What is the constellation Ursa Major?
The Great Bear It is a boreal constellation. The most prominent asterism of the Big Dipper is the set of seven stars popularly called the big chariot, shaped like a cart or ladle, four stars form the box and three, the tail. The tail of the chariot makes a curve that points to Arturo (α Bootis), which is the brightest star in the constellation of the Boyero. If we extend the distance between the last two stars of the car box towards the north five times, we will find Polaris.
From the latitudes of the Catalan Countries, the Big Dipper is very close to the Polar Star, making it a circumpolar constellation, one of the constellations that is seen throughout the year. Because the Polaris is the central point of the rotation of the celestial sphere, the Big Dipper could not be so low that it cannot be seen.
Its main stars are:
Mizar, magnitude 2.23
Alioth, magnitude 1.76
Alkaid, magnitude 1.85
Megrez, magnitude 3.32
Phecda, magnitude 2.41
Dubhe, magnitude 1.81
Merak, magnitude 2.34
These are what are popularly known as the Big Car, the one that looks more like a frying pan. The last two stars are used to locate the North Star.
Among others, in the constellation of Ursa Major we can observe a double system formed by Mizar and Alcor, the latter of magnitude 3.99, but easy to see if we locate its bright companion. This double star has received many names in different towns; For example, the people of the great American plains, just after the arrival of the Europeans, began to call him the Horseman and the Horse.
Mythology of the constellation Ursa Major
According to Greek mythology, the story of the bears is associated with the myth of Callisto. It was the goddess Hera who placed the bears in the sky; Jealous of them, she placed them in the north, far from the horizon of the sea, where Zeus accompanied them bathing. In other versions it is associated with the myth of Cynosura.
History of the constellation Ursa Major
Its name in Arabic الدب الاكبر, which means the fat bear, was adapted into Arabic by Abd Al-Rahman Al Sufi (from 903 to 986) based on the book Almagest by Ptolemy.