Star Facts Trivia Quiz

Answer: Neutron Stars

Neutron stars are very small and dense. The diameter of a neutron star can vary to 10km to 30km. When a star with a mass of 1.4 solar masses to 3 solar masses is exploded during a supernova explosion, the tiny particles of the exploded star-atoms merge together and a neutron star is born. It has a very powerful magnetic field and spins about 100 times a second.

Answer: Sirius

Sirius is about 8.64 light years away from the Earth. It is a binary star, consisting of a main sequence star and a white dwarf and is located in the constellation, Canis Major. It is the brightest star of this constellation and hence is known as Alpha Canis Majoris. It has a diameter of 2.33 million Km and a mass 2.14 times that of our sun.

Answer: Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star which is 17,000 times brighter than the sun. This star is also known as 'Alpha Orionis'. It is 650 light years away from the Earth and is bright red in colour. Its surface temperature is about 3500 degree Celsius, which is lower than that of the Sun.

Answer: Vega

Vega is the star which sets the scale of magnitude. It has a magnitude of around zero. The greater the number, the less bright the star is. Thus, a negative number denotes that the star appears brighter than Vega. Vega is the brightest star of the constellation Lyra.

Answer: Capella

Capella is the brightest star of the constellation Auriga, so it is known as Alpha Aurigae. It is the sixth brightest star of the night sky and third brightest star in the sky of the Northern Hemisphere. It is about 42.2 light years away from the Earth.

Answer: Red giant

A red giant is a large star, about ten to one hundred times bigger than the sun. It has a comparatively cooler surface as it is in one of the last stages of life.

Aldebaran is forty times the size of our sun and it keeps shedding its outer layers. It is about 65 light years away from the Earth. It is the brightest star of the constellation Taurus, so is known as Alpha Tauri.

Answer: Polaris

Polaris is the brightest star of Ursa Minor so is known as Alpha Ursae Minoris. This star is the closest to earth's Northern Hemisphere and is known as the Northern Star. It is also known by several names such as the Pole Star and the Guiding Star.

Answer: Van Maanen's star

Van Maanen's star was discovered by Adriaan Van Maanen. Its diameter is only 8368 km, which is even smaller than the Earth. It is the closest solitary white dwarf to the Earth.

White dwarfs are hot, but less bright, stars whose density is very high. A white dwarf is born out of a red giant. When a red giant sheds its outer layers, a dense white star is created.

Answer: Black hole

Black holes are the densest area in the universe and have an escape velocity more than the speed of light. This means even the light can't escape the gravitational pull of the black hole. John Wheeler was the first to coin the term in 1967. Sagittarii is the closest black hole to the earth, at a distance of about 1600 light years.

Answer: Sun is not in a constellation

Constellations are groups of stars visible within a particular area of the night sky. They are only observations made by humans, who gave them names based on patterns seen in the groupings, mostly by the Ancient Sumerians and Greeks.

The nearest star to the sun, Proxima Centauri, is in the Centaurus constellation, one of the 88 officially accepted constellations established in 1922.