous. The Pistol Star radiates as much energy in 20 seconds as our sun does in a whole year!

Answer: The Coalsack

The Coalsack is the most visible dark nebula in the sky. The Coalsack is made up of interstellar gases, dust and frozen molecules so dense that it obscures those stars in the Milky Way behind it. Many millions of years in the future, the dust
clouds which make up the Coalsack will coalesce into new stars.