Libra Trivia
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49 free Libra trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Libra trivia quiz covers the seventh sign of the zodiac from three directions. The astrology questions ask about the scales' dates, Venus rulership, air element and cardinal modality, Saturn's exaltation, the opposite sign Aries, and Manilius's claim that Roman judges are born under it. The astronomy questions turn to the constellation itself: the claw stars Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali, the green-tinged brightest star that may once have outshone Antares, the eclipsing Delta Librae, the misfiled Gamma Scorpii, the Gliese 581 planets that were and were not there, and the Methuselah star that seemed older than the universe. The mythology and history are where Libra gets interesting: the scales of Themis and Iustitia, Egyptian heart-weighing, the blindfold that started as satire, the Babylonian Zibanu sacred to Shamash, the Greek claws of the scorpion, the Egyptian boat, the Roman invention of the constellation, and the libra that gave us 'lb' and the word pound. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is shown on every question, so the quiz suits a Libra birthday, a pub quiz round or a stargazing night. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. Try our Zodiac, Astrology and Planets quizzes next.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What object does the sign Libra represent?
Weighing scales
Weighing scales are Libra's emblem: a beam with a pan hanging from each end, drawn in the sign's glyph as a bar resting on a baseline, the image of fairness and even-handedness.
Q 02Libra is unique among the zodiac signs because it is the only one represented by what?
An inanimate object
An inanimate object stands for Libra alone; every other sign is an animal or a human or mythological figure, though some old star maps add a figure holding Libra's pans.
Q 03Libra is which sign in the order of the zodiac?
7th
Libra is the 7th sign, opening the second half of the twelve-sign zodiac; its first point marks the autumn equinox, halfway round the wheel from the first point of the year.
Q 04Which planet rules Libra?
Venus
Venus rules Libra as well as Taurus, its two domiciles; the planet of harmony and partnership suits the sign of fairness and relationships.
Q 05Libra belongs to which element?
Air
With Gemini and Aquarius it makes up the air triplicity, the signs of thought and communication.
Q 06What is Libra's modality?
Cardinal
Cardinal signs begin the seasons; Libra starts autumn in the northern hemisphere.
Q 07Which sign is opposite Libra on the zodiac wheel?
Aries
The two mark the equinoxes: Aries the spring one and Libra the autumn one.
Q 08Which planet is said to be exalted in Libra?
Saturn
Saturn is exalted in Libra in traditional doctrine, the planet of judgement finding its best expression in the sign of fairness; the Sun, by contrast, is in its 'fall' there.
Q 09On average, the Sun is in the sign Libra between which dates?
September 24 to October 22
The Sun occupies the sign Libra from about September 24 to October 22, the month after the autumn equinox; the tropical signs track the seasons rather than the constellations.
Q 10Astronomically, between which dates does the Sun actually pass through the constellation Libra?
October 31 to November 22
The Sun crosses the constellation Libra from about October 31 to November 22, more than a month after the astrological sign, because precession has shifted the constellations against the calendar.
Q 11The scales of Libra are based on those held by which Greek personification of ancient sacred law?
Themis
Themis, a Titan and Zeus's second wife, personified divine law and order; her scales and sword became the model for modern statues of Lady Justice.
Q 12Which daughter of Zeus, one of the Horae, was the Greek personification of justice?
Dike
Dike, one of the Horae with her sisters Eirene and Eunomia, personified human justice; Greek poets told of her leaving the earth in disgust at mankind's wickedness to shine among the stars.
Q 13Which Roman emperor introduced the goddess of justice to the Roman pantheon?
Augustus
Augustus introduced the cult of Iustitia to the Roman state; justice was one of the four virtues on the golden shield, the clipeus virtutis, that the Senate awarded him in 27 BC.
Q 21Which star is the brightest in Libra?
Beta Librae (Zubeneschamali)
Beta Librae (Zubeneschamali), at magnitude 2.6, just outshines Alpha Librae at 2.75; Bayer's letters do not always follow brightness.
Q 22Libra's brightest star is often described as showing what unusual tint?
Green
It is a hot blue-white B-type star, and no one is quite sure why observers report a greenish cast.
Q 23Which red star did Eratosthenes say Libra's brightest star once outshone?
Antares
Ptolemy later called the two equal, so either Antares brightened or the Libra star is slightly variable.
Q 14Weighing a dead person's heart against a feather was which ancient culture's judgement rite?
Egypt
Egypt: in the Book of the Dead the jackal-headed Anubis weighs the heart against the feather of Ma'at, and a heavy heart is eaten by the monster Ammit.
Q 15Since roughly which century has Lady Justice commonly been shown wearing a blindfold?
The 16th
The 16th century: the blindfold began as satire in the 1490s, mocking a Justice blind to the abuses before her, and was soon reread as impartiality.
Q 16The first known statue of a blindfolded Justice, from 1543, stands on a fountain in which city?
Bern
Bern's Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen, the Fountain of Justice, carries Hans Gieng's 1543 figure of a blindfolded Justice, the earliest known, sword raised above the old-town street.
Q 17According to the Roman writer Manilius, which professionals are born under Libra?
Judges
Judges, Manilius wrote in his Astronomica, are born under Libra, the sign that weighs life and death; he also called it the sign in which day and night are equal.
Q 18The Moon was said to be in Libra at the founding of which city?
Rome
Rome: Manilius wrote that the Moon stood in Libra when the city was founded, and the Romans read the sign as a good omen for their state.
Q 19Before it became the scales, the Greeks saw Libra's stars as part of which constellation?
The claws of Scorpius
The claws of Scorpius: Greek astronomers knew the area as Chelae, the Claws, with the creature's pincers reaching west across what is now Libra.
Q 20What does the name of Alpha Librae, Zubenelgenubi, mean in Arabic?
The southern claw
The southern claw is the meaning of Zubenelgenubi, from Arabic al-zubana al-janubiyya; Alpha Librae is a wide double star whose two components can be split with the naked eye.
Q 24Traditionally, which two stars represent the beam of the scales, with Gamma and Sigma as the pans?
Alpha and Beta
Alpha and Beta Librae mark the two ends of the beam, with Gamma and Sigma hanging below as the pans; together the four stars form the quadrangle that identifies the constellation.
Q 25Until 1851 Sigma Librae (Brachium) carried a designation in which other constellation?
Scorpius
Scorpius: Bayer had labelled the star Gamma Scorpii even though it lies inside Libra's figure, and the designation Sigma Librae replaced it in 1851.
Q 26Delta Librae is what kind of variable star?
An Algol-type eclipsing binary
An Algol-type eclipsing binary: every 2 days and 8 hours a companion crosses in front of Delta Librae and dims it by a full magnitude, from 4.9 to 5.9.
Q 27Which red dwarf in Libra generated some of the first claims of potentially habitable exoplanets?
Gliese 581
Gliese 581, a red dwarf in Libra, made headlines from 2007 with planets 'c', 'd' and 'g' touted as potentially habitable; 'c' proved too hot and 'd' and 'g' were later dismissed as stellar noise.
Q 28How far away is the red dwarf that hosts Libra's best-known planetary system?
20.5 light-years
The star lies about 20.5 light-years away, one of the nearer stars to the Sun, roughly two degrees north of Libra's brightest star.
Q 29The disputed planet 'g' in Libra's red-dwarf system was nicknamed what by one of its discoverers?
Zarmina's World
Zarmina's World was Steven Vogt's name for the planet, after his wife; he put the chances of life there at '100 percent', yet other teams could not find the planet at all.
Q 30When it was found in 2009, planet 'e' of Libra's red-dwarf system held what record?
Least massive exoplanet around a normal star
Least massive exoplanet around a normal star was the title planet 'e' claimed in April 2009, with a minimum mass of just 1.9 Earths; only pulsar planets around a dead star were lighter.