Questions and Answers
Brightest Stars of the Night Sky
1.
Which star is the brightest in the night sky?
Sirius
2.
Put these stars in order of how bright they look in our sky, from the brightest to the faintest.
ArcturusRigelAchernarAldebaranFomalhaut
Match each star to the constellation it belongs to.
3.
Capella
Auriga
4.
Arcturus
Boötes
5.
Aldebaran
Taurus
6.
Antares
Scorpius
7.
Spica
Virgo
8.
Name the three bright stars that form the Summer Triangle.
Vega, Deneb, Altair
9.
Sirius, Procyon and Betelgeuse
True or false?
10.
Betelgeuse looks orange-red because its surface is cooler than the Sun's.
True
11.
Rigel looks blue-white because its surface is hotter than the Sun's.
True
12.
A star's colour depends mainly on how far it is from Earth.
False
13.
Arcturus looks orange because it is moving away from us.
False
14.
Fill in the gaps.
Alpha Centauri is the nearest star system to the Sun, about 4.4light-years away . Its closest member, Proxima Centauri, is a small red dwarftoo faint to see with the naked eye .
15.
Is Polaris, the North Star, the brightest star in the night sky?
No. It is only around the 50th brightest, but it hardly moves in the sky.
16.
Why does Sirius look brighter than any other star?
It shines quite strongly and is one of our nearest stars.
True or false? These statements are about apparent magnitude.
17.
A star of magnitude 1 looks brighter than a star of magnitude 3.
True
18.
A star of magnitude 0 looks 100 times brighter than a star of magnitude 5.
True
19.
Apparent magnitude tells us how much light a star really gives off.
False
20.
Under a dark sky, the naked eye can see stars down to about magnitude 6.
True
21.
Which star is the second brightest in the night sky?
Canopus
22.
In late 2019 and early 2020 Betelgeuse faded so much that people noticed it with the naked eye. What do astronomers think caused this “Great Dimming”?
A cloud of dust it threw off blocked part of its light.
Match each star to the meaning of its name.
23.
Sirius
scorching
24.
Aldebaran
the follower
25.
Fomalhaut
mouth of the fish
26.
Antares
rival of Mars
27.
Rigel
foot
28.
Regulus
29.
Pollux is one of the two bright “twin” stars of Gemini. What is the name of the other one?
Castor
30.
Fill in the gaps.
Earth's axis slowly wobbles, making one full circle in about 26,000years . Because of this, in about 12,000 years the North Star will be Vega.