The Stars of 'Harry Potter' Trivia Quiz

Answer: Draco

Draco the constellation is traditionally depicted as a dragon in western astronomy (draco being Latin for dragon), although in traditional Arabic astronomy it is shown as a group of camels with a couple of hyenas. The vast difference between these two images highlights how vaguely the star patterns actually reflect the images associated with them! Draco the ancient Greek legislator lived around the 7th century BC and his harsh laws led to the term 'draconian' being associated with severe punishments.

The title 'North Star', or northern pole star, is given to a star which appears to be in a constant position over the north pole and was therefore once extremely useful for navigation purposes. Due to the precession of the equinoxes (caused by the slow change in the position of the Earth's axis), the role changes hands occasionally as one pole star drifts away from its position over the pole and other stars take over its place. Thuban was the North Star for over 2,000 years, from about 3900 BC to 1800 BC; the current North Star is Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor. Lyra is a small constellation bordering Draco, which was also one of the 48 originally listed by Ptolemy. Pavo is located in the southern sky and its name is Latin for peacock.

Draco Malfoy was one of the first members of the wizarding world met by Harry Potter. They crossed paths in Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions on Harry's first trip to Diagon Alley; however, Malfoy's pure-blood background, supercilious attitude and the fact that he was a signed up supporter of Lord Voldemort meant they were never likely to be friends...

Answer: Sirius

The two stars which make up the Sirius binary star system are imaginatively named Sirius A and Sirius B. Sirius A is classed as a spectral type A star - a type of white or bluish-white star commonly visible to the naked eye - while, as a dwarf star, Sirius B is the remnant of a much larger star which has passed through the red giant phase and is now slowly cooling. Together Sirius A and Sirius B are known by many names, but one of the best known is the 'Dog Star', which comes from the fact that they are the brightest point of the Canis Major (or great dog) constellation.

Procyon is a binary star system in Canis Minor, Sheliak (or Beta Lyrae) is a semi-detached binary star system; and BG Geminorum is a binary star system that is thought to contain a black hole.

Sirius Black, a.k.a 'The Prisoner of Azkaban', was Harry Potter's godfather and the only Gryffindor member of a proud family of Slytherins. The fact that he shares his name with the Dog Star was reflected in the 'Harry Potter' series by Sirius's ability to turn himself into a large black dog.

Answer: Alphard

Alphard's name comes from the Arabic for 'solitary one' and is particularly apt given that it appears isolated in the night sky, being some distance from any other bright stars. It is a giant star with a radius approximately 50 times that of the Sun and an orangey appearance. On the Brazilian flag it represents the state of Mato Grosso du Sol (which translates into English as 'Thick Forest of the South'), a largely agricultural area that contains the cities of Campo Grande and Corumba.

Achenar is in the constellation Eridanus, Aldebaran is in Taurus and Antares is in Scorpius.

Serious fans of 'Harry Potter' will recognise Alphard's name as being shared with Alphard Black, the uncle of Sirius Black who was briefly mentioned in 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'. He was notable only for helping his runaway nephew by giving him a sizeable hand-out of gold - an act for which he was unceremoniously disowned by the rest of the family.

Answer: Sinistra

Sinistra is a much snappier name for the star than Nu Ophiuchi, which is a bit awkward to both spell and pronounce! The Bayer system of star designation works by combining the name of the star's constellation with a Greek letter (for the first 24 stars) or Latin letters. The Greek (and then Latin) letters are applied to the stars of the constellation in rough order of brightness, so the star designated alpha is usually the brightest. Nu Ophiuchi is therefore a star in the Ophiuchus constellation, although it is actually the 9th brightest rather than the 13th that would be implied by the position of nu in the Greek alphabet.

Ras Alhague is also known as Alpha Ophiuchi, Cebalrai is one name given to Beta Ophiuchi and Marfik is Lambda Ophiuchi.

Professor Sinistra was, fittingly, the astronomy teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She is the only example of a 'Harry Potter' character whose surname is that of a star - her first name, Aurora, is also a type feature of the night sky (in polar regions at least).

Answer: Bellatrix

Bellatrix is much bigger and more powerful than the Sun - its radius is about six times longer than the Sun's and it is about 16,000°C hotter! It is one of the brighter stars in the night sky and is commonly used in celestial navigation (although with the invention of GPS, celestial navigation isn't exactly as common as it used to be).

The constellation of Orion is famous for its distinctive appearance, particularly the three stars which appear to be in a straight line and represent Orion's belt. Mintaka is one of the stars making up the belt, while Bellatrix represents Orion's left shoulder. Rigel and Betelgeuse are the two brightest stars of the constellation and represent Orion's left knee and right shoulder respectively.

Bellatrix Lestrange was Lord Voldemort's most faithful Death Eater and the epitome of a 'female warrior'. She was responsible for murdering many people in the wizarding world, including her cousin Sirius Black, her niece Nymphadora Tonks and poor old Dobby the house-elf.

Answer: Pollux

Gemini, or 'the twins', appears as one of the twelve signs of the zodiac in astrology and in the night sky between the constellations of Taurus and Cancer. Castor represents the head of one twin, while Pollux represents the head of the second. In Greek mythology, Castor and Pollux were twins, but had different fathers - Castor's father was the King of Sparta while Pollux's was Zeus, King of the gods. Pollux the star is classed as a yellow-orange giant and is known to be orbited by at least one planet (called Pollux b).

In Greek mythology, Heracles was also a son of Zeus who had a mortal twin while Hypnos and Thanatos were the twin sons of Erebus and Nyx, who represented sleep and death respectively. None of these characters have given their name to any stars of the night sky.

Pollux is a relatively obscure character whose name is briefly shown on the Black family tapestry in the film version of 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'. He was Sirius Black's maternal grandfather.

Answer: Regulus

Three of the four stars of the Regulus system are designated Regulus A, Regulus B and Regulus C. The fourth, the binary star of Regulus A, is believed to be a white dwarf but is so faint that it has not actually been observed or given its own designation. Regulus is regularly occulted by the moon, meaning that the moon moves between Earth and Regulus, blocking our view of it. The name 'Regulus' is Latin for prince or little king.

Denebola (meaning 'lion's tail'), Algieba and Zosma are all other stars in the constellation of Leo.

Regulus Black was Sirius's younger brother, a staunch Slytherin who became the pride of his family when he signed up as one of Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters, but broke his mother's heart when he disappeared in mysterious circumstances and was presumed dead...

Answer: Arcturus

Red giants are older stars which have used up all the hydrogen in their cores and expanded, resulting in cooler surface temperatures and the reddish appearance that gives them their name. Arcturus is estimated to be about 6 to 8 billion years old, compared to the 4.5 billion(ish) years that our Sun has been around. Mira and Gacrux are also red giant type stars (located in Cetus and Crux - the Southern Cross - respectively), while Seginus is another star in the Boötes constellation.

Arcturus was observed during daylight (by telescope) in 1635 by the French astronomer and astrologer, Jean-Baptiste Morin. This achievement was somewhat offset however by his belief that the Earth was located at a fixed point in space and his vehement opposition to Galileo's theory of heliocentrism.

When Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore journeyed to a remote cave to locate one of Lord Voldemort's horcruxes, all they obtained was a fake containing a note written by the mysterious "R.A.B". In 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows', Harry discovered that "R.A.B" was none other than Regulus Arcturus Black, his godfather's little brother.

Answer: Merope

The Pleiades cluster consists of Alcyone, Celaeno, Electra, Maia, Merope, Sterope and Taygeta (named after the seven sisters); Atlas and Pleione (named after their parents) and probably hundreds more stars or celestial bodies. Merope is a Beta Cephei type star, meaning that its brightness varies due to the surface of the star moving and pulsating.

Shaula, Jabbah and Lesath are all stars in the constellation Scorpius (or Scorpio). Scorpio is the opposite sign to Taurus in the zodiac.

In the 'Harry Potter' series Merope was an unfortunate witch who escaped from a life of drudgery by ensnaring a handsome muggle with a love potion. Needless to say the muggle didn't stick around once the potion wore off, leaving Merope penniless and pregnant. Merope then died giving birth to the baby who grew up to become the evil Lord Voldemort.

Answer: Andromeda

The constellation Andromeda is named for the princess in Greek mythology (the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia) who was chained to a rock to become dinner for the sea monster, Cetus, only to be saved from certain death by Perseus. Luckily, Andromeda the constellation is located a safe distance from the constellation of Cetus, with Pegasus, Pisces and Aries separating them.

The area of space covered by this constellation is also home to various deep-sky objects including the Andromeda Galaxy - the nearest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way.

Readers of the 'Harry Potter' series didn't get to meet Andromeda Tonks until the final novel when Harry crash-landed in her garden and was distinctly taken aback by her resemblance to her evil sister, Bellatrix Lestrange. Andromeda was also the grandmother of Harry's godson, Teddy Lupin.