The line from Megrez to Dubhe points the way to Capella in Auriga constellation, and one drawn from Megrez to Merak leads to Castor in Gemini when extended by about five times the distance between the two stars. They are called the Pointer Stars because they point the way to Polaris and true north. The Big Dipper is shaped like a bowl and a handle. They represent the tail and hindquarters of Ursa Major. Some Native American legends say the bowl of the Big Dipper is a bear and the stars of the handle are three warriors chasing it. In spring, it is upside down in the evening hours, and in summer the bowl leans toward the ground. Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. The Big Dipper was imaged from space by the Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft in 2012 in what is likely the farthest photo of the constellation ever taken. You do not need binoculars to see the comet, though they will enhance the view. It is the star marking the tip of the handle of the Big Dipper, or alternatively the tip of the bear’s tail. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! Polaris, the North Star, is found by imagining a line from Merak (β) to Dubhe (α) and then extending it for five times the distance after Dubhe (α). That idea may have arisen from an old Nordic constellation that was believed to represent a wagon or chariot belonging to the chief god, Odin, said Tom Kerss, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Megrez (from the Arabic al-maghriz, “the base,” referring to the base of the Big Bear’s tail), is the dimmest of the seven stars. Seven are visible at a glance, while the eighth is a visible double star that is just detectable with the naked eye in an area with clear "seeing" and with good vision. The appearance of the Big Dipper changes from season to season. Alkaid, Mizar and Alioth mark the Big Dipper’s handle, and Megrez, Phecda, Dubhe and Merak outline the bowl. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. According to Rick Raasch of the Texas Astronomical Society, Mizar was the first double star to be discovered through a telescope, in 1662; the first star to be photographed, in 1857; and the first star to be identified as a spectroscopic binary, in 1889. Tonight look for Orion the Hunter, the most noticeable of all constellations. Each has been spectroscopically shown to be a binary star, held together to its companion by gravity, and Alcor and Mizar are binary stars themselves. The Chinese know the seven stars as the Government, or Tseih Sing. In 2017, the comet Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák made a pass through Ursa Major and Draco. Ursa Major constellation from Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius – the view is mirrored following the tradition of celestial globes, showing the celestial sphere in a view from “outside”. One of the most familiar star shapes in the northern sky, it is a useful navigation tool. The comet survived a close encounter with the sun, passing at roughly the same distance as Mercury, and will not be visible from Earth again for more than 6,000 years – so it’s worth catching a glimpse before it disappears at the end of July. Copyright © 2020 Multiply Media, LLC. The Big Dipper’s orientation also changes as it rotates counterclockwise around the north celestial pole from season to season. The folk song, “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” gave runaway slaves directions to follow the Big Dipper to get to north. It has an apparent magnitude of 1.85 and is about 101 light years distant from Earth. The stars making up the asterism are (from the end of the handle and around the bottom of the bowl) Alkaid, Mizar-Alcor, Alioth, Megrez, Phecda, Merak and Dubhe. The material on this site can not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with prior written permission of Multiply.

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