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Ursa Major



 
 
Ursa Major is a constellation
Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
 visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere

The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half sphere'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator....
. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
. It is dominated by the widely recognized asterism
Asterism (astronomy)

In astronomy, an asterism is a pattern of stars seen in Earth's sky which is not an official constellation. Like constellations, they are composed of stars which, while they are in the same general direction, are not physically related, often being at significantly different distances from Earth....
 known as the Big Dipper
Big Dipper

The seven brightest stars of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, form a well-known asterism that has been recognized as a distinct grouping in many cultures from time immemorial....
 or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north
North

North is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the fundamental direction:...
, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures.

se stars are found along the southwest border of the constellation.

pt for Dubhe and Alkaid, the stars of the Big Dipper all have proper motion
Proper motion

The proper motion of a star is its angular change in position over time as seen from the Sun, as inferred after improper motions are accounted for....
s heading towards a common point in Sagittarius
Sagittarius (constellation)

Sagittarius is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for the archer, and its symbol is , a stylized arrow. Sagittarius is commonly represented as a centaur drawing a bow....
.






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Ursa Major is a constellation
Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
 visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere

The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half sphere'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator....
. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
. It is dominated by the widely recognized asterism
Asterism (astronomy)

In astronomy, an asterism is a pattern of stars seen in Earth's sky which is not an official constellation. Like constellations, they are composed of stars which, while they are in the same general direction, are not physically related, often being at significantly different distances from Earth....
 known as the Big Dipper
Big Dipper

The seven brightest stars of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, form a well-known asterism that has been recognized as a distinct grouping in many cultures from time immemorial....
 or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north
North

North is one of the four cardinal directions, specifically the direction that, in Western culture, is treated as the fundamental direction:...
, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures.

Asterisms


The seven brightest star
Star

A star is a massive, luminous ball of Plasma that is held together by its own gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth....
s of Ursa Major form the well-known asterism
Asterism (astronomy)

In astronomy, an asterism is a pattern of stars seen in Earth's sky which is not an official constellation. Like constellations, they are composed of stars which, while they are in the same general direction, are not physically related, often being at significantly different distances from Earth....
 known as the Big Dipper
Big Dipper

The seven brightest stars of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, form a well-known asterism that has been recognized as a distinct grouping in many cultures from time immemorial....
 in the United States and Canada, or the Plough in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 and Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
.

Another asterism is recognized in Arab culture, a series of three pairs of stars:
  • ?
    Nu Ursae Majoris

    Nu Ursae Majoris is a binary star in the constellation Ursa Major. It is approximately 400 light years from the Earth.And has the proper name Alula Borealis meaning "the Northern of Alula." The words Alula and el-Awla come from the Arabic phrase al-Ula meaning "the first " ....
     and ?
    Xi Ursae Majoris

    Xi Ursae Majoris is a star system in the constellation Ursa Major. It also has the proper name Alula Australis meaning "the Southern of Alula." The words Alula, El Acola, and el-awla come from the Arabic phrase al-Ula meaning "the first " ....
     Ursae Majoris, Alula Borealis and Australis, the "first leap";
  • ?
    Lambda Ursae Majoris

    Lambda Ursae Majoris is a star in the constellation Ursa Major. It also has the proper names Tania Borealis meaning "the Northern of Tania." The word Tania comes from the Arabic phrase al-Thaniyah meaning "the Second " , and Alkafzah Borealis....
     and µ
    Mu Ursae Majoris

    'Mu Ursae Majoris' is a star in the constellation Ursa Major. It also has the proper names 'Tania Australis' meaning "the Southern of Tania." The word Tania comes from the Arabic phrase al-Thaniyah meaning "the Second " , 'Alkafzah Borealis', and El Phekrah comes from the Arabic phrase al-Fiqrah
     Ursae Majoris, Tania Borealis and Australis, the "second leap";
  • ?
    Iota Ursae Majoris

    Iota Ursae Majoris is a star system in the constellation Ursa Major. It is approximately 47.7 light years from Earth. It has the traditional names Talitha, Talitha Borealis and Alphikra Borealis, and was also named Dnoces after Edward Higgins White, an Apollo 1 astronaut....
     and ?
    Kappa Ursae Majoris

    Kappa Ursae Majoris is a binary star in the constellation Ursa Major. It is approximately 423 light years from Earth and has the traditional names Talitha Australis, Al Kaprah, and Alphikra Australis....
     Ursae Majoris, Talitha Borealis and Australis, the "third leap".
These stars are found along the southwest border of the constellation.

Notable features


Stars

Except for Dubhe and Alkaid, the stars of the Big Dipper all have proper motion
Proper motion

The proper motion of a star is its angular change in position over time as seen from the Sun, as inferred after improper motions are accounted for....
s heading towards a common point in Sagittarius
Sagittarius (constellation)

Sagittarius is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for the archer, and its symbol is , a stylized arrow. Sagittarius is commonly represented as a centaur drawing a bow....
. A few other such stars have been identified, and together they are called the Ursa Major Moving Group
Ursa Major Moving Group

The Ursa Major Moving Group, also known as Collinder 285, is the closest moving group to Earth, that is, a set of stars with common velocities in space, thought to have a common origin....
.

Mizar
Mizar (star)

Mizar is a star in the constellation Ursa Major and is the second star from the end of the Big Dipper's handle. Its apparent magnitude is 2.23 and its spectral class is A1V....
, a star in the Big Dipper, forms the famous optical double star
Double Star

Double Star is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first serialized in Astounding Science Fiction and published in hardcover the same year....
 with Alcor.

The stars Merak
Beta Ursae Majoris

Beta Ursae Majoris is a star in the constellation of Ursa Major. It also has the traditional name Merak.It is more familiar to northern hemisphere observers as one of the "pointer stars" in the Big Dipper, and a line connecting it with nearby Alpha Ursae Majoris extends to Polaris, the north star....
 (ß Ursae Majoris) and Dubhe (a Ursae Majoris) are known as the "pointer stars" because they are helpful for finding Polaris
Polaris

Polaris is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole , making it the current northern pole star....
, also known as the North Star. By visually tracing a line from Merak through Dubhe and continuing, one's eye will land on Polaris, accurately indicating true north.

W Ursae Majoris
W Ursae Majoris

W Ursae Majoris is a variable star in the constellation Ursa Major. It is an eclipsing contact binary whose two component stars share a common outer layer, and is the prototype of a class of contact binary variables known as W Ursae Majoris variables....
 is the prototype of a class of contact binary
Contact binary

In astronomy, a contact binary is a binary star system whose component stars are so close that they touch each other or have merged to share a common gaseous envelope....
 variable star
Variable star

A star is classified as variable if its apparent magnitude as seen from Earth changes over time, whether the changes are due to variations in the star's actual luminosity, or to variations in the amount of the star's light that is blocked from reaching Earth....
s, and ranges between 7.75m
Apparent magnitude

The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measurement of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, normalized to the value it would have in the absence of the Earth's atmosphere....
and 8.48m.

47 Ursae Majoris
47 Ursae Majoris

47 Ursae Majoris, often abbreviated as 47 UMa, is a solar twin, yellow dwarf star approximately 46 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Ursa Major....
 has a planetary system
Extrasolar planet

An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet beyond the Solar System, orbiting a star other than the Sun. As of February 2009, 342 exoplanets are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia....
 with two confirmed planets, 2.54 times and 0.76 times the mass of Jupiter.

Several bright galaxies
Galaxy

A galaxy is a massive, gravitation system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and cosmic dust, and an important but poorly-understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter....
 are found in Ursa Major, including the pair Messier 81
Messier 81

Messier 81 is a spiral galaxy about 1 E22 m light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. M81 is one of the most striking examples of a grand design spiral galaxy, with near perfect arms spiraling into the very center....
 (one of the brightest galaxies in the sky) and Messier 82
Messier 82

Messier 82 is the prototype galaxy nearby starburst galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The starburst galaxy is five times as bright as the whole Milky Way and one hundred times as bright as our galaxy's center....
 above the bear's head, and Pinwheel Galaxy
Pinwheel Galaxy

The Pinwheel Galaxy is a face-on spiral galaxy about 27 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.It was discovered by Pierre M?chain on March 27, 1781, and he subsequently communicated his discovery to Charles Messier who verified its position and added it to the Messier Catalogue as one of the final entries....
 (M101), a beautiful spiral northwest of ? Ursae Majoris
Eta Ursae Majoris

Eta Ursae Majoris is a star in the constellation Ursa Major. It also has the traditional names Alkaid and Benetnash .It is known as ??? or ?? in Chinese....
. The other notable spiral galaxies Messier 108
Messier 108

Messier 108 is an edge-on spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major .It was discovered by Pierre M?chain in 1781 or 1782....
 and Messier 109
Messier 109

Messier 109 is a barred spiral galaxy approximately 1 E23 m light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. M109 can be seen southeast of the star Gamma Ursae Majoris ....
 may also be found in this other constellation. Altogether, the constellation contains about 50 galaxies observable through amateur
Amateur astronomy

Amateur astronomy, a subset of astronomy, is a hobby whose participants enjoy studying and observing celestial objects....
 telescope
Telescope

A telescope is an instrument designed for the observation of remote objects by the collection of electromagnetic radiation. The first known practically functioning telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century....
. The bright planetary nebula
Planetary nebula

A planetary nebula is an emission nebula consisting of a glowing shell of gas and Plasma formed by certain types of stars when they die. The name originated in the 18th century because of their similarity in appearance to gas giants when viewed through small optical telescopes, and is unrelated to the planets of the solar system....
 Owl Nebula
Owl Nebula

The Owl Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Pierre M?chain in 1781.M97 is regarded as one of the more complex of the planetaries....
 (M97), named for its appearance, can be found along the bottom of the bowl of the Big Dipper. Of note as a curiosity more than an interesting deep sky object is Messier 40
Winnecke 4

Winnecke 4 is a double star in the constellation Ursa Major. It was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764 while he was searching for a nebula that had been reported in the area by Hevelius....
, a double star
Double Star

Double Star is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first serialized in Astounding Science Fiction and published in hardcover the same year....
 that Messier nonetheless included in his catalogue.

The Hubble Deep Field
Hubble Deep Field

The Hubble Deep Field is an image of a small region in the constellation Ursa Major, constructed from a series of observations by the Hubble Space Telescope....
 is located to the northeast of d Ursae Majoris
Delta Ursae Majoris

Delta Ursae Majoris is a star in the constellation Ursa Major. It also has the traditional name Megrez .Megrez has an apparent magnitude of +3.32 making it the dimmest of the seven stars in the Big Dipper....
.

History

Ursa Major was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer
Astronomer

An astronomer is a scientist who studies Celestial body such as planets, stars, and Galaxy.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using physical laws....
 Ptolemy
Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman Greek mathematics, Greek astronomy, geographer and astrologer. He lived in History of Roman Egypt, and was probably born there in a town in the Thebaid called Ptolemais Hermiou; he died in Alexandria around 168 AD....
. It is mentioned by such poets as Homer
Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
, Spenser
Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser was an important England poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem celebrating, through fantastical allegory, the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I....
, Shakespeare
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
, Tennyson and Bertrand Cantat
Bertrand Cantat

Bertrand Lucien Bruno Cantat is a France singer and songwriter. He is the frontman for the rock band Noir D?sir....
. The Finnish epic Kalevala
Kalevala

The Kalevala is a book and Epic poetry which the Elias L?nnrot compiled from Finnish people and Karelian folklore in the nineteenth century....
 mentions it, and Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh

Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch people Post-Impressionism artist. Some of his paintings are now among the world's best known, most popular and expensive works of art....
 painted it.

Mythology

The constellation of Ursa Major has been seen as a bear
Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives....
 by many distinct civilizations.

In Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Zeus lusts after a young woman named Kallisto, a nymph
Nymph

In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of mythological entities in human form. They were typically associated with a particular location or landform....
 of Artemis
Artemis

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of forests and hills, child birth/virginity/fertility, the hunt and was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.....
. Hera
Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
, Zeus's wife, turns Kallisto into a bear because of her jealousy. Kallisto, while in bear form later encounters her son Arcas
Arcas

In Greek_mythology, Arcas is the son of Zeus and Callisto . Callisto was a nymph of the goddess Artemis. Zeus, being a flirtatious god, wanted Callisto for a lover....
. Arcas almost shoots the bear, but to avert the tragedy, Zeus sweeps them both into the sky, forming Ursa Major. In another tale, Ursa Major was associated with the Hesperides
Hesperides

In Greek mythology, the Hesperides are nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas mountains in Ancient Libya, or on a distant blessed island at the edge of the encircling Oceanus....
. With Ursa Minor
Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor is a constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'little bear', contrasting with Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 List of constellations....
, Boötes
Boötes

Bo?tes Bo?tes was one of the 48 constellations described by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. It contains the List of brightest stars in the night sky, Arcturus....
, Draco
Draco (constellation)

Draco is a constellation in the far northern sky. Its name is Latin for dragon. Draco is circumpolar star for many observers in the northern hemisphere....
, and Hercules
Hercules (constellation)

Hercules is a constellation. It is named after Hercules, the Roman mythological hero adapted from the Greek mythology hero Heracles. Hercules was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the the 88 modern constellations today....
 it may have inspired the myth of the Apples of the Hesperides, one of The Twelve Labours of Hercules
Hercules

Hercules is the Ancient Rome name for the mythical Ancient Greece hero Heracles, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Early Roman sources suggest that the imported Greek hero supplanted a mythic Italian shepherd called "Recaranus" or "Garanus", famous for his strength....
.

One of the few star groups mentioned in the Bible
Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
 (Job 9:9; 38:32; Amos 5:8 — Orion
Orion (constellation)

Orion , often referred to as "The Hunter," is a prominent constellation ? one of the largest, most conspicuous, and most recognizable in the night sky....
 and the Pleiades
Pleiades (star cluster)

File:Pleiades Lanoue.pngIn astronomy, the Pleiades are an open star cluster in the constellation of Taurus . It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth, and Randall Munroe's favorite astronomical object....
 being others), Ursa Major was also pictured as a bear by the Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish peoples. ("The Bear" was mistranslated as "Arcturus" in the Vulgate
Vulgate

The Vulgate is an early Fifth Century version of the Bible in Latin, and largely the result of the labors of Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of Vetus Latina....
 and the error persisted in the KJV
King James Version of the Bible

The Authorized King James Version is an English language translation of the Christian Bible begun in 1604 and first published in 1611 by the Church of England....
. Later translations have corrected this.)

The Iroquois
Iroquois

The Iroquois Confederacy is a group of First Nations/Native Americans in the United States that originally consisted of five nations: the Mohawk nation, the Oneida tribe, the Onondaga , the Cayuga nation, and the Seneca nation....
 Native Americans interpreted Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid as three hunters pursuing the Great Bear. According to one version of their myth, the first hunter (Alioth) is carrying a bow and arrow to strike down the bear. The second hunter (Mizar) carries a large pot — the star Alcor — on his shoulder in which to cook the bear while the third hunter (Alkaid) hauls a pile of firewood to light a fire beneath the pot.

In Burmese
Burmese language

The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the government officially recognizes the language as Myanmar in English, most continue to refer to the language as Burmese....
, Pucwan Tara (pronounced "bazun taja") is the name of a constellation comprising stars from the head and forelegs of Ursa Major; pucwan is a general term for prawn
Prawn

Prawns are crustaceans, belonging to the suborder Dendrobranchiata . They are similar in appearance to shrimp, but can be distinguished by the gill structure which is branching in prawns , but is Lamella r in shrimp....
, shrimp
Shrimp

Shrimp are swimming, Decapoda crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh water and seawater. Adult shrimp are Filter feeder benthic animals living close to the bottom....
, crab
Crab

Crabs are Decapoda crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax....
, lobster
Lobster

Clawed lobsters compose a family of large marine crustaceans. Lobsters are economically important as seafood, forming the basis of a global industry that nets United States dollar1.8 billion in trade annually....
, etc.

Graphic visualisation

In European star charts, the constellation was visualized with the 'square' of the Big Dipper forming the bear's body and the chain of stars as a long tail. However, bears do not have long tails, and Jewish astronomers considered Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid instead to be either three cubs following their mother, and the Native Americans as three hunters.

Noted children's book author H. A. Rey
H. A. Rey

Hans Augusto "H.A." Rey , together with his wife Margret Rey, were the authors and illustrators of Children's literature, best known for their Curious George series....
, in his 1952 book The Stars: A New Way to See Them, (ISBN 0-395-24830-2) instead had the "bear" image of the constellation, much as Johannes Hevelius had done (as far as the figure of the bear facing "left"), oriented with Alkaid as the tip of the bear's nose, and the "handle" of the Big Dipper part of the constellation forming the outline of the top of the bear's head and neck, rearwards to the shoulder, and because of Rey's book, many amateur astronomers have come to accept Rey's star chart interpretation of Ursa Major, dropping the idea of the Big Dipper's "handle" as being the hind end of the bear, with a non-natural "tail" extending rearwards.

See also

  • Ursa Minor
    Ursa Minor

    Ursa Minor is a constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'little bear', contrasting with Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 List of constellations....


External links