A real treasure trove of interesting celestial objects. It’s impossible to list all its attractions - there are several dozen galaxies in the constellation alone that are accessible for observation with amateur telescopes! But there are also nebulae, double stars, star clusters... Here we invite your attention to get acquainted with the most important and - selectively - unusual objects of the Big Dipper. Look 50 photos.
The Big Dipper is the most famous asterism in the northern sky. This design is also often called the Plow or the Cart, and in India these stars are called the Seven Sages. In addition to the scoop, the image, compiled from 24 frames, also captured some famous deep space objects. In the upper right corner of the image is the orange star Dubhe - α of the constellation Ursa Major, to which the Bucket belongs. Together with the star β Ursa Major - Merak just below - they form a line pointing to the North Star and the North Celestial Pole (they are outside the picture). Someone has probably already noticed Mizar, the second star from the edge in the handle of the Ladle. Together with the seemingly close Alcor, they form a visual dual system that can be used to test vision. In addition, some famous Messier catalog objects can also be found in the photo. Photo: Rogelio Bernal Andreo/APOD
In addition to the Big Dipper, there is also a Small Dipper in the sky, at the end of which is the famous Polar Star. The Little Dipper is much more difficult to find than the Big Dipper, so in this illustration the brightness of the Dipper stars is artificially enhanced to distinguish them from the general mass of stars. How to find the North Star in this image? It’s very simple: connect the two outermost stars of the Big Dipper with a line and extend it upward. The line will point to the North Star. Photo: Jerry Lodriguss
The Big Dipper is not a constellation, but an asterism that is part of the constellation Ursa Major. In spring and the first half of summer it is high in the sky in an inverted position. At this time it is often not noticed in the sky. But no matter what position the Big Dipper is in, its two outermost stars, Dubhe and Merak, always point to the North Star! This photo shows the scoop over cherry blossoms in the Japanese sky. Photo: Masahiro Miyasaka
Close to the equator, Ursa Major is no longer a non-setting constellation. In this image, the bucket sits low on the horizon, glinting above the vast Ngorongoro volcanic caldera in Tanzania. Photo: Yu Jun
Mizar and Alcor are the most famous double star in the sky. This pair is located in the middle of the handle of the Ursa Major dipper. Photo: Sky-map.org
M81 is the brightest galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major - it is already visible through binoculars with an aperture of 50 mm. M81 is similar in size to the Milky Way. This classic photo was taken with the Hubble telescope in 2007. The image shows a lot of details: numerous star clusters in the arms of the galaxy, streaks of interstellar dust, clouds of hydrogen (artificially colored green in the image) and even some of the brightest stars! Photo: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Wide-angle mosaics covering tens of square degrees show M81 and M82 among thin, faintly luminous gas clouds. These are high-latitude clouds belonging to the Milky Way. They are located above the disk of our Galaxy and are illuminated by the light of all the stars that make up the Milky Way. In this stunning image, high-latitude clouds form gray threads and filaments scattered throughout the image. The clouds are approximately 5-10 thousand times closer to Earth than the galaxies M81 and M82. Photo: Scott Rosen
Arp's loop. Located 12 million light-years from Earth, M81, along with M82, NGC 3077 and NGC 2976, form one of the most famous groups of interacting galaxies. In 1965, astronomer Halton Arp noticed an unusual loop-like structure in photographs of M81, which he mistook for a tidal tail resulting from its approach to M82. (Located on the right side of the image.) However, newer research shows that Arp's loop is composed of dust and gas and is similar to galactic cirrus, clouds of interstellar gas above the plane of the Milky Way. In the photo you can also see an irregularly shaped spot above M81. This is the Holmberg IX dwarf galaxy, a satellite of M81. Photo: R. Jay GaBany
Galaxy M82 or Cigar Galaxy, a bright satellite of M81. For a long time, astronomers believed that a grandiose explosion had occurred in the center of M82 - spectral observations showed that interstellar gas was flying out from the center of M82 at a colossal speed of thousands of kilometers per second. In the image, cosmic gas M82 glows red. Recently, however, it was discovered that the gas is leaking out due to a "superwind" - the combined effect of stellar winds from the many newborn stars inside M82. All these stars were born almost simultaneously after the last close approach of M82 and M81. Photo: NASA, ESA
NGC 3077, a small elliptical galaxy, satellite of M81. It actively interacts (gravitationally) with the galaxies M81 and M82, as a result of which it looks very young and unusual for an elliptical galaxy: a mass of dust and bright young stars make up this image. Photo: ESA/Hubble & NASA
The luxurious spiral galaxy M101 is located near the pair of stars Mizar - Alcor and is visible even with good binoculars. Thanks to its characteristic structure, the M101 received the name “Turnable”. The distance to M101 is estimated at 27 million light years - it is 10 times farther from us than the Andromeda Nebula. M101 is slightly smaller in size than the Milky Way, its diameter is 85,000 light years. Please note that the M101 helices do not extend from the nucleus, but from a small bridge crossing the small but quite bright nucleus. Photo: R. Jay GaBany
Galaxy M101. The mosaic is made up of images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2006. At that time, it was the largest and most detailed image of the galaxy taken using Hubble. Photo: European Space Agency & NASA
M101 contains many bright open clusters and hydrogen nebulae that form spiral arms. The clusters are dominated by hot and young blue stars. Nebulae heated by the ultraviolet glow of these stars glow red. The regions around the galactic core are populated by cooler and older dwarf stars like the Sun. Photo: Oleg Bryzgalov
Owl and galaxy. In the vicinity of the star Megrets there are two Messier catalog objects: the planetary Owl Nebula (M97) and the spiral galaxy M108. Although these objects look like nebulous specks in small amateur telescopes, their nature is completely different. The Owl Nebula is an expanding shell of gas ejected by a star at its death. A tiny star is visible in its center. This is a super-hot white dwarf, the core of a dead star. M108 is a large spiral galaxy containing tens of billions of stars. The Owl Nebula is located 2600 light years away from us. Galaxy M 108 is almost 7000 times further away: light takes 14 million years to reach it! Photo: Christoph Kaltseis/APOD
The Owl Nebula or M97 is a rather difficult object for amateur telescopes. The ghostly nebula is clearly visible only far outside the city, in a dark and transparent sky. You will be amazed at how much it resembles an owl! It is one of 1,600 planetary nebulae known in our Galaxy. In total, according to astronomers, there are about 10 thousand such nebulae in the Milky Way. Photo: Oleg Bryzgalov
Galaxy M108 (NGC 3556) is a crossed spiral that we observe almost edge-on! Photo: Ken Crawford
This is a stunning photograph of the central regions of the galaxy NGC 4217. This edge-on spiral galaxy is about 60 million light-years away. In this image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, filaments of cosmic dust are visible everywhere, obscuring the glow of stars from us. Some fibers are about 7,000 light years long! Photo: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Galaxy NGC 4013. It is often called the Diamond Ring due to the star that shines at its center. This star, however, is part of the Milky Way and is much closer to us than NGC 4031. Photo: R. Jay GaBany
M109, one of the brightest galaxies in Ursa Major. In the sky it is located next to the star Phecda (gamma Ursa Major), one of the stars of the Big Dipper. Although Fekda was not included in the photo, the rays from her are clearly visible in the lower left corner of the photo. M109 is a typical barred spiral galaxy. The central regions of M109 are composed primarily of solar-type stars, and the spiral arms are formed by clusters of hot and young bluish-white stars. M109 is located 55 million light years from Earth and is part of a group of galaxies of the same name. Photo: R. Jay GaBany
The constellation Ursa Major is home to not only classic spiral galaxies, but also dwarf galaxies like NGC 5477. This is a classic irregular dwarf galaxy - stars and nebulae are located in it chaotically and without structure. NGC 5477 is part of the M101 group of galaxies and is located at a distance of 20 million light years from us. Photo: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Another classic dwarf galaxy, UGC 5497, is located 11 million light years away and also in the constellation Ursa Major! Photo: ESA/Hubble & NASA
NGC 3310 is a starburst spiral galaxy. Located 50 million light years from Earth, this small one - with a diameter of 50,000 light years. years - the galaxy collided with another star system. This event, which occurred 100 million years ago, caused a sharp increase in star formation in it. Photo:
Another beautiful spiral in Ursa Major is the galaxy NGC 4088. Together with NGC 4085 (left) it forms a physical pair. The galaxy was discovered in 1788 by the famous English astronomer William Herschel; with a good amateur telescope, it is visible as a nebulous speck of 10th magnitude. Photo: Kai Wiechen
NGC 4157 in the constellation Ursa Major. This “island Universe,” as galaxies are sometimes called in popular books, is located 35.6 million light years away from us. The diameter of NGC 4157 is almost equal to the diameter of the Milky Way and is 105 thousand light years. The galaxy is a member of the Ursa Major galaxy cluster. Photo: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
Miniature spiral NGC 3982. This beautiful galaxy is 68 million light-years from Earth and measures just 30,000 light-years in size—one-third the diameter of the Milky Way. The spiral arms of NGC 3982 form young star clusters and gaseous nebulae, in which active star formation processes take place. Photo: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Galaxy NGC 2841, a classic spiral galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major at a distance of 46 million light years from Earth. You can find it in amateur telescopes in a dark suburban sky 1.7 degrees from the star theta Ursa Major. NGC 2841 is one of the most massive and largest spiral galaxies in the Universe: its diameter is 150 thousand light years, which is almost 1.5 times the diameter of the Milky Way. Photo: NASA/ESA/Digitized Sky Survey 2
Galaxy NGC 2841 close-up. This clear image of the beautiful island universe clearly shows its yellow core and galactic disk. Hidden in the mottled, tightly wound spiral arms are dust lanes, small pink star-forming regions, and blue clusters of young stars. Unlike most spiral galaxies, which have broad arms, NGC 2841's spirals are not clearly defined; Astronomers call such galaxies flocculent spirals. Photo: NASA/Subaru/Robert Gendler/APOD
Galaxy IC 2574, better known as the Coddington Nebula. The galaxy was discovered on April 17, 1898 by Edwin Coddington at Lick Observatory. Despite its name, it is not a gas cloud, but an “island universe” like the Milky Way. Due to its high looseness and low surface brightness, the galaxy is usually classified as an irregular dwarf galaxy, but sometimes it is classified as a spiral star system. Photo: Michael A. Siniscalchi
The distance to the Coddington Nebula is 12-13 million light years. It belongs to the M81 group of galaxies. In the world's largest telescopes, IC 2574 can be resolved into individual stars. This image, compiled from observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, shows the central regions of IC 2574, an area crowded with stars. Photo: Hubble/NASA
On the outskirts of the Coddington Nebula. Bright hydrogen nebulae resemble bubbles. This shape is not accidental: these are really gas bubbles, shock waves in interstellar matter, formed after supernova explosions. Hydrogen glows, heated by the powerful radiation from newborn stars inside nebulae. This is how dying stars contribute to the birth of new ones. Photo: ESA/Hubble & NASA
The Coddington Nebula (right) and a pair of galaxies M81 and M82 (left) against the background of galactic cirrus. Nebulae that look like a thin veil belong to the Milky Way; they float high above the galactic disk, far from the stars, and shine with the reflected light of all the stars in the Milky Way. The galaxies M81, M82 and IC 2574 are 10 thousand times further away. Photo: Wikisky.org/Rogelio Bernal Andreo
Densely coiled, almost concentric, arms of dust surround the bright core of this otherwise inconspicuous lenticular galaxy NGC 2787. But for professionals, NGC 2787 is of considerable interest because at its center lies a massive black hole. The galaxy is located 24 million light years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. Photo: NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team
Another lenticular galaxy in Ursa Major, NGC 2685 or the Helix Galaxy, lies 40 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. Lenticular galaxies combine the features of spiral and elliptical galaxies, but NGC 2685, in addition, also has a polar ring. Note that in NGC 2685 some of the stars, gas and dust rotate in a ring perpendicular to the plane of the galactic disk. This strange shape could result from the accidental capture of matter from another galaxy by a disk galaxy, after which the captured matter is stretched into a rotating ring. However, the observed properties of NGC 2685 indicate that the ring around this galaxy is very old and stable. Photo: Ken Crawford
A nearly perfect spiral of galaxy NGC 3953. Note that the arms extend from the bar, not from the galactic core. Such spirals are called crossed. Photo: Tom Haynes/Adam Block/NOAO/AURA/NSF
Nearby spiral galaxy NGC 2976 from the M81 group of galaxies. Located 11.6 million light-years from Earth, this small galaxy has a distinct bluish color, a result of its abundance of massive, hot stars. Photo: Salvatore Iovene
A detailed image of the outskirts of NGC 2976 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Like regular spirals, NGC 2976 has a flat disk, but it does not have pronounced spiral arms. Gravitational interaction with neighboring galaxies led to an outbreak of star formation, which began about 500 million years ago. In the image we see the consequences of this outbreak: almost all of the interstellar gas is spent on the stars that overwhelm the frame. Photo: NASA, ESA, and J. Dalcanton and B. Williams (University of Washington, Seattle)
But here is an object that is practically inaccessible to amateur telescopes: the distant interacting galaxies Arp 194. This image taken with the Hubble Telescope shows several galaxies exchanging matter at once. Particularly impressive is the fountain of stars, gas and dust stretching over 100,000 light years. Blue spots are superclusters of bright blue stars, whose birth was a direct consequence of the collision of galaxies and the compaction of gas in them. The galaxy group is designated Arp 194 in the catalog of peculiar galaxies compiled by astronomer Halton Arp. Photo: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Another pair of interacting galaxies in Ursa Major, which we observe after a collision. The two spiral galaxies that make up the pair Arp 148 experienced a head-on collision several tens of millions of years ago. As a result, the galaxy that we see from the front turned into a ring without a central core, and the second galaxy was stretched out by tidal forces. Arp 148 is located 500 million light years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. Photo: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
The unusual galaxy I Zwicky 18 was originally classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy, much smaller in size than the Milky Way. However, modern research shows that it is a large and distant island Universe, located at a distance of about 60 million light years! Its shape was distorted due to gravitational interaction with the neighboring galaxy, which is located in the image above. Shock waves in the galaxy led to a burst of star formation; Numerous hot and very young stars blew gas out of Zwicky 18, forming a huge glowing bubble around it. Photo: NASA, ESA, and A. Aloisi (European Space Agency and Space Telescope Science Institute)
Galaxy NGC 3079, another large spiral in the constellation Ursa Major. It is located 50 million light-years from Earth and looks as impressive optically as it does in the combined images (see next image). Photo: Robert Gendler
NGC 3079 appears in all its majesty in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope. Noteworthy are the giant filaments flying out from the core of the galaxy. As with the M82 galaxy, NGC 3079's filaments are generated by stellar winds that blow gas out of the galactic plane. The fibers are 2000 light years long and 75 light years thick! Their speed is 6 million kilometers per hour! Photo: NASA/Hubble
Hubble's first ultra-deep field photographed in 1995. This image captures about 1,500 galaxies, many of which are billions of light years away! It is amazing that all these star islands fit into a tiny patch of sky the size of a grain of rice at arm's length. Almost everything you see in this exciting image is galaxies. Photo: R. Williams (STScI), the Hubble Deep Field Team and NASA/ESA
Dwarf galaxy NGC 5474 in the constellation Ursa Major. The word “dwarf” should not be misleading - this galaxy includes several billion stars! NGC 5474 is part of the M101 group of galaxies and is located at a distance of 20 million light years from Earth. Photo: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Like ice skaters, two galaxies dance around under the influence of gravity, losing their matter. Stars, gas and dust formed a giant bridge between their neighbors, and the outer regions of the galaxies became twisted tidal tails. The galaxies have one designation - UGC 8335 (or Arp 238) - and are located in the constellation Ursa Major at a distance of 400 million light years from Earth. Photo: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)
What is this handful of grains of sand-stars scattered across the picture? This is the dwarf galaxy UGC 4459, located in the constellation Ursa Major at a distance of 11 million light years from Earth. Despite its modest appearance, this tiny island universe is undergoing active star formation. See huge bubbles of interstellar hydrogen glow under the ultraviolet light of hot stars. Incredibly beautiful! Photo: ESA/Hubble & NASA
There are countless spiral galaxies in the constellation Ursa Major. Here's another one, NGC 3675. Photo: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
Galaxy NGC 4102 in the constellation Ursa Major. Photo: ESA/Hubble, NASA and S. Smartt (Queen's University Belfast
Galaxy NGC 3642 looks like a celestial whirlpool. Unlike crossed spirals, the arms of this galaxy extend not from the bridge, but directly from the core. The spirals of NGC 3642 are very tightly twisted and you can’t even figure it out right away, but how many arms does it actually have? Photo: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
Spiral galaxies NGC 3718, NGC 3729 and the Hickson 56 group. The pair NGC 3718 and NGC 3729 are located at a distance of 56 million light years from Earth - the Hickson 56 group of galaxies is several times further away. This group consists of 5 distant galaxies located adjacent to the beautiful crossed spiral NGC 3718. Hickson 56 is a very difficult object to observe for amateurs, but look how cool they appear in this photo! Thanks to Oleg Bryzgalov. Photo: Oleg Bryzgalov
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There is probably no such person who would not peer into the night sky. It is simply mesmerizing, thousands of stars twinkle and glow: some are barely noticeable, others stand out brightly against a dark background. One involuntarily thinks that at this time many other people are looking at the twinkling of the same stars. After all, they are located so far from the earth that they can be seen from all places on the globe.
Long ago, in the old days, people very often turned to the stars for help: they found their way home, determined the time of planting, set the weather for tomorrow, and even told fortunes.
These are areas in the sky that are visually divided into border segments, for the convenience of astrologers, and even the inhabitants themselves. Even in the ancient world, constellations were the name given to bright areas of stars, visually connecting them to form star images.The Union of Astrologers from various countries officially legalized 88 constellations. It is considered interesting that they were adopted in 1930, of which 48 are known since the time of Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD.
The names were given due to the fact that their appearance was closely associated with the images of true or fictitious representatives of the fauna (Ursa Major, Lion, Dragon, etc.), with famous characters from Greek legends (Andromeda, Perseus, etc.), with the names of certain subject objects that clearly defined the lines of connections of shining stars (Libra, Corona, Southern Cross, etc.).
Only 58 known star clusters contain the brightest stars (alphas) that have names.
In 13 star figures, the shining lights are called beta, the rest are identified only by Greek alphabetic letters.
The largest is Hydra, its size is determined at 1303 degrees squared. And the smallest of them have the stellar composition of the Southern Cross; they have 68 square degrees.
The most known to everyone since childhood is the Big Dipper (otherwise called the Big Dipper). It is visible from various places on the earth, its dimensions are slightly smaller than those of Hydra, they are determined at 1280 degrees.
Big Dipper
Refers to the constellation of the celestial hemisphere on the northern side. The stars present on it (there are 7 of them) form the most famous image in the sky. Visually, a certain scoop is immediately noticeable; two of their luminaries on the extreme side, Dubhe and Merak, indicate the direction towards the familiar Polaris star. The most picturesque of them is Aliot, and the most famous is the Mizar (double) system. There is an opinion that whoever clearly sees and distinguishes these two stars has excellent vision.
In the location of the Bucket, 2 galaxies (spiral type) are observed: M81 and M101. They can be clearly seen even with an amateur telescope.
M81 is significant in that it is very similar to our Galaxy. Not far from it is the small Galaxy M82, where a huge explosion occurred many years ago (millions). Modern astrologers are interested in this event, because little by little it clarifies the history of the emergence and development of galactic systems.
On the territory allocated to this image, there is an even more interesting cosmic image - “Owl”. She received her name for her strong resemblance to her. It can be seen without problems in telescopic equipment of low power.
As described above, there are 2 galactic systems in the constellation.
- M81 is a stunning Sb galactic spiral with a brightness of 6.9m. Together with it is M82, a system of asymmetric configuration and, compared to its neighbor, the weakest. Since Galaxy M81 is the strongest, it deforms its neighbor with its gravity.
Hubble's space equipment makes it possible to thoroughly study 32 non-permanent objects. Using the data obtained, it was possible to find out the distance to the Galaxy - it is 11 million light years.
- M101 – Sc type galaxy with a brightness of 7.9 m. If you observe from small telescopes, you can clearly see its central part. Looking at the photographs taken with the largest devices, you can see that it is not symmetrical. The core is as far away from the disk middle as possible. The range to M101 is determined with the assistance of Cepheids by the Hubble telescopic equipment and is summed up at approximately 24 million light years. years.
Historical studies
In 1603, a discovery of historical significance occurred. An astrologer from Germany, Johann Bayer, produced his cosmic atlas “Uranometry,” which maximally clarified the location of stellar objects in the sky. They originally designated the stars with letters of the Greek alphabet, and this also included all 7 stellar components of the Big Dipper in the direction of the pattern from the west to the east. At the same time, Bayer made his own adjustments to the rules, according to which stellar brightness must correspond to the Greek alphabet. The most radiant of them is Alpha, the next in line is Beta, etc. The fundamental rules for the atlas were the information collected over the years by the scientist Tycho Brahe.
Ursa Major is one of the most popular and famous space objects, which is familiar to almost every person from childhood. It bears strong resemblances to a shining, mesmerizing bucket, which can be beautifully beheld without any effort from anywhere in the world and throughout the year. It is located close to the North Pole and is ranked among the northern latitudes of clusters of stellar non-setting objects. This cluster of stars is named after the nymph Callisto.
Observations
The bear is classified as one of the group of space objects whose location is widely known and familiar to everyone. Indeed, people become familiar with it almost first of all, due to the fact that the bear’s ladle has a rather unique shape in its appearance.
On the eastern side of it are perfectly visible Perseus and Cassiopeia (mythical characters). The Giraffe located next door does not have bright lights; it is quite problematic to navigate along it. Bootes and his shining star Arcturus, located from the southeast, appear to be running after the she-bear.
The most convenient time for visibility is spring (March and April). The star cluster can be perfectly observed from all regions of Russia.
Mythology
Since ancient times, there has been a wonderful and beautiful story of the origin of the constellation. According to ancient legends, the ever-young goddess of the hunt, Artemis, walked with a spear and sharp arrows along mountain slopes and forests in pursuit of prey. She was accompanied by her faithful serving girls. They were all amazingly beautiful, one better than the other, but the most beautiful and charming among them was a young girl named Callisto. Zeus (Jupiter in myths) noticed the young beauty and was struck by her grace and youth. But the surrounding girls were strictly forbidden to enter into marriage relationships and start families. However, Zeus came up with a cunning plan and took possession of the wonderful girl, taking the form of Artemis. Callisto had a wonderful son from Zeus, and they named him Arkadam, who grew up simply rapidly and turned into a beautiful and dexterous young man.
Zeus's wife Hera was very jealous and, having learned that her husband was cheating on her, she sent a lot of curses on her rival and turned her into a huge and unsightly bear.
A short amount of time later, Arkad's son came across her while hunting and shot an arrow at her, not knowing that she was his mother. At this time, Zeus, zealously protecting his beloved from all misfortunes, was able to deflect the deadly arrow at the decisive moment.
After the events that took place, Zeus turned his son into a small bear cub and placed him and his mother in outer space. So they remained to shine in the sky with two constellations - the Little and the Great Bear. Not a single day passes without at least one person turning his gaze upward and peering into the starry expanse in search of these famous images.
The Big Dipper revolves around the pole and once a day, descends to the smooth surface of the sea to drink and quench its thirst. Having drunk plenty of clean water, she rises up again, attracting admiring human gazes.
Ursa Minor
Many different mythical stories and legends are associated with the appearance of this image. The small bucket is a small space image, which is perfectly placed in the north side. Since ancient times, it was given an affectionate name - “little bear”. He was recognized by astrologers back in the 2nd century by a Greek astronomer.
As a rule, the Little Dipper is depicted as a small bear cub with a large tail. There is an opinion that the tail is long because the baby uses it to cling to the earth's pole.
The seven brightest stars in this cosmic figure form the shape of a scoop; at the end of the handle is the North Star. This is a multi-star texture and is located approximately at 430 sv. years from the globe.
This luminary is the most popular and has excellent fame in many areas. It is considered a navigation star; because of its bright light and specific location, lost sailors or hunters find their way home.
The Bedouins gave it the name “goat” and use it perfectly for night wanderings (the second star for orientation is the star Canopus).
Finding a constellation in the sky is quite easy. Its stellar neighbors are Giraffe, Cepheus and Draco. However, to find Ursa Minor, it is enough to know the location of Ursa Major. You need to find two of its stars located on the edge, count five distances between them and you can discover the North Star. This is where the beginning of the “handle” begins, which is much smaller compared to a large ladle. It is not as bright as its older sister, but is clearly visible in the starry sky. In the Northern Hemisphere you can see it all year round.
The pole is considered to be the center of the celestial sphere, which to the average person on earth seems motionless, but at this time all the stars revolve around. If there is a bright shining star nearby, then it can be a landmark; its placement depends on the time of day. Depending on the earth's movements, this point is always moving, but on a secular scale it is almost impossible to notice this. Today, the North Star is located closest to the pole. In angular calculations, it moves away from it by 40 arc minutes.
Major and minor constellations
Today, astronomers have recorded various constellations, large and small in size.
One of the larger size list is Hydra. It occupies a significant volume of the sky and is calculated at 1302.84 degrees squared. So, thanks to its size, it got its name. It is a thin and very long line, occupying a quarter of the entire celestial space. The main location of Hydra is the southern side along the equator. In terms of its characteristic stellar composition, the constellation is relatively dim. It includes only two shining luminaries that can be easily seen in the sky: Alphard and Gamma Hydra.
In addition, there is also a scattered cosmic concentration, called M48.
The next largest place in terms of size belongs to Virgo. In terms of its volume, it has minor differences from Hydra.
The Southern Cross is considered to be one of the small ones in the starry sky. It is located in the southern hemisphere. It is recognized as a similarity to the Big Dipper from the north. Its volume is 68 0. According to ancient astrologers, in the past it was an integral part of Centauri. However, in 1589 this constellation was recognized as separate. In the stellar cross-content, even with an untrained eye, about 30 stellar units can be observed. In addition, there is a darkened nebula called the Coal Sack. It is significant for the fact that it has the ability to independently form stars.
Unique constellations
All figures in the starry sky and their original names are unique. Almost everyone has their own unique legend of education; extraordinary luminaries are included in the space community. It is possible to add to them the cosmic images of the Toucan and the Golden Fish. In the latter star cluster there is a Megellanic cloud of enormous size, while in the former it is small in volume. They are truly unique.
The Large Cloud in its appearance resembles a Segner circle, and the Small Cloud resembles a boxer’s projectile. In terms of their occupied territory in the sky, they are very large. Astronomy lovers notice their maximum relationship with the Milky Way. Of course, in actual dimensions they are much smaller than the famous star track. They appear to be the composition of the Milky Way, only slightly moved to the side. It is worth noting that in their content they are very similar to our Galaxy, and the constellation clouds are the stars closest to Earth.
A significant factor is that cloud clusters and our galactic system together revolve around the same axis and this forms a triple system of stars. It is worth noting that each of this stellar trinity contains a stellar concentration, a nebula and other space objects.
Twins
This figure is clearly visible from all parts of our country, because it soars quite high above the horizon. In the night sky it clearly appears in a peculiar shape. On the north-eastern side of Orion, even with an untrained eye you can see 2 lines parallel to each other and the Gemini star string, however, the “parachute projectile” of Auriga can be seen on the north-western side. Some of the best times to view this unique cosmic figure are the first two winter months.
The sun sets on the Brethren's territorial domain on the twenty-first of June.
People have known Gemini since ancient times. During a cloudless night in the sky in this flickering concentration, you can safely see about 70 figures along the star contours. The most brilliant of them are Castor and Pollux.
Castor is a system of maximum complexity, including 6 stellar objects, its distance from the Solar system is 45 years. in the light dimension.
Pollux has maximum dimensions and burns with the brightest yellow fire, is much cooler than its counterpart and is located at a distance of 35 years from the Solar system (in the light dimension). It is noted that its brightness is 35 times greater than the light emanating from the Sun.
These luminaries are recognized as the main ones, they are approximately located in relation to each other, and since ancient times people began to consider them as siblings, similar brothers, who are united by strong and selfless relationships.
In ancient Babylon they were also personified as two inseparable brothers and they were even given the name “shepherd and warrior.” People were sure that they were providing assistance to sailors, and in Sparta they believed that they were patronizing gymnasts.
Legend
Since ancient times, there has been a beautiful legend about selfless brotherly friendship. The king of Sparta, Tyndareus, had a beautiful wife named Leda. She was very beautiful, she was stunning with her appearance and grace. Zeus could not resist her charms either. But he was married to Hera, and she, in turn, patronized marriage relationships and protected all women during the birth of children. Then Zeus, in order not to be exposed, took the form of a beautiful slender bird and rushed to his beloved. They had mutual love, as a result of which 2 children were born - a son, Pollux, and a daughter, Elena (because of her, the famous war in Troy took place).
From her legal husband Tyndareus, Leda had more children: son Castor and daughter Clytemnestra.
Zeus gifted his blood heir Pollux with eternal life, and his maternal half-brother Castor was an ordinary person. The brothers grew up, gained fame, and even took part in the historical journey for the Golden Fleece. They were close all the time, never separated, and even decided to make their own sisters their spouses. To achieve this goal, they stole his two daughters from the ruler Leucippus, but this act did not go well for them without compensation.
As a result, as the parable goes, Castor accepted death at the hands of his own relative. Then Pollux, in order to always be with his beloved brother, persuaded his father to remove immortality from him. Zeus, although he categorically did not want this, gave in to his son’s pleas and the brothers began to live in the underground kingdom. However, Zeus, so that people would always remember the sincere friendship of the two brothers, wrapped them in shining stars. And in Greece they were revered as human intercessors.
The image of the cosmic Canis Major
It is best to observe it from Russian sites in winter (December, January). However, in the northern regions it is not visible all the time. It can be easily found if you navigate using Orion. The stars (3 pcs.), located on the sash, are directed to the southeast side, towards the location of Sirius. Making a mistake is quite problematic, because... it shines quite brightly. The dog is clearly visible in the cold season; it is located quite close to the southern horizon. The constellation crosses the meridian at midnight, precisely in the last days of December and the first of January. However, here we are talking about an ordinary coincidence, Sirius crosses the main line of the south on New Year's Day, exactly at midnight.
In addition, it is generally accepted that thanks to Sirius, residents of the North could thoroughly enjoy the Indian summer, in the autumn month of September. This is explained simply: at this time, Sirius is parallel to the Sun, and its bright light prolongs the beautiful autumn days.
Sirius is the brightest among all. This star is closest to the Earth, the seventh in a row in terms of distance from the Sun.
It is considered one of the ancient selections of stars. According to the existing parable, the Dog is the living creature of Orion.
Mythology
There has long been a legend about how Virgo, Bootes and Canis Major united with each other. The god of wine, Dionysus, walked across the earth. He visited all the places where people lived, treated them to wine and taught them how to grow grapes and make wine from them. A cheerful and noisy company visited all places, people greeted them hospitably. God generously rewarded everyone who joyfully hosted him, and so Ikarius turned out to be. He generously received guests in his hospitable home. In parting, Dionysus left a vine for the friendly owner and explained how to use it. Over time, Icarius grew a beautiful plant and began to treat everyone with wine. One evening, he decided to give the shepherds a taste of the wine, who, having not tasted it before, concluded that it was poisoning. They killed him, took his body to distant mountain ranges and buried him in a crevice.
The daughter of Ikarius named Erigona spent a long time searching for her missing parent. One day she went on a search, taking her dog Myra with her. The dog showed her the mountainous places where they found their dead father. Full of grief and despair, the girl committed suicide next to the corpse of her father.
The god of wine Dionysus turned all three, father, daughter and their dog, into constellations and placed them in the sky. From that time on, they remained in the starry expanses, and people gave them names - Bootes, Virgo and Canis Major.
Libra is a star cluster considered to be of little interest. There are no bright lights in it, and from those present it is quite difficult to form a figure image reminiscent of scales. The only star that can be seen with the naked eye is located at the bottom on the right side, it has a slightly greenish tint. The first time it was mentioned BC was in the 1st century. To create it, a part of another constellation, Scorpio, was borrowed. The Romans called it Libra in the early period of the new era.
Due to the fact that changes often occurred in connection with the name, its appearance was formed much later than the others. Initially, it was represented in the form of an altar, then it was seen as a lamp, which Scorpio clamped in his huge claws, only after he unclenched them, a new heavenly appearance was born in the sky - Libra.
If the figure of Libra appeared in the northern regions, this meant for people that it was time for sowing. In Egypt, on the contrary, identification meant doing the harvest for now.
In Greece lived the fair goddess Astraea, who used scales to decide people's destinies. One of the legends says that the appearance of scales in the sky signaled that people should live strictly observing the laws.
Astraea's parents were Zeus and Themis (goddess of justice), on whose orders she made fair decisions. She did this in the following way: she blindfolded herself, took equal scales in her hands in order to make impartial decisions, help innocent victims, and severely punish thieves and deceivers. Zeus decided that his daughter's instrument of justice should be placed in the starry sky as a symbol of honesty.
Myths associated with Libra
There are many legends and stories about Libra. According to one of many, the emperor of ancient Rome, Augustus, was distinguished by a very fair and honest character. He cared about people and did legal and fair things for them. His grateful subjects decided that the name of their ruler would live forever, and placed a constellation in the sky, which received a simple and significant name - Libra. They found a place for him in the gap between Scorpio and Virgo. To implement their plan, they needed to take away some spatial part from Scorpio. Thanks to this, Libra appeared in the sky, which still reminds us of Augustus as the most honest and just ruler.
According to other legendary events, Themis and Zeus strictly monitored the rule of law on the mountain of the gods. Themis steadily ensured that justice and honesty reigned everywhere. According to legend, Themis sat in the chair of Zeus and maintained strict control over lawlessness. She was actively assisted by her daughters - in translation their names meant Justice, Legality and Peace. Themis monitored human behavior and informed Zeus about all unjust acts discovered.
Sometimes she herself descended from her throne to people and walked through the whole world, holding scales in her hands. They were magical and measured human actions, dividing them into just and lawless. If violations of the law were discovered, then Themis appeared in front of people with a ball, with which she pierced the hearts of cruel, evil and deceitful people.
According to legend, Zeus wrapped the scales in a star image and placed them in the endless sky as a symbol of justice.
Aquarius
This figure is located between Slaves and Capricorn and is recognized as one of the ancients. The dazzling star is called Sadalsuud, which means “the happiest of the happy”.
You can observe it in the regions of Russia, from the central and southern sides, but finding it in a sky full of stars is quite problematic. The most favorable time for this is considered to be August and September. Representatives of Greece and the Arabs had completely different names for the constellation, but they meant one thing - melting in the ice.
The name goes very far to the homeland of the global flood, these are the territories of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. In astrological records, rivers flow from a huge vessel in the hands of Aquarius. The eleventh month is called the curse of water. According to the Sumerians, the constellation was located in the very center of the celestial sea and therefore always indicated future rains. It has always been compared to God, who warned the people about the upcoming flood.
In Egypt, Aquarius in the celestial territory could only be observed when the water level in the Nile reached its maximum level. There was a belief that during this period the god of water turned a huge vessel of water towards the Nile.
Auriga
It is located near the polar region of the sky. People have known it since ancient times. The most shining star in it is considered to be Capella - forked, yellow. Due to the fact that it has a yellow color, it was recognized as an analogue of the Sun. Upon thorough examination, it was found that similarities with it are observed in yellow color and temperature. There are many different stories and legends about this constellation, but in all atlases and maps it is constant and is depicted as Auriga, with a goat sitting on his shoulder, and holding two kids in his hand. But we should not forget that in ancient times people saw him as a man tending a herd, where two kids and their mother goat were walking.
As for the goat, which was placed on his powerful shoulder, it was believed that it was she who fed Zeus with milk and he, in turn, who became a god, did not forget about her and placed her in the sky in the form of a bright and beautiful star.
Each constellation has its own history of origin and an interesting, fascinating and beautiful myth.
Children about constellations. It was not by chance that we chose constellation pictures for children as a theme for our classes. Astronomy for children is an area that stands on the border between the real and fairy-tale worlds. The starry sky arouses great interest in children, encourages them to study the world around them, space, search for information in various sources, and develops the child’s memory and ability to think abstractly.
Getting to know the world around us, the structure of the Universe, expands the boundaries of a child’s thinking, strengthens the craving for new academic disciplines and new discoveries.
Starting your child’s acquaintance with complex concepts such as:
- Space
- Universe
- Stars
It is necessary to use as much visual material as possible and give the opportunity to play with it. Therefore, while studying space, for preschool children, we propose to conduct an interesting lesson with flashcards.
You will need to make two types of cards: some with images of constellations, and others with their names. You can print pictures from your computer and paste them onto cardboard or draw constellations. You can also write a short legend about their origin on cards with names.
Lay out cards with pictures of stars and names. Look at them with your child, pay attention to the shape of the constellations, tell us how their names were invented. Imagine what other combinations of these stars are like.
Then shuffle the cards. Invite your child to match the names and pictures of the constellations on their own. Help him if the need arises. This exercise perfectly develops the baby's memory.
Constellation cards
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Draw the constellations you like. The drawings can be pinned to a large sheet of paper or pinned on a board, making your own starry sky.
You can draw a starry sky on whatman paper. In the process, you can tell your child that the constellations are not the same everywhere; in the southern hemisphere the night sky looks different than in the northern. If your child is interested in drawing, invite him to use his imagination and come up with his own constellations and names for them - children really like such activities, and they also develop their imagination very well.
Space becomes more real for children in the constellations when you show some of the stars they've learned in the night sky. Very often this serves as an impetus for the emergence of deep interest in the structure of the Universe.
Constellation Ursa Major
Sitting on the stern and with a mighty hand
Turning the steering wheel, he was awake;
sleep did not descend on him
His eyes, and he didn’t close them...
from Ursa,
People still have Chariots
Name bearing and near Orion
accomplishing forever
Your circle, never bathing yourself
in the waters of the ocean.
With her the goddess of goddesses commanded
he is vigilant
The way to agree is...
Homer "Odyssey"
Lat. name Ursa Major, abbr. lat. UMa. Making its daily rotation around the North Pole of the world, this constellation of seven relatively bright stars about 2m never sets. The rectangle and three stars extended to the west resemble a chariot in shape. One gets the impression that it is rolling along the northern side of the horizon. Apparently, this explains the fact that many peoples of antiquity called this noticeable constellation that way: in European countries - the Chariot of David or the Chariot of Arthur, in Ancient Rome - Plasturus (Cart). The Romans, instead of three horses, harnessed three bulls to a cart, and eventually designated this constellation as seven bulls, from which the word septentrion comes, which over time became the word north and simply means the side of the horizon. The name Ursa Major was given to this constellation by the ancient Greeks: Arktox megalh (sounds like Arktos megale), from which the name Arctic comes.
If a chariot or cart can somehow be imagined by the arrangement of the seven bright stars of this constellation, then the Ursa is very difficult, since real bears do not have a long tail, represented here by the stars Aliot (e), Mizar (x) and Akair (h). According to one legend, Zeus was captivated by the daughter of King Lakion, who accompanied the goddess Artemis on a hunt, and seduced the girl. When the time came for childbirth, the goddess saw while bathing that the maid was pregnant and turned her into a bear. Already being a bear, she gave birth to a son, Arkad (represented in the sky by the constellation Bootes), who began to live among people. One day, hunters led by Arkad attacked her and wanted to kill her, but Zeus, remembering their alliance, saved her and placed her among the constellations, calling her a bear in honor of the transformation that had happened to her. As he hurriedly lifted the bear into the sky by her tail, he stretched out. 
The names of the seven bright stars were taken from the Arabs: Dubhe (a), Merak (b), Fegda (g), Megrets (d), Aliot (e), Mizar (z), and Akair (h). In terms of their physical characteristics, many of the stars of Ursa Major are similar and, moreover, move in the same direction. It is possible that these stars have a common origin, that is, they are a cluster.
The movement of stars across the sky is very imperceptible, and only long-term observations can detect it. Thus, it turned out that the projections onto the celestial sphere of the stars Benetash and Dubhe quickly move in one direction, while the projections of the remaining stars move in the opposite direction. The consequence of this is a continuous slow change in the pattern of this constellation.
Near the middle star z (Mizar) in the tail of Ursa Major (also called the Horse), under good conditions one can discern a faint star of the fifth magnitude, difficult to distinguish against the background of its bright neighbor - Alcor (Horseman). The distance between these stars is about 12", i.e. almost a third of the diameter of the Moon. The ancient Spartans used them to check the visual acuity of warriors. You can do this too, if you can distinguish Alcor - your vision is fine.
Ursa Major is rich in interesting objects, and now is the best time to study them. If you extend the line through Fegda (g) and Dubhe (a) to a distance equal to the distance between these stars, then in the place where the ancient Greeks drew the face of the Big Dipper, you can find two interesting and quite bright galaxies. The bright spiral galaxy M81 (magnitude 7m, size about 19") and its companion - the irregular galaxy M82 (about 8.2m, size 9"). This pair of galaxies is located at a distance of about 10 million light years from us. years. Spiral galaxy M101 with highly untwisted spirals can be found in a small telescope as a small bright nebulous speck 8.2m near Mizar, above the tail of Ursa Major.
In the same constellation between Fegda (g) and Merak (b), with a somewhat powerful telescope you can discern a nebulous speck of 12m, reminiscent of the disk of a planet - the planetary nebula M97, or, as it is called because of its appearance in photographs, the Owl. 
from here
Legends associated with the constellation Ursa Major
Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, as one of the most prominent constellations in the northern sky, have many different names in the legends of different peoples.
The constellation Ursa Major with its brightest star named Dubhe (Arabic Thar Dubb al Akbar - "backside of the Great Bear") is associated with the following legend:
The beautiful Callisto, daughter of King Lycaon, was in the retinue of the hunter goddess Artemis. Under the guise of this goddess, Zeus approached the maiden, and she became the mother of Arcas; jealous Hera immediately turned Callisto into a bear. One day Arkas, who had become a beautiful young man, while hunting in the forests, fell on the trail of a bear. He had already pulled his bow to hit his prey with a deadly arrow, but Zeus did not allow the crime: having turned his son into a bear, he carried both of them to heaven. They began to circle around the pole in a rhythmic dance, but Hera, becoming enraged, begged her brother Poseidon not to let the hated couple into her kingdom; therefore, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are non-setting constellations in the middle and northern latitudes of our hemisphere.
Francesco Petrarch described the Big Dipper in his 33rd sonnet as follows:
The east was already reddened by dawn.
And the light of the star that displeased Juno,
Still shining on the pale horizon
Above the pole, beautiful and distant.
Another version of the legend:
Once upon a time, in ancient times, King Lycaon, who ruled the country of Arcadia, had a daughter named Callisto. Her beauty was so extraordinary that she risked competing with Hera, the goddess and wife of the almighty supreme god Zeus. Jealous Hera took revenge on Callisto: using her supernatural power, she turned her into an ugly bear. When Callisto's son, young Arkad, returning from a hunt, saw a wild beast at the door of his house, he, suspecting nothing, almost killed his mother bear. Zeus prevented this - he held Arkad's hand, and took Callisto to his sky forever, turning him into a beautiful constellation - the Big Dipper. At the same time, Callisto’s beloved dog was also transformed into Ursa Minor. Arkad did not remain on Earth either: Zeus turned him into the constellation Bootes, doomed to forever guard his mother in the heavens. The main star of this constellation is called Arcturus, which means “guardian of the bear.”
Ursa Major culminates at midnight in March - May, and Ursa Minor in early June. Its brightest star is currently 1.5° from the celestial pole and is called Polaris. The brightest stars of both Ursae form shapes similar to buckets, so they are easy to find in the sky.
Here is another legend about the circumpolar constellations:
Fearing Kronos, who devoured his children, his wife Rhea hid the newborn Zeus in a cave, where he was fed, in addition to the goat Amalthea, by two she-bears - Melissa and Helis, who were later placed in heaven for this. Melissa is sometimes called Kinosura, which means "dog's tail." And indeed, bears do not have such long tails as we see in any image of the constellations of the circumpolar region.
In Ancient Rus', the same constellation had different names - Cart, Chariot, Pan, Ladle; the peoples inhabiting the territory of Ukraine called it Cart; in the Volga region it was called the Big Dipper, and in Siberia it was called the Elk. And these names are still preserved in some areas of our country.
Dolon eburgen (“seven elders”), Dolon darkhan (“seven blacksmiths”), Dolon burkhan (“seven gods”), in the mythology of the Mongolian peoples, the constellation Ursa Major, its seven stars are sometimes classified as Tengeri. In the shamanic hymns, Dolon eburgen is the giver of a happy fate (cf. dzayachi). In Buryat mythology (in the epic of Geser), the constellation appeared from the skulls of seven black (evil) blacksmiths, the sons of the black blacksmith Khozhori, hostile to people. There are stories (in the Tibeto-Mongolian editions of the collection “The Magic Dead” and in oral stories dating back to them) that connect the origin of the Big Dipper with the myth of a man with a cow’s head, called the “White-faced bull” or “White bull,” as well as Basang (in Tibetan mythology - Masane, a bull-headed character). It was crushed by the iron mallet of the witch-shulmas into seven parts, which made up the constellation; was taken to heaven by Khormusta for defeating a black poros (bull), who fought with a white one, who, according to some versions, was the incarnation of the supreme deity himself (the solar theme of the change of day and night, cf. the myth of Bukhanoyon Babai). According to another version, one of the stars of the Big Dipper, located on her shoulder (option: in the tail), was stolen from Michita (constellation Pleiades), who is chasing the kidnapper.
The Greenlandic Eskimos all tell the same story about the Big Dipper, the coincidence of all the details of which in each of the storytellers suggests that this is the pure truth, and not at all the idle fiction of walrus hunters bored by the long polar night.
The great hunter Eriulok lived in a snow hut. He lived alone, because he was very proud of the fact that he was a great hunter and did not want to know other Eskimos, also hunters, but not great ones. Eriulok went out alone in a fragile leather boat into the stormy sea and, with a long, heavy harpoon with a sharp bone tip, caught not only walruses and seals, but sometimes even a whale. How one can catch a whole whale alone will be left to the conscience of the Eskimos themselves. After all, that’s why Eriulok was a great hunter. Never in his snowy hut was the seal fat needed in the household, which had long been used to fill Eskimo lamps and lubricate faces and fingers so as not to freeze, used. He had plenty of delicious dried meat on any day, and the ceiling and walls of his snowy home were covered with the best walrus skins that could be found all the way from Greenland to Labrador. Lonely Eriulok was rich, well-fed and contented.
But over time, the great hunter began to be bothered by some anxiety. Apparently, happiness does not lie in hunting alone, since he realized that he no longer wanted to return to his lonely hut, where he would not hear a child’s laughter or words of greetings and gratitude. In short, the great hunter realized that it was time for him to start a family and live like other people. But it's easier to understand than to do. Other Eskimos have long refused to accept an overly proud fellow tribesman, refusing him home once and for all, which sometimes happens in a more civilized world, when someone does a better job than everyone else.
Since no one but the Eskimos lived either nearby or in the farthest distance, the Eskimos were always distinguished by great integrity and a sense of comradeship: they decided not to deal with a lonely arrogant person, and they never did. In the end, Eriulok went to the very shore of the Arctic Ocean and turned to the mistress of the sea waters, fish, spirits and animals, to the main Eskimo goddess Arnarkuagssak. He told about his problem and asked for help in the hope that the goddess would not refuse such a famous person like him.
The Eskimo goddess really did not refuse and promised to send the local storm of seals and walruses a good bride, and if necessary, two. But, as is usual with gods and goddesses, she appointed a test. It was necessary to go to some distant island, find an ice cave there, defeat or deceive a huge polar bear and steal from him a ladle full of magic berries that bestow youth. The old sea goddess really needed such berries, but she still couldn’t find a madman who would go for them. And just then Eriulok turned up.
In general, the hero reached the island, found a cave, put the bear to sleep and stole a ladle with magic berries. And besides, he safely delivered both the ladle and the berries to their destination. However, he is truly a good hunter.
The most interesting thing is that the sea deity did not deceive the simple-minded hero at the last moment. No, they parted honestly: Eriulok received a silver seal, who immediately turned into a beautiful girl and declared that all her life she had only dreamed of marrying Eriulok. So soon the great hunter of even greater envy of his neighbors also became the father of a large and happy family. The sea goddess, having eaten the magic berries and shed a couple of thousand years, in joy, threw up an empty ladle so that it caught on something and hung above their heads
In Ancient Egypt, the constellation Ursa Major was called Meskhet, “The Thigh that lives in the great Lake of the northern sky” (cf. the idea of the barque Ra).
In Ingush mythology, it is believed that the god-fighter Kuryuko stole sheep, water and reeds from the god of thunder and lightning Sela to give to people for the construction of houses. In this he is helped by the seven sons of Sela, who were supposed to guard the entrance to him. The angry Sela chained Kuryuko to a mountain rock, and hung his sons from the sky as punishment, and they formed the constellation Ursa Major.
In Tibetan folklore, a demoness chases the bull-headed creature Masang, the son of a cow and a man, and throws a cannonball that tears Masang into seven pieces, which become the Big Dipper. In this capacity, this character (like Basang) entered the mythology of the Mongolian peoples.
According to the Armenian myth, the seven stars of the Big Dipper are seven gossips, transformed by an angry god into seven stars.
Among the Sioux Indians, the Big Dipper was associated with the Skunk.
In Ancient Mesopotamia this constellation was called “Freight Cart” (Akkadian sambu, eriqqu). The idea of the Big Dipper as a chariot was widespread in Ancient Mesopotamia, among the Hittites, in Ancient Greece, in Phrygia, among the Baltic peoples, in Ancient China (the Big Dipper is a “chariot pointing to the south”), and among the South American Bororo Indians. Names of the constellation Ursa Major similar to this are found among many peoples; there are other variants of the name: Old High German wagan - “chariot”; Ancient Roman Septemtriones - “Seven Stars”; Middle Dutch woenswaghen, woonswaghen - “Wotan’s cart”; Sogdian ‘nxr-wzn - “circle of the Zodiac”; Mitannian Aryan uasanna - “circle at the hippodrome”; ancient Indian vahana - “animal on which the gods ride” - and ratha - “chariot”; Tocharian A kukal, B kokale - “chariot”; German Grosser Wagen - “Big Wagon”.
In India, the head of the Elk (Ursa Major) faces east.
The pursuit of the heavenly elk is attributed to various heroes in Karelian-Finnish runes. One of them is “the cunning guy Lemminkäinen,” a troubled loser hero. Having made wonderful skis, he boasts that not a single creature in the forests can escape him. His boasts are heard by the evil masters of wild creatures ~ Hiisi and the Yuvttahi spirits. They created the elk Hiisi:
Making a head out of a hummock,
The whole body is made of dead wood,
Having made legs from stakes,
Ears made from lake flowers,
And the eyes are from swamps.
The spirits send the elk to run north “through the fields of the sons of the Lapps, to the courts of gloomy Pohjela”; there he knocks over a cauldron of fish soup, causing tears of girls and laughter of women. Lemminkäinen perceives this laughter as a mockery of himself and rushes in pursuit of the moose on his skis:
The first time he pushed away
And he disappeared from sight on skis.
Pushed off for the second time
And he was no longer heard.
The third time he pushed off -
And he jumped on the back of the elk.
The successful hunter had already made a cage to keep his prey there, and began to dream about how good it would be to lay his skin on the wedding bed and caress the maiden on it. It was then that the magical elk escaped from the daydreaming hunter: in a rage, he broke the cage and rushed off. Lemminkäinen started to rush after him, but in his haste he pushed off so hard that he broke both his skis and his poles...
Lemminkäinen's failure is associated with a prohibition that he violated: while hunting, one must not think about marital pleasures - this scares away the prey. In addition, the skin of a sacred animal created by spirits cannot be used for household needs.
It can be assumed that the hunting myth about a giant deer, which turned into a constellation, in a society that already knew cattle breeding, was transformed into a myth about a huge bull that the gods could not slaughter.
The bear was especially revered by the Finns and Karelians, as well as by other Finno-Ugric peoples. He arose from wool thrown from heaven into water; according to other myths, he was born near the celestial bodies in the sky, near the Big Dipper, from where he was lowered on silver straps in a gilded cradle into the forest, where he remained on the silver branches of a pine tree (a similar myth known to the Ob Ugrians will be discussed below). A bear hunt is accompanied by a whole series of conspiracies in which the animal is persuaded that he was not killed by the hunter, but that he himself came to the people’s house “with a copper belly from honey”: the hut is cleaned for him, as for a dear guest. The bear is a relative of man. He is from the family of Adam and Eve: his father and mother are known - Khongatar (a word related to the name of pine). In some conspiracies, the bear is greeted as a groom, “a handsome man in a monetary fur coat” - a bed with a gilded feather bed is made (we talked about a bear wedding above). The skull of a killed bear was hung on a pine tree - where the first mythical beast came from: they believed that the spirit of the bear would be reborn again.
The name of these two constellations (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor) is very original among the peoples who inhabited the territory of the current Kazakh Republic. Observing the starry sky, they, like other peoples, drew attention to the immobility of the North Star, which at any time of the day invariably occupies the same position above the horizon. It is quite natural that these peoples, whose main source of existence were herds of horses, called the North Star an “iron nail” (“Temir-Kazyk”) driven into the sky, and in the other stars of Ursa Minor they saw a lasso tied to this “nail”, put on neck of the Horse (constellation Ursa Major). For 24 hours, the Horse ran its path around the “nail.” Thus, the ancient Kazakhs combined the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor into one.
The Ob Ugrians believed that celestial origin was attributed to the elk and other cosmic objects: once the elk had six legs and rushed across the sky so fast that no one could catch up with it. Then a certain Son of God or man Mos, the first ancestor of the Ob Ugrians, went hunting on skis made of sacred wood. The hunter managed to drive the deer from the sky to the ground and cut off its extra two legs, but the traces of the heavenly hunt were forever imprinted on the sky. The Milky Way is the hunter's ski track, the Pleiades are the women from his home, the Big Dipper is the elk himself. The heavenly hunter has since settled on earth, where there was an abundance of game. Undoubtedly, this myth was duplicated among many northern peoples.
This is not a complete overview of the ideas of different peoples about the most famous constellation in our sky. But this also makes it clear how diverse the views of our ancestors were on the same phenomenon.
Alexandrova Anastasia
from here 
Instructions
Most constellations consist of small stars, which are therefore not included in the asterism. Usually they do not even have their own names, but are designated only by letters of the Greek alphabet. This means that they give neither contour nor meaning to the image of the constellation. However, if you are drawing a constellation, and not just a mythical character with some dots or lines, these small stars should also be noted in or near the drawing.
At the beginning, exactly those stars that make up the asterism are designated. But even this may not give the artist anything in terms of the idea of the drawing: for example, the asterism of the constellation Canes Venatici, near the Big Dipper, is represented by only two stars, which does not give the artist either an image or even a hint. But there are several galaxies and globular star clusters here, which will provide your imagination with more choice - you will be less bound by the mythological plot.
For example, the easiest way is to take something familiar from childhood and visible in the sky almost constantly. Although his drawing is not as clear as it might seem. The “Big Dipper” is familiar to many from the moment a person begins to become acquainted with the starry sky. It is better known to the older generation as a reference point to the North Star. Its asterism is always visible in a clear sky, and all the names of the stars that make it up are known.
Please note that the names are most often Arabic, and the one used to depict the constellations is usually European. But this will not stop you from creating your own, unique drawing of a constellation: you can choose the myth you like and follow its plot, or perhaps the constellation brings to you a completely different image, different from the known mythological ones - the main thing is that exactly those stars are reflected in your drawing , which are traditionally attributed to a specific constellation.
The ladle, also known as the Ursa Major asterism, is made up from the tip of the ladle by the stars Dubhe (alpha), Merak (beta, etc.), Phekda, Megrets, Aliot, Mizar (and Alcor(a)) and Benetnash. In addition, about two dozen more stars belong to the constellation Ursa Major. In the drawing you must reflect the exact location of the stars of the asterism, the rest is at your discretion: will you connect the stars with lines, will you reflect stellar magnitudes, will you show star systems in the drawing (such as Mizar and Alcor), will you draw dust clouds, nebulae , galaxies, etc. Actually, even those stars that will be “inside” are also your personal choice. However, if you decide to indicate other stars located outside the asterism, you must indicate their exact location, and possibly other characteristics if you used them when drawing the main stars.
Ultimately, you should include the constellation asterism in your drawing, but this does not mean that the drawing must necessarily be tied to the outline of the main stars. In Ursa Major, you can choose from at least two options: where the tip of the "ursa's" nose is represented by Dubhe or the star Benetnash. Oddly enough, the “handle of the dipper” of the Ursa is usually depicted as a long tail, and yet another fifteen stars turn out to be “unaccounted for.”
However, they have approximately the same size as the Sun, and therefore are visible to the naked eye on the territory of the Russian Federation only occasionally and in certain geographical points. But this does not mean that they cannot be included in the constellation drawing! You should just stock up on a star chart, which shows many more stars than can be seen in the northern hemisphere.
As for the image of the constellation itself, it is customary to draw only a slightly blurred outline of the figure, so that the meaning of the image is clear. Painting over a figure, drawing details, even a clear outline of a constellation is not accepted today: this kind of image of constellations is a tribute to the tradition of the Middle Ages.
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