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I have a daunting mom, and seven children, no less.

I outshine my sister, but my niece is quite famous.

Despite my big family, it's a boy with no parents,

That made me a symbol of a freezing expanse.

Who am I ?

Hint :

As CodeBoyCode suggests, I am out of this world.

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7 Answers 7

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I think I found a better fit!

The Big Dipper

I have a daunting mom

The big dipper is part of the Ursa Major constellation. Ursa Major meaning "greater she-bear"

And seven children, no less.

The big dipper is comprised of 7 large stars

I outshine my sister

The big dipper is slightly brighter than the little dipper (brightest star at 1.76 vs 1.97 [with lower = brighter])

But my niece is quite famous.

Polaris, the north star, is a famous star in the little dipper.

Despite my big family, its a boy with no parents, that made me a symbol of a freezing expanse.

It was an orphan named John Ben Benson Jr. who designed Alaska's state flag - which shows all of the clues on it [the big dipper and polaris]

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    $\begingroup$ ding ding ding ding ding we have a winner ! $\endgroup$
    – Soltius
    Commented Mar 8, 2019 at 18:50
  • $\begingroup$ For information, rot13(nynfxn'f synt) was one of Wikipedia's "did you know that ?..." a while back, and I thought it would make part of a good riddle :) $\endgroup$
    – Soltius
    Commented Mar 8, 2019 at 18:52
  • $\begingroup$ I honestly loved this riddle. I was searching through so many rot13(fgnef) to try to find one that fit the criteria. Searching for rot13(rkbcynargf) yielded some very close results, such as rot13(UE8832) but couldn't quite make them fit. The tangential learning was excellent! $\endgroup$
    – LambdaBeta
    Commented Mar 8, 2019 at 18:53
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My First Guess is:

Mercury

I have a daunting mom and seven children

Mother = Sun, 7 children are the other 7 planets that come after mercury (excluding Pluto)

I outshine my sister

Closest to the sun

but my niece is quite famous:

Earth (not quite sure how it relates to niece)

Despite my big family, it's a boy with no parents, That made me a symbol of a freezing expanse.

I was thinking Mercury thermometer which was invented by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit

My second guess is:

Earth

I have a daunting mom and seven children

Mother = Sun, 7 children are the other 7 planets that come after mercury (excluding Pluto)

I outshine my sister

Sister is Venus

but my niece is quite famous:

(not quite sure how it relates to niece)

Despite my big family, it's a boy with no parents,

Aristotle

That made me a symbol of a freezing expanse.

Earth as a classical element represented solid - ice is the solid form of water

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  • $\begingroup$ The actual answer is somewhat close to this.... but this is not it. $\endgroup$
    – Soltius
    Commented Mar 7, 2019 at 14:02
  • $\begingroup$ thanks anyways :) $\endgroup$
    – CodeBoyCode
    Commented Mar 7, 2019 at 14:03
  • $\begingroup$ second guess incoming $\endgroup$
    – CodeBoyCode
    Commented Mar 7, 2019 at 14:20
  • $\begingroup$ second guess not bad, especially for Aristotle being actually an orphan at 13 ! But still not the answer. The answer is not a planet. $\endgroup$
    – Soltius
    Commented Mar 7, 2019 at 14:59
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I'm going to try a slight variation on other answers and say:

The Andromeda Galaxy

I have a daunting mom

The mythical Andromeda's mom was Cassiopeia who chained her to a rock to be killed.

And seven children, no less

The andromeda galaxy has seven arms

I outshine my sister

Sister being the milky way, andromeda being bigger and brighter

But my niece is quite famous.

The milky way is home to our solar system, which is famous

Despite my big family

Galaxies are fairly large [citation needed] and Andromeda has a number of satellite galaxies

It's a boy with no parents

Immanuel Kant was an orphan who proposed that Andromeda was indeed an "island universe"

That made me a symbol of a freezing expanse

Kant's "island universe" theory was a major player in the "Great Debate" of astronomy about the size of the universe. (specifically whether the milky way was the whole universe, or there was more). Now we know of the universe as a massive expanse.

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I have a daunting mom, and seven children, no less.

The mother is Atom and can be as dangerous as an atomic bomb And its atomic number 7

I outshine my sister, but my niece is quite famous.

Nitrogen disappoints his sister to the elemental table means oxygen,The famous niece of this water is also composed of oxygen (the nephew is the son of the sister-oxygen)

Despite my big family, it's a boy with no parents,

There are many chemical elements

That made me a symbol of a freezing expanse.

Used for cooling due to its low boiling temperature

In my opinion the answer is:

nitrogen

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  • $\begingroup$ interesting perspective, but not what I was thinking about. I feel like the whole "boy with no parents" part is missing. $\endgroup$
    – Soltius
    Commented Mar 7, 2019 at 22:47
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A guess:

Are you

TITAN, Saturn's largest moon?

I have a daunting mom, and seven children, no less.

Saturn is the 'mother,' and the children are the 7 other main-group moons of Saturn, all much smaller than Titan

I outshine my sister, but my niece is quite famous.

Brighter than all of Saturn's other moons, but the rings of Saturn are much more well known.

Despite my big family, it's a boy with no parents That made me a symbol of a freezing expanse.

Titan is certainly a freezing expanse, but I'm missing the orphan part, which I fear is the most important clue...

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Is it

Zeus?

Unsure of the exact reasons, but based on your comment, it made me think of

Jupiter, who is the Roman version of Zeus.

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Venus

I have a daunting mom and seven children

Mother = Sun, 7 children are the other 7 planets that come after mercury (excluding Pluto)

I outshine my sister

Venus is brightest planet more than mercury

but my niece is quite famous:

Earth

Despite my big family, it's a boy with no parents, That made me a symbol of a freezing expanse.

Venus has no satellite

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