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The Big Dipper seen from Fujian. The constellation of Ursa Major (Latin: Greater Bear) has been seen as a bear, a wagon, or a ladle.The "bear" tradition is Indo-European (appearing in Greek, as well as in Vedic India), [7] but apparently the name "bear" has parallels in Siberian or North American traditions.
Orion's Belt or The Belt of Orion is an asterism within the constellation. It consists of the three bright stars Zeta (Alnitak), Epsilon (Alnilam), and Delta (Mintaka). Alnitak is around 800 light years away from earth and is 100,000 times more luminous than the Sun and shines with magnitude 1.8; much of its radiation is in the ultraviolet ...
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.
Thus, the Big Dipper, unlike most constellations or asterisms, is largely composed of related stars (another example of which would be Taurus). Some of the brighter stream members include Alpha Coronae Borealis (α CrB or Alphecca or Gemma), Beta Aurigae (β Aur), Delta Aquarii (δ Aqr), Gamma Leporis (γ Lep) and Beta Serpentis (β Ser). More ...
Ursa Major and Polaris with names of bright stars in the Big Dipper The constellation Ursa Major as it can be seen by the unaided eye The outline of the seven bright stars of Ursa Major form the asterism known as the " Big Dipper " in the United States and Canada, while in the United Kingdom it is called the Plough [ 6 ] or (historically ...
You can then pinpoint the reddish-colored Arcturus by following the handle of the Big Dipper constellation. You can also use an interactive star chart such as Stellarium to locate the ...
Some constellations have only seasonal appearances, which help mark the passage of time. For example, Ullakut ( Orion ) and Sakiattiak ( Taurus ) are only visible in the winter. Throughout winter, many stars within Tukturjuit ( Big Dipper ) were used as hour hands to keep track of time during the night or as calendar stars to determine the date.
Boom.In the colossal Pinwheel galaxy, 25 million light-years away, a star has just exploded and is even visible through small telescopes. The supernova-hunting astronomer Koichi Itagaki discovered ...