"A" List Stars Trivia Quiz

Answer: it's an eclipsing binary

Algol is in the constellation of Perseus and legend says that it is the eye of Medusa, whom Perseus slew. The "eye" seems to wink slowly over the course of 4 days because the fainter star moves in front of the brighter one. Although Algol is actually a three-star system, the third star does not occlude the others as seen from Earth.

Answer: Altair

Red giants ate stars of low to intermediate mass in a late phase of stellar evolution. They have a large radius and relatively low surface temperature (from 5,000 K and even lower). They fall into the K and M spectral type. Scientists theorize that our sun will one day become a red giant and expand its diameter to at least the size of what is now the earth's orbit. Altair is a white star of spectral class A.

Answer: Alkaid

Alkaid is a second magnitude star in the B spectral class. Although it appears to be in the "dipper", it is just a positional illusion. Being 104 light years away, it is farther away than the other stars in the grouping which average 80 light years and moving in a different direction as seen from Earth. Alioth is the third star in from the end of the handle and Alcor is a faint companion of the "middle" star of the handle, Mizar. Alnair is the brightest star in the constellation of Gruis (Grus).

Answer: false

The closest star to the solar system is Proxima Centauri - about 4.2 light years away. It's in the constellation of Centaurus and is a class M star (red dwarf). The next closest star does begin with an A - Alpha Centauri which is 0.2 light years further away.

Answer: Altair

The "summer triangle" consists of Altair in the constellation of Aquila, Deneb in Cygnus and Vega in Lyra. During the summer months, this configuration is located almost overhead around midnight in the mid-northern latitudes. Oswald Thomas, an Austrian astronomer, described this triangle in the 1920s, but British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore popularized its current nomenclature in the 1950s.

Answer: the follower

Aldebaran, a bright reddish star in the constellation of Taurus, gets its name from the Arabic word for "follower". Most likely it was named this way because is is located just east of the Pleiades, which makes it seem like it's pursuing them.

Answer: Alpha Ursae Minoris

Polaris, the current "pole star" located in the constellation of Ursa Minor, is now only 0.7 degrees away from the true northern celestial pole, so it seems relatively motionless as other stars rotate around it. Its role as this celestial landmark will change as the tilt of the Earth's axis shifts slowly.

In 3000 B.C. the pole star was Thuban in Draco and in 3000 A.D. it will be Gamma Cephi in Cephus.

Answer: Alpheratz

Alpheratz (a.k.a. Sirrah) has historically been assigned to both Pegasus and Andromeda. The current nomenclature has it named as Alpha Andromedae. It is unusual because its spectrum indicates it contains high levels of mercury, which is very rare in stars.

Answer: Mintaka

From east to west, the stars of Orion's belt are named Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. Mintaka actually means "belt" in Arabic. It is 900 light years away.

Answer: no

From the brightest, they are Hamal, Sharatan, Mesarthim and Botein. None of these are very visually spectacular. Hamal means "head of the ram" and has an apparent magnitude of around 2 and is classified as a red giant.