Scorpio Trivia
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45 free Scorpio trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Scorpio trivia quiz covers the eighth sign of the zodiac from every angle. The astrology questions ask about the scorpion's dates, its classical ruler Mars and modern ruler Pluto, its water element and fixed modality, its opposite sign Taurus, its colours and its polarity, plus the awkward fact that the Sun spends only six days a year in the actual constellation because Ophiuchus takes the rest. The astronomy questions turn to Scorpius: Antares the rival of Mars, its hidden companion, Shaula and Lesath the stinging Cat's Eyes, Dschubba's sudden flare, the record-setting nova U Scorpii, the giant AH Scorpii, Messier 4, the Butterfly and Ptolemy clusters and the Bug Nebula. The mythology and folklore range from the scorpion Artemis sent to kill Orion and the one that spooked Phaethon's horses, to the Babylonian burning sting, Maui's fishhook in Hawaii, the leaning coconut tree of Java, the skate and shark stars of Bugis sailors and the scorpion on the flag of Brazil. A few questions cover the real animal, from its Silurian ancestry to its glow under ultraviolet light, plus the goddess Serket and the November birthstone. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is shown on every question, so it suits a Scorpio birthday, a pub quiz or an astronomy 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 45 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Scorpio is the zodiac's eighth sign, counting from which sign?
Aries
Aries: the count starts at the March equinox, the moment the Sun enters Aries, rather than at the new year in January, and that puts Scorpio eighth of the twelve.
Q 02What is the classical ruling planet of Scorpio?
Mars
Mars: classical astrology gave the war god's planet two signs to rule, and Scorpio gained a second ruler only after telescopes had added new planets to the sky.
Q 03Which body do modern astrologers assign as Scorpio's ruler?
Pluto
Astrologers kept Pluto in charge even after astronomers demoted it to a dwarf planet in 2006.
Q 04Scorpio belongs to which element?
Water
Scorpio is a Water sign, sharing that element with Cancer and Pisces; the three Water signs are the ones astrology links to emotion and intuition.
Q 05What is Scorpio's modality?
Fixed
Scorpio's modality is Fixed, the quality given to the four signs that fall in the middle of a season; Scorpio holds mid-autumn in the northern hemisphere.
Q 06Which sign is opposite Scorpio on the zodiac wheel?
Taurus
Taurus sits directly opposite Scorpio on the zodiac wheel, 180° away, so the Sun occupies Taurus from late April to late May, six months from Scorpio season.
Q 07Under the tropical zodiac, the Sun is in Scorpio on average between which dates?
October 23 to November 21
October 23 to November 21 are the sign's average dates, yet the Sun does not reach the actual stars of Scorpius until about November 23, after Scorpio season has ended.
Q 08Scorpio season lasts a month, but how long is the Sun actually inside Scorpius?
About 1 week
About 1 week: the Sun's path crosses only a sliver of Scorpius, so it enters around November 23 and is gone by the end of the month, where Virgo holds it for some six weeks.
Q 09Which constellation, the so-called '13th sign', does the Sun enter straight after leaving Scorpius?
Ophiuchus
Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer, holds the Sun for about 18 days from the end of November, far longer than Scorpius itself, yet tropical astrology gives it no sign.
Q 10Which body is traditionally said to be in its 'fall' in Scorpio?
The Moon
The Moon is in its fall in Scorpio under traditional essential dignities, because its exaltation lies in the opposite sign; Jupiter, by contrast, is exalted in Cancer.
Q 11In traditional astrology, which part of the body does Scorpio rule?
The reproductive organs
The reproductive organs: astrologers pair the sign with the pelvis, bowels and sexual organs, one reason Scorpio is read as the zodiac's sign of sexuality.
Q 12Which tarot trump is paired with Scorpio in astrology?
Death
Death: tarot readers take the card to mean endings, change and transformation rather than dying, a fit for a sign that astrologers tie to rebirth.
Q 13With Libra on one side of Scorpius in the zodiac, which constellation lies on the other?
Sagittarius
Sagittarius: on the zodiac wheel the archer follows the scorpion directly, though in the real sky the Sun crosses a thirteenth constellation between the two.
Q 21What nickname do the close pair of tail-tip stars Lambda and Upsilon Scorpii share?
The Cat's Eyes
The Cat's Eyes is the nickname for Lambda and Upsilon Scorpii, which sit less than a degree apart at the tip of the stinger and shine at magnitudes 1.6 and 2.7.
Q 22Scorpions belong to which class of animals?
Arachnids
Arachnids: despite pincers that look borrowed from a lobster, scorpions are eight-legged relatives of spiders, mites and ticks.
Q 23How does a mother scorpion carry her newborn young?
On her back
On her back: scorpions give birth to live young rather than laying eggs, and the brood rides on the mother until their soft shells harden.
Q 14What colour does Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius, appear to the naked eye?
Reddish
Antares looks distinctly Reddish to the naked eye because it is a cool red supergiant with a surface temperature near 3,600 K, far below the Sun's 5,800 K.
Q 15The Greek star name Antares is usually translated as what?
Rival of Ares
Rival of Ares: Ares was the Greek god of war, and ancient skywatchers named the star as a match for the planet that bears his name.
Q 16Looking toward the tail of Scorpius, stargazers face roughly which part of the Milky Way?
Its centre
Its centre: the galaxy's core lies just beyond the scorpion's tail, which is why this patch of sky is so crowded with star clusters and glowing nebulae.
Q 17If Antares replaced the Sun, roughly how far out would its surface extend?
Into the asteroid belt
Into the asteroid belt: Antares is hundreds of times wider than the Sun, so its surface would swallow all four inner planets and stop short of Jupiter.
Q 18Astronomers expect the massive star Antares to end its life as what?
A supernova
A supernova: Antares is massive enough to collapse and explode, leaving a neutron star or a black hole, and whether that comes tomorrow or a million years off, it will be a spectacle from Earth.
Q 19In Persian sky lore, Antares is said to be one of four stars known by which title?
The royal stars
The royal stars: with Aldebaran, Regulus and Fomalhaut, Antares is said to have guarded one quarter of the sky, as the watcher of the west.
Q 20The stars Shaula and Lesath mark which part of the celestial scorpion?
The stinger
The stinger: the pair sits at the very tip of the tail, so far south that from the northern United States they climb only about a fist's width above the horizon.
Q 24When do most scorpions come out to hunt?
At night
At night: by day most scorpions hide in burrows, cracks or under stones, which is why they are so rarely seen even where they are common.
Q 25Messier 4, a fuzzy patch beside Antares, is among the nearest to Earth of which kind of object?
Globular clusters
Globular clusters: Charles Messier picked this one apart into individual stars in 1764, the only globular his telescopes could resolve; the rest of his list waited some 20 years for William Herschel's larger ones.
Q 26M6 in Scorpius is nicknamed after which creature?
A butterfly
A butterfly is the creature M6 evokes: the open cluster's stars fan out like wings, hence the Butterfly Cluster, with the orange giant BM Scorpii its brightest member.
Q 27Which object in Scorpius, M7, is named after the ancient astronomer who recorded it?
The Ptolemy Cluster
The Ptolemy Cluster is M7, an open cluster bright enough to see without a telescope, which Ptolemy recorded around AD 130 and took for a patch of nebula.
Q 28NGC 6302 in Scorpius, a bipolar cloud of gas shed by a dying star, is known by which insect nickname?
The Bug Nebula
The Bug Nebula, NGC 6302, hides one of the hottest known central stars, a white dwarf at over 200,000 K, behind a dense dusty torus that pinches the gas into two lobes.
Q 29In Greek myth, a giant scorpion killed which famous hunter with its sting?
Orion
Orion: the two were set on opposite sides of the sky, said to be why Orion sinks below the horizon just as the scorpion rises.
Q 30In Greek myth, which goddess sent the giant scorpion after a hunter boasted he could kill every wild beast?
Gaia
Gaia: in the telling that Eratosthenes and Hyginus record, the Earth herself answers the boast against her creatures, though another version has Artemis send the scorpion.