The Bear in the Stars

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Thompson, Robert; Thompson, Barbara (2007). Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders: From Novice to Master Observer. O'Reilly Media, Inc. ISBN 978-0-596-52685-6. Nu Ursae Majoris is another double star, one visible to the unaided eye. It has an apparent magnitude of 3.490 and is approximately 399 light years distant from the solar system. It is a giant star belonging to the spectral type K3 III with a radius 57 times that of the Sun, and about 775 times the Sun’s luminosity. The October Ursae Majorids were discovered in 2006 by Japanese researchers. They may be caused may be a long period comet. [26] The shower peaks between October12 and 19. [27]

The constellation name Ursa Major is pronounced /ˌɜːrsə ˈmeɪdʒər/. In English, the constellation is known as the Great Bear. The genitive form of Ursa Major, used in star names, is Ursae Majoris (pronunciation: /ˌɜːrsiː məˈdʒɒrɪs/). The three-letter abbreviation, adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1922, is UMa. Gamma UMa is a main sequence star of the spectral type A0 Ve. It has a visual magnitude of 2.438 and is approximately 83.2 light years distant. The –e in the star’s classification refers to it being an Ae star, one that has an envelope of gas surrounding it and adding emission lines to its spectrum.

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Supergiants are the largest and brightest stars, often many hundred times larger (and much brighter) than our Sun. Lalande 21185 is a red dwarf (spectral type: M2V) only 8.31 light years distant from the Sun. It has an apparent magnitude of 7.520 and cannot be seen by the unaided eye. It is the fourth closest star system to our solar system, after Alpha Centauri, Barnard’s Star and Wolf 359. In about 19,900 years, it will come within 4.65 light years from the Sun. The fourth star is Megrez or Delta Ursae Majoris. Megrez is located at the intersection of the body and tail of the bear or the ladle and handle of the dipper. It is a white star and is around 60 light-years from Earth. Ursa Major, along with asterisms it contains or overlaps, is significant to numerous world cultures, often as a symbol of the north. Its depiction on the flag of Alaska is a modern example of such symbolism. One of the few star groups mentioned in the Bible (Job 9:9; 38:32; – Orion and the Pleiades being others), Ursa Major was also pictured as a bear by the Jewish peoples. "The Bear" was translated as "Arcturus" in the Vulgate and it persisted in the King James Version of the Bible.

In Hindu legend, the brightest stars represent the Seven Sages. The Hindus termed the constellation as Saptarshi. The sages are Bhrigu, Atri, Angirasa, Vasishta, Pulastya, Pulalaha and Kratu. Mizar and Alcor, image: Camille Flammarion, Les étoiles et les curiosités du ciel, 1882 W Ursae Majoris The reason Polaris is so important is that it is almost directly above the North Pole. This means you can use it like a compass to find north. This constellation is named for the larger of Orion’s two hunting dogs (the other, Canis Minor, has only twostars). To find CanisMajor:

Location in the Night Sky

The Alula Borealis is an orange giant with a distance of around 400 light-years from earth. Alula Australis is a four-star system. It consists of two pairs of binary stars. These stars are 30 light-years from our earth. The main stars in this system are like sun stars. The other ones are considered to be red dwarfs.

Several bright galaxies are found in Ursa Major, including the pair Messier 81 (one of the brightest galaxies in the sky) and Messier 82 above the bear's head, and Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), a spiral northeast of η Ursae Majoris. The spiral galaxies Messier 108 and Messier 109 are also found in this constellation. The bright planetary nebula Owl Nebula (M97) can be found along the bottom of the bowl of the Big Dipper. The third star is Alioth, or also referred to as Epsilon Ursae Majoris. Alioth is the brightest star in the Ursa Major constellation. It is the 33rd brightest star in the sky, consisting of magnitude 1.76. It has a distance of around 80 light-years from Earth. Ursa Major is primarily known from the asterism of its main seven stars, which has been called the " Big Dipper", "the Wagon", "Charles's Wain", or "the Plough", among other names. In particular, the Big Dipper's stellar configuration mimics the shape of the " Little Dipper". Two of its stars, named Dubhe and Merak ( α Ursae Majoris and β Ursae Majoris), can be used as the navigational pointer towards the place of the current northern pole star, Polaris in Ursa Minor. They are imprisoned and taken to King Lycaon as a gift. However, the mother and son are able to escape and take refuge in the temple of Zeus. Not realizing that their trespassing is punishable by death, Zeus comes and intervenes to save them by placing them both in the sky. Nu and Xi Ursae Majoris are the first of three pairs of stars known to the ancient Arabs as the “leaps of the gazelle.” Tania Borealis and Tania Australis – λ (Lambda) and μ (Mu) Ursae Majoris – “the second leap”

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a b Hajduková, M.; Neslušan, L. (2020). "The χ-Andromedids and January α-Ursae Majorids: A new and a probable shower associated with Comet C/1992 W1 (Ohshita)". Icarus. 351: 113960. Bibcode: 2020Icar..35113960H. doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113960. S2CID 224889918.