The Big Dipper & Neighbors
This "pole star" can be found by following the two "pointer stars" at the end of the Big Dipper’s bowl.
Hipparchus introduced this system to rank stars by brightness, where a lower number indicates a brighter star.
What is Magnitude?
Our solar system is located in one of the spiral arms of this galaxy.
What is the Milky Way?
This French comet hunter created a famous catalog of 110 "fuzzy" objects so he wouldn't mistake them for comets.
Who is Charles Messier?
This "dark" nebula in the Southern Hemisphere looks like a hole in the star-filled Milky Way.
What is the Coalsack Nebula?
This famous double star in the bend of the Big Dipper's handle consists of two stars, Mizar and this dimmer companion, often used as an ancient eyesight test.
What is Alcor?
This is the term for how bright a star actually is if it were moved to a standard distance of 32 light-years.
What is Absolute Magnitude?
Located 2.5 million light-years away, this is the most distant object that can be seen with the naked eye.
What is the Andromeda Galaxy (or M31)?
This type of nebula, like the Ring Nebula, was named because its round shape reminded early astronomers of a planet.
What is a planetary nebula?
This galaxy is famous for its distinctive dark dust lane, making it look like a wide-brimmed hat.
What is the Sombrero Galaxy?
Though it looks like a single star to the naked eye, a telescope reveals that Mizar is actually this type of star system.
What is a double (or binary) star?
Astronomers measure the size of objects in the sky using these units; for reference, the moon is about 30 of them wide.
What are minutes of arc (or arcminutes)?
This group of galaxies, which includes the Milky Way and Andromeda, contains about 30 members.
What is the Local Group?
This "remnant of a supernova" was recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054 AD as a "guest star" visible in the daytime.
What is the Crab Nebula?
The Pleiades, a famous open cluster on the shoulder of Taurus, is better known by this numerical nickname.
What are the Seven Sisters?
While the Big Dipper is an "asterism," it is actually part of this larger, official constellation, whose name means "Great Bear."
What is Ursa Major?
A first-magnitude star is approximately this many times brighter than a sixth-magnitude star.
What is 100 times?
In 1920, this astronomer used variable stars to prove that the sun was not at the center of the Milky Way, but was actually near the edge.
Who is Harlow Shapley?
This specific nebula in the sword of Orion is one of the few that can be seen with the naked eye as a misty star.
What is the Orion Nebula (or M42)?
This reddish first-magnitude star serves as the "eye" of Taurus the Bull.
What is Aldebaran?
Located in Cygnus the Swan, this star is famous for its beautiful contrasting colors: a bright yellow star and a blue companion.
What is Albireo?
To find the distance of a star, astronomers today calculate the difference between its apparent magnitude and this.
What is its absolute magnitude?
This galaxy, also known as M33, is a spiral galaxy that appears as a faint, "pinwheel" shaped smudge in the constellation Triangulum.
What is the Triangulum Galaxy?
Unlike loose "open" clusters, these clusters (like M13) are tightly packed spheres containing hundreds of thousands of stars.
What are globular clusters?
This star cluster in the constellation Cancer is also known as "The Manger."
What is the Beehive Cluster?