Ursa Major, the Great Bear

Ursa Major, the Great Bear, is the third-largest constellation. Its seven brightest stars, the Big Dipper or Plough, form only the bear's back and tail; the rest of the animal is made of fainter stars.

Where is it from where I am?

How to spot it: The Big Dipper's seven stars are the bear's back and tail. Source (opens in a new tab)

A bear with a dipper inside

Ridpath (opens in a new tab) calls the seven stars of the Plough or Big Dipper the most familiar star pattern in the sky. They are only part of the bear: the rump and the long tail. The whole constellation is the third largest of the 88. The Dipper on its own is an asterism, with its own guide.

Names for the north

Homer wrote of the Great Bear that never bathes in the sea (opens in a new tab), meaning that from Greece it never set. The Romans called its seven stars Septentrio, seven plough oxen, and the Latin word for north, septentrional, grew from it.

A galaxy for binoculars

Messier 81 (opens in a new tab), a spiral galaxy 11.6 million light-years away, sits in Ursa Major. In binoculars it is a faint patch of light; a small telescope shows its core.

The story

The Greek myths attach the bear to Callisto, a companion of Artemis, in several conflicting versions (opens in a new tab) told by Ovid and others. Ridpath's chapter lays them out with their sources.

Where on Earth, and when

The whole key pattern rises from anywhere north of about 28°S.

South of about 49°S, none of it rises.

North of about 49°N, the whole key pattern never sets.

Its middle climbs at least 20° high, the finder's threshold for a suggestion, from anywhere north of about 15°S.

It is highest in the evening sky, at about 9 p.m. local time, in mid-April, from either hemisphere, wherever it rises. With daylight saving time, that is nearer 10 p.m. on the clock.

Worked out by this site from the Bright Star Catalogue, for a flat, clear horizon. Hills, buildings, haze and city light all cut into this; the air also lifts objects near the horizon by about half a degree. For your own place and night, use the sky finder.