50 Fun Facts About Ursa Major

What does the Latin name Ursa Major mean?

It contrasts with nearby Ursa Minor, the lesser bear, home of the pole star.

How does Ursa Major rank in size among the 88 modern constellations?

It covers 1,279.66 square degrees, or 3.10% of the whole sky.

What is the seven-star asterism of Ursa Major called in the United Kingdom?

Americans call it the Big Dipper, and historically the British also called it Charles's Wain.

Which two Big Dipper stars are the "pointers" to Polaris?

Trace a line from Merak through Dubhe and continue five times that distance to reach the North Star.

Which star lies at the very end of the Big Dipper's handle?

The blue-white B-type star is also called Benetnasch; the Chinese knew it as the Star of Military Defeat.

Despite carrying the letter epsilon, which star is the brightest in Ursa Major?

At magnitude 1.77 it is the 33rd-brightest star in the sky, and its spectrum is classed as peculiar.

From what Arabic word does the star name Dubhe derive?

The full phrase meant "the back of the Greater Bear"; Dubhe is a giant about 123 light-years away.

Which faint star beside Mizar in the Dipper's handle served as a traditional test of eyesight?

The Arabs and Persians used the pair as a vision test; Alcor is about a light-year beyond Mizar.

How many stars make up the whole Mizar and Alcor system?

Mizar is itself a quadruple and Alcor a binary, all gravitationally bound, the second-closest six-star system after Castor.

Mizar was the first system to be recognised as what, in 1650?

The Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli is credited with the discovery in 1650.

Which two Big Dipper stars do NOT share the common motion of the Ursa Major Moving Group?

The other five are drifting toward a common point in Sagittarius, so the Dipper's shape will slowly change.

What is the claim to fame of the stellar association that includes most Dipper stars, Collinder 285?

Also called Collinder 285, its core is roughly 80 light-years away inside the Local Bubble.

In Greek myth, which nymph did Zeus pursue, and Hera turn into a bear, before she became Ursa Major?

Her son Arcas nearly speared her; Zeus whisked them both to the sky, Arcas becoming Boötes.

The bear-nymph's son Arcas was placed in the sky as which constellation?

Ovid called Ursa Major the Parrhasian Bear after Callisto's Arcadian home.

According to some writers, what disguise did Zeus adopt to approach the nymph who became the Great Bear?

She was one of Artemis's followers and was expelled from the group when her pregnancy was discovered.

Which Greek poet called the constellation Helike, meaning "turning", because it circles the pole?

The Odyssey notes it never sinks below the horizon, making it a reference point for navigation.

Which 2nd-century astronomer listed Ursa Major among his original 48 constellations?

He called it Arktos Megale in the Almagest.

In Hindu tradition, the stars of the Dipper represent what?

The Rigveda holds the earliest recorded mention of the constellation.

What is the asterism called in China and Japan, Beidou and Hokuto?

Beidou in Chinese and Hokuto in Japanese; each star had a name such as Pivot, Pearl and Balance.

In pre-Islamic Arab tradition, the Big Dipper was seen as what?

The bowl was the bier and the handle the procession; the leaping gazelle is a separate asterism of three star pairs.

How did the Iroquois interpret the handle stars of the Dipper?

The second hunter carries a cooking pot on his shoulder, the star Alcor.

What did Norse pagans call the Big Dipper?

Odin was known by kennings such as "guardian of the wagon".

What does the old Finnish name for the asterism, Otava, mean?

Ancient Finns believed the bear was lowered to earth from Ursa Major in a golden basket.

In the Sámi sky, the Big Dipper minus its two pointer stars forms what?

The Sámi anthem opens with the words "Far to the north, under the Bow".

In the Korean myth of the northern stars, who became the constellation?

The widow blessed the unknown helpers who let her cross the stream to her new love.

What is the Latin origin of the word "septentrional", meaning northern?

Septem triones, seven plough oxen, was the Roman name for the seven stars.

The flag of which US state shows the Big Dipper and Polaris in gold on blue?

The design was chosen from about 700 entries in a 1927 contest.

How old was Benny Benson when his design was chosen for the territorial flag with the Dipper in 1927?

Sources often call him an orphan, but his father was still alive when he drew it.

Which Irish labour flag, adopted by James Connolly's Citizen Army in 1916, shows the constellation?

The seven stars also appear on the flag of the Community of Madrid.

Which pair of galaxies above the bear's head, M81 and M82, are among the brightest in the sky?

M82 is the brightest infrared galaxy in the sky, and a Type Ia supernova blazed in it in January 2014.

Which face-on spiral, M101, lies northeast of the last star in the handle?

Pierre Méchain found it in 1781; it is 25 million light-years away and visible in binoculars.

Which planetary object, M97, sits below the bowl of the Big Dipper?

It lies 1,630 light-years away at about tenth magnitude.

Roughly how far away is Bode's Galaxy, M81?

With M82 it belongs to the galaxy group closest to our own Local Group.

The Cigar Galaxy is about how many times more luminous than the Milky Way?

Its central starburst region is about a hundred times more luminous.

The famous Hubble Deep Field image of 1995 was taken in which part of Ursa Major?

The tiny patch, imaged over ten days, revealed about 3,000 galaxies.

How many separate exposures were combined to make the Hubble Deep Field?

They were taken over ten consecutive days in December 1995.

Lalande 21185, one of the nearest stars to the Sun, is what type of star?

It is the brightest red dwarf in the northern sky yet still too faint to see with the naked eye, at 8.3 light-years.

How many planets orbit the Sun-like star 47 Ursae Majoris?

The first, found in 1996, is 2.53 times the mass of Jupiter and orbits every 1,078 days.

Xi Ursae Majoris was the first double star to have what calculated, in 1828?

Félix Savary worked out the 59.84-year orbit of the pair William Herschel had found in 1780.

W Ursae Majoris is the prototype of which class of variable star?

It swings between magnitudes 7.75 and 8.48 as its two stars share an envelope.

Which US state has adopted a faint star in Ursa Major as its official state star?

TYC 3429-697-1 is informally known as the Delaware Diamond.

The Arab asterism of three star pairs along the constellation's southern edge represents what?

The Chinese called the same stars Santai and the Indians Trivikrama, both meaning "three steps".

Which children's author redrew Ursa Major in 1952 with the handle's end as the bear's nose?

The creator of Curious George published The Stars: A New Way to See Them.

Which Van Gogh painting features the constellation?

Homer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Tennyson and Lorca all mention the Great Bear too.

What three-letter abbreviation did the IAU adopt for Ursa Major in 1922?

Eugène Delporte drew its official boundaries as a 28-sided polygon in 1930.

Which constellation borders Ursa Major to the north?

Its other neighbours include Boötes, Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices, Leo, Leo Minor, Lynx and Camelopardalis.

Roughly what share of the entire sky does Ursa Major cover?

Its 1,279.66 square degrees are bounded by a 28-sided polygon set by Eugène Delporte for the IAU in 1930.

Tracing from Merak through Dubhe, roughly how many times that distance must you continue to reach Polaris?

The two 'pointer stars' give a quick fix on true north for anyone in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Type Ia supernova SN 2014J was observed in January 2014 in which Ursa Major galaxy?

That edge-on galaxy is the brightest infrared galaxy in the sky and is gravitationally interacting with M81.

Which dwarf galaxy in Ursa Major was once thought to be the youngest in the visible universe?

Its very low metallicity fooled astronomers; Hubble later found it holds stars over 13 billion years old.