If It's Any Constellation Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pegasus

Pegasus was an original constellation, one of 48 noted by ancient Greco-Roman astronomer Ptolemy. In Greek myth, Pegasus is the winged horse who helped Bellerophon defeat the Chimera. Zeus turned Pegasus into a constellation and placed him in the sky.

The rough square shape of the constellation represent the body of the horse and the bent line at the bottom is his neck and head. The little line jutting off of the top is a leg; if Sirrah were still included in this constellation, it would form another leg off of the square body. As part of the Andromeda constellation, Sirrah is usually called Alpheratz.

Answer: Virgo

Virgo, meaning virgin in Latin, was called The Furrow in ancient Babylonia, to represent a grain of corn. The star name Spica also represents grains. In Greek myth, Virgo is associated with Demeter, the goddess of agriculture (and similarly, associated with Ceres in Roman myth).

The fact that Spica is one of the brightest stars in the night sky makes Virgo a fairly easy constellation to find. It can also be found by following a curve in the Big Dipper into Bootes through the star Arcturus all the way to Spica, resulting in the mnemonic device "follow the arc to Arcturus and then speed on to Spica".

Answer: Cygnus

Cygnus means swan. The constellation has been associated to several legends of mythology including Zeus disguising himself as a swan to seduce and impregnate Leda, a king's wife.

Cygnus contains within it an asterism (a recognizable pattern of stars, usually within a constellation or from stars from several adjoining constellations), the Northern Cross; the bright star Deneb marks the top of it. Deneb is one of the brightest stars in the sky, making the constellation and the Northern Cross quite prominent, particularly during summer solstice. The very large star referred to in the question is NML Cygni, part of the Cygnus OB2 stellar association.

Answer: Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia is another constellation originally identified by ancient astronomer Ptolemy. It borders several other constellations, including Andromeda and Cepheus. In mythology, Cassiopeia was married to King Cepheus and Andromeda was their daughter. As the legend goes, Cassiopeia was turned into a constellation as punishment for being boastful and vain.

One of the brightest stars of the constellation is the alpha star, known as Shedir ('the breast'). It is a double star. Several of Cassiopeia's dimmer stars are also double stars, as well as some binary stars. There are other deep sky objects contained in Cassiopeia as well, including remnants of the supernova Tycho's Star.

Answer: Canis major

Canis major is the greater dog constellation and is represented as one of hunter Orion's hunting dogs (Canis minor, or lesser dog, being the other). It has also been said to represent other dogs in mythology, such as Laelaps, a dog given by Zeus to Europa. This follows a bit more closely with Roman myth, in which Canis major was also called Custos Europa and was the dog that guarded Europa.

The constellation Monoceros lies between Canis major and minor. The very bright star Sirius (Canis major's alpha star) is known as the dog star. The constellation has two other stars that are considered to be very bright (above magnitude 2.0). These are Adhara (the epsilon star) and Mirzam (beta).

Answer: Gemini

Castor and Pollux are twin brothers from Greek myth; the Gemini constellation (and zodiac sign) represents twins. In mythology, they were sons of Leda, but Castor's father was Leda's husband and Pollux's father was Zeus. They were turned into the constellation and placed in the sky together when Pollux wanted to share his immortality with Castor, when Castor was killed. The twins are also associated with the phenomenon St. Elmo's fire.

In the constellation, the two brightest stars are also called Castor (spelled Chastor in the picture; it's a different language) and Pollux. Finding these two stars is one of the easiest ways to locate Gemini in the night sky.

Answer: Crux

Crux, Latin for cross, is also known as the Southern Cross, for the cross-shaped asterism that is most predominantly seen in the constellation. It can be seen as well from tropical latitudes in the northern hemisphere at certain times of year, particularly towards the end of winter and early spring. It is surrounded on three sides by the constellation Centaurus; ancient astronomer Ptolemy originally considered Crux to be part of Centaurus. Nearby is the constellation Vela, which has an asterism within it known as the False Cross, because many people confuse it with Crux.

It is used as a national symbol by many nations in the southern hemisphere and can be found, for example, on the flags of Australia, New Zealand and several other countries.

Answer: Hydrus

Hydrus is the male water snake. Hydra, the female water snake, is a much bigger constellation; in fact it is the biggest out of the 88 modern constellations. While Hydra was one of Ptolemy's original constellations, Hydrus was established by a Dutch astronomer, Petrus Plancius, several centuries later.

It was first included on a celestial globe by Jodocus Hondias in 1598 and first depicted in a celestial atlas in 1603 by Johann Bayer. The charting of the individual stars in the constellation was done in 1756 by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille.

Answer: Monoceros

Monoceros ('one horn') is the Greek word for unicorn. It is considered to be a modern-discovered constellation. The first certain appearance of it on globes and charts was around 1612/1613 on a globe created by Plancius. It was also charted in 1624 by German astronomer Jakob Bartsch under the label Unicornus. Some astronomers believe that the discovery of this constellation is older than the 1600s, citing a work from 1564 that makes reference to a 'second horse' between Gemini and Cancer that is not very bright. However, this may refer to a previously charted horse, not a unicorn, and the noted position does not match that of Monoceros.

While the stars of Monoceros are not very bright or easily seen with the naked eye, one particular noteworthy component of the constellation is the Beta star, which is actually a triple star system.

Answer: Orion

Orion as a constellation is associated with many myths worldwide, but the name comes from Greek mythology, in which Orion was a large, very strong hunter. In art, Orion is usually shown with other related constellations such as Canis major and Canis minor, his hunting dogs, and Lepus (the hare), one of his hunting targets.

Of Orion's stars, Bellatrix and Betelgeuse represent his shoulders at the top of the hourglass figure. Rigel and Saiph represent his feet at the bottom. In the middle is Orion's belt, comprised of three stars: Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. Descending off the belt is Orion's nebula, which is said to represent his hunting sword.