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Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation in the northern sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory.Its Latin name means "greater (or larger) bear", referring to and contrasting it with nearby Ursa Minor, the lesser bear. [1]
Ursa Minor (Latin for 'Lesser Bear', contrasting with Ursa Major), also known as the Little Bear, is a constellation located in the far northern sky.As with the Great Bear, the tail of the Little Bear may also be seen as the handle of a ladle, hence the North American name, Little Dipper: seven stars with four in its bowl like its partner the Big Dipper.
[9] [10] Despite being designated "ε" , it is the brightest star in the constellation and at magnitude 1.77 is the thirty-third brightest star in the sky. It is the star in the tail of the bear closest to its body, and thus the star in the handle of the Big Dipper (or Plough) closest to the bowl.
Its host star is a magnitude 7.88 G5-type star, 98.2 parsecs from Earth. It has a radius of 3.4 R ☉ and a mass of 1.33 M ☉. [68] WASP-14 b is one of the most massive and dense exoplanets known, [69] with a mass of 7.341 M J and a radius of 1.281 R J. Discovered via the transit method, it orbits 0.036 AU from its host star with a period of 2 ...
Constellations are based on asterisms, but unlike asterisms, constellations outline and today completely divide the sky and all its celestial objects into regions around their central asterisms. [1] [2] For example, the asterism known as the Big Dipper or the Plough comprises the seven brightest stars in the constellation Ursa Major.
The constellations along the ecliptic are called the zodiac. When explorers mapped the stars of the southern skies, European astronomers proposed new constellations for that region, as well as ones to fill gaps between the traditional constellations. Because of their Roman and European origins, every constellation has a Latin name.
The Earth in its orbit around the Sun causes the Sun to appear on the celestial sphere moving over the ecliptic (red), which is tilted on the equator (blue).. The Zodiac is a group of 12 constellations: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces.
The following lists of constellations are available: IAU designated constellations – a list of the current, or "modern", constellations; Former constellations – a list of former constellations; Chinese constellations – traditional Chinese astronomy constellations; List of Nakshatras – sectors along the Moon's ecliptic