Q 01/05

Which region of the world is named from the Greek word for bear, after the starry bears that circle above it?

A) Siberia

B) The Arctic

C) Scandinavia

D) Greenland

Answer · why

B) The Arctic

The Arctic comes from the Greek arktikos, literally 'of the Bear', after the bear constellations of the northern sky; Antarctic simply means 'opposite...

Q 02/05

Ursa Major is the third-largest constellation; which long, winding one is the largest of all?

A) Draco

B) Eridanus

C) Hydra

D) Serpens

Answer · why

C) Hydra

Hydra, the water snake, winds more than a quarter of the way around the sky, and it became the largest only after astronomers broke the even bigger sh...

Q 03/05

What do stargazers in Britain and Ireland traditionally call the seven stars Americans know as the Big Dipper?

A) The Teapot

B) The Plough

C) The Sickle

D) The Kite

Answer · why

B) The Plough

The Plough is the older name by centuries: 'dipper', an American word for a long-handled ladle, was attached to these stars only in the 1800s.

Q 04/05

Which two Big Dipper stars are the "pointers" to Polaris?

A) Mizar and Alioth

B) Dubhe and Merak

C) Alioth and Alkaid

D) Phecda and Megrez

Answer · why

B) Dubhe and Merak

Dubhe and Merak mark the outer edge of the bowl, and because the whole Dipper wheels around the pole, the line through them finds the North Star at an...

Q 05/05

Which star lies at the very end of the Big Dipper's handle?

A) Dubhe

B) Merak

C) Alkaid

D) Megrez

Answer · why

C) Alkaid

Alkaid was the 'army-breaking star' to Chinese and Japanese astrologers, who likened the handle to a sword and read a battle's luck from the direction...