THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
207-780-4249 www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N, 70.2667° W
Founded January 1970
"We're either a bit late for this Friday's quiz or remarkably
early for the next one."
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Friday, March 25, 2016
Quiz: Night Sky Mythology
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Walk in registrations welcome for "Night Sky Mythology"
Four Saturday evenings 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. starting
Saturday, March 26th.
$60 enrollment. ($45 for members)
Consult our web-site www.usm.maine.edu/planet for more information.
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Tomorrow, we begin another session of our popular course "Night Sky
Mythology." In honor of this class, we're offering an 13-question night
sky mythology quiz. (This number equals the number of constellations
along the astronomical zodiac.)
As we are very late with the quiz, we'll proceed without any further adieu.
1. Who tamed Pegasus and with her help defeated the Chimera?
a. Perseus
b. Bellophoron
c. Hercules
d. Theseus
2. Aurora was the goddess of
a. the Sun
b. the dawn
c. the highest clouds
d. nothing. Aurora was a mortal woman
3. The god _________________ granted Midas' wish to have everything he
touched turned to gold, but the god __________ gave Midas donkey ears.
a. Zeus; Vulcan
b. Dionysius; Apollo
c. Pluto; Pan
d. Mars; Mercury
4. Maia, Electra, Taygeta, and Merope are ______________________
a. four of the "Seven Sisters" or the Pleiades
b. four of the graces
c. four of the hyades sisters
d. four of the muses
5. Which ONE of the following is NOT true about Icarus?
a. an asteroid is named for him
b. he flew too close to the Sun while using manufactured wings, which fell
apart under the heat, causing him to plummet to his death
c. his father constructed the labyrinth which housed the Minotaur
d. he was the son of Hermes, the winged messenger
6. Paris chose the fairest goddess out of three competitors. Which ONE of
the following was not one of these competitors?
a. Aphrodite
b. Athena
c. Artemis
d. Hera
7. Of the three competitors, Paris selected ___________ as the fairest
goddess.
8. _____________ played the a lyre when he went to the under world to
reclaim __________. This lyre is seen in the sky as Lyra the Harp.
a. Apollo; Daphne
b. Orpheus; Eurydice
c. Pan; Echo
d. Pyramus; Thisbe
9. Pomona, a Roman nymph, was said to have been the only nymph who didn't
love_________________.
a. nymphs
b. wild woodlands
c. Neptune
d. the sea
10. Who was Polyphemus?
a. one of the Cyclops who imprisoned Odysseus and his men before they
gouged his eye out and managed to escape
b. the brother of Uranus who, after the Titans' revolt, dissolved into the
ground and became Tartarus, the underworld region where the wicked are
punished
c. the only male "Fate." He was charged with deciding how much pain and
adversity entered a person's life
d. the god of stones
11. Hippomenes was the only man to defeat Atalanta in a race -and thereby
winning her hand in marriage- by doing what?
a. making the grass under her feet entwine itself around her ankles
b. throwing three golden apples at different times in front of her during
the race. She stooped to retrieve each apple, which caused her to fall
behind and lose the race
c. making her eat a pomegranate which caused her to fall asleep after she
took only three strides. He then ran to the finish while she dozed
d. with the assistance of Daedalus, he managed to make the finish line
appear to be miles from the start line, when, in fact, it was actually ten
feet before the start. When Atalanta sprinted toward what she thought was
the finish, Hippomenes took three steps backward and crossed the finish
line.
12. Which mythological character's name literally means "forethought?"
Hint: he gave fire to the mortals
a. Vulcan
b. Apollo
c. Prometheus
d. Oedipus
13. Which constellation is considered part of the zodiac by astronomers,
but not by astrologers?
a. Ophiuchus
b. Orion
c. Delphinus
d. Leo Minor
ANSWERS
1. b. Bellophoron
2. b. the Dawn
3. b. Dionysius; Apollo
4. a. four of the Seven Sisters or the "Pleiades"
5. d. he was the son of Hermes, the winged messenger
6. c. Artemis
7. Aphrodite
8. b. Orpheus; Eurydice
9. b. wild woodlands
10. a. . one of the Cyclops who imprisoned Odysseus and his men before
they gouged his eye out and managed to escape
11. b. throwing three golden apples at different times in front of her
during the race. She stooped to retrieve each apple, which caused her to
fall behind and lose the race
12. c. Prometheus
13. a. Ophiuchus