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50 free Orion Constellation trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Orion constellation trivia quiz covers the most recognisable star pattern in the sky. The astronomy questions ask about the hourglass of seven bright stars, the red supergiant on one shoulder and the blue supergiant at the opposite foot, the names and meanings of Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, the nebula hanging from the Belt, the Trapezium, the Horsehead and Flame nebulae, the Great Dimming of Betelgeuse, the Orionids that Halley's Comet leaves behind, and how the Belt points to Sirius and Aldebaran. The mythology and culture questions cover the giant hunter of Greek myth, his mother the Gorgon, the scorpion, the blinding on Chios and the cure at sunrise, the Egyptian god Sah and Osiris, the Babylonian True Shepherd of Anu, the Three Marys and Three Kings, the Lakota bison, the Chinese lunar mansion of three, the saucepan of the southern sky and the Bible verse that asks whether you can loosen Orion's belt. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is shown on every question. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. Try our Pleiades and constellations quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many modern constellations does the IAU recognise, with Orion among them?
88
Orion was also one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy in the 2nd century.
Q 02During which season is Orion most prominent in Northern Hemisphere evening skies?
Winter
From May to July it is in the daytime sky and invisible at most latitudes.
Q 03Which 2nd-century astronomer included Orion among his 48 constellations?
Ptolemy
It is now one of the 88 modern constellations, abbreviated Ori.
Q 04Which red supergiant marks Orion's right shoulder?
Betelgeuse
Its expected supernova, within about 100,000 years, could outshine the Moon and be visible by day.
Q 05Which blue supergiant is Orion's brightest star and marks the hunter's left foot?
Rigel
Beta Orionis is the seventh-brightest star in the night sky and part of the Winter Circle.
Q 06What are the three stars of Orion's Belt?
Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka
They lie at the centre of the rectangle formed by Rigel, Betelgeuse, Bellatrix and Saiph.
Q 07What does the name Alnilam mean in Arabic?
String of pearls
It is the middle and brightest Belt star, and at 1,344 light-years the farthest major star in Orion.
Q 08Which Belt star, the faintest of the three, carries the Delta designation and a name meaning "the belt"?
Mintaka
It is an eclipsing binary and the westernmost, northernmost star of the Belt.
Q 09Which Belt star is a triple system whose primary is the brightest O-type star in the night sky?
Alnitak
Its name means "the girdle", and the Horsehead and Flame nebulae lie close by.
Q 10Which star marks Orion's left shoulder and is nicknamed the "Amazon Star"?
Bellatrix
Its name means "the female warrior", and at 244.6 light-years it is the closest major star in Orion.
Q 11Which star forms Orion's head?
Meissa
Lambda Orionis means "the shining one" and sits at the apex of a small triangle with Phi1 and Phi2.
Q 12What does the name Saiph, Orion's right foot, mean?
The sword of the giant
It is a similar distance and size to Rigel but appears much fainter.
Q 13From which Arabic phrase does the name of Alpha Orionis derive?
The hand of al-Jawzā'
Jawzā' was the female figure that traditional Arab astronomy saw in these stars.
Q 21Who is generally credited with the first discovery of the Orion Nebula's nebulous nature, in 1610?
Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc
Oddly, Galileo never mentioned it despite observing the area in 1610 and 1617.
Q 22Which dark cloud near the eastern Belt star is named for its distinctive shape?
The Horsehead Nebula
Williamina Fleming discovered it on a Harvard photographic plate in 1888.
Q 23Which astronomer discovered the dark horse-shaped cloud near the Belt in 1888?
Williamina Fleming
She found it on a photographic plate at the Harvard College Observatory; it is also called Barnard 33.
Q 14If Alpha Orionis sat at the centre of the Solar System, whose orbits would it engulf?
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
Its radius is 640 to 764 times the Sun's, so its surface would lie beyond the asteroid belt.
Q 15By roughly what factor did Betelgeuse dim between October 2019 and February 2020?
About three
Its magnitude fell from 0.5 to 1.7 in the so-called Great Dimming.
Q 16How long is Orion's red supergiant expected to shine as bright as the half-Moon after it goes supernova?
More than three months
Its explosion is expected within the next 100,000 years.
Q 17What is Rigel's surface temperature?
About 12,100 K
Its stellar wind sheds mass ten million times faster than the Sun's.
Q 18What is the middle "star" of Orion's Sword actually?
A diffuse nebula
Messier 42 is visible to the naked eye even from light-polluted areas.
Q 19What is the Orion Nebula's Messier number?
M42
It is also catalogued as NGC 1976 and lies about 1,267 light-years away.
Q 20What is the young star cluster at the heart of the Orion Nebula called?
The Trapezium
Its four main stars sit within 1.5 light-years, and Chandra measured their temperatures at up to 60,000 kelvins.
Q 24Which body is the parent of the Orionid meteor shower?
Halley's Comet
The shower peaks around 20 October with up to 20 meteors an hour.
Q 25Which star do you find by extending the line of Orion's Belt to the southeast?
Sirius
Northwestward the same line reaches Aldebaran, and a line across the shoulders points to Procyon.
Q 26How many square degrees does Orion cover, ranking it 26th of the 88 constellations?
594
Eugène Delporte drew its 26-sided boundary in 1930.
Q 27Which constellation borders Orion to the northwest?
Taurus
Eridanus lies to the southwest, Lepus to the south, Monoceros to the east and Gemini to the northeast.
Q 28Which star do the six Pi Orionis stars, forming Orion's shield, lie west of?
Bellatrix
Orion's club stretches north from Betelgeuse instead.
Q 29To which OB association do the stars of the Belt and Sword belong?
Orion OB1
Betelgeuse, standing out in red, may be a runaway member of the same group.
Q 30In Greek myth, who were Orion's parents?
The Gorgon Euryale and Poseidon
He boasted he would kill every animal on Earth, which enraged Gaia.