Constellation Ursa Major on a white background. How to draw a big bear

What does the constellation Ursa Major look like in the photo and what main stars form it. Read about this and more in this article...

Ursa Major is a constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. This constellation has 7 main stars, which form a figure resembling a ladle with a handle. The brightest stars in the constellation Ursa Major are Aliot and Dubhe. And a straight line drawn through the stars Dubhe and Merak, which form the wall of the bucket, rests against the North Star, located in the constellation Ursa Minor.

On the territory of Russia, the constellation Ursa Major is visible all year round, with the exception of autumn. At this time, the bucket descends close to the horizon and therefore leaves the view. The best visibility of the constellation is in March and April.

It is interesting that the 5 inner stars of the bucket are mobile in one direction, but the stars Dubhe and Benetdash move in the other direction, which is why the shape of the Ursa Major bucket has changed somewhat over 10 thousand years.

What does the constellation Ursa Major look like in the photo

constellation Ursa Major in the sky

And this is what the bucket of the Big Dipper looks like

constellation Ursa Major on the starry sky map

Ancient Greek mythology tells the legend that once Zeus turned the most beautiful nymph Callisto into a bear in order to save her from the retribution of Hera. According to another legend told by Philemon of Syracuse, Zeus, as a baby, turned two Cretan nymphs into bears to hide them from Kronos, and then placed them in the sky in the form of the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

The constellation of this month is familiar to any inhabitant of the Northern Hemisphere. Throughout history, Ursa Major has been an easily recognizable figure in the night sky. She seemed to be a bear, then a plow, they recognized in her both three hunters with a bear, and a bear with a cart. (Did I remember to mention that she looked like a bear? :-) In the asterism - the Big Dipper - one guesses, probably, the largest number of figures for the night sky. The bucket serves as a reference point for finding many of the constellations of the Northern Hemisphere, and in itself is an open cluster. Designated as Collinder 285, or the Ursa Major Moving Group of Stars, it includes the five central stars of the Bucket and is located just 70 light-years from Earth. Cr285 is best viewed with the naked eye.

	Name	Type	Size	Sound led
Objects	NGC 2841	Galaxy	8.1"x3.5"	9,3
	NGC 2976	Galaxy	5.9"x2.7"	10,1
	M81	Galaxy	24.9"x11.5"	7
	M82	Galaxy	11.2"x4.3"	8,6
	NGC 3077	Galaxy	5.2"x4.7"	10
	IC 2574	Galaxy	13.2"x5.4"	10,2
	M 108	Galaxy	8.6"x2.4"	9,9
	M97	planetary nebula	2,8	9,9
	NGC 3718	Galaxy	8.1"x4"	10,6
	NGC 3729	Galaxy	2.9"x1.9"	11
	NGC 3953	Galaxy	6.9"x3.6"	9,8
	M 109	Galaxy	7.5x4.4	9,8
	Cr285	cluster of stars	1400"	0,4
	M 101	Galaxy	28.8"x26.9"	7,5
	NGC 5474	Galaxy	4.7"x4.7"	10,6
Complex objects	Hickson 56	cluster of galaxies		14,5
	Hickson 41	cluster of galaxies		13,9

Many of this month's targets are visible through binoculars. Bucket is a cornucopia of deep sky entertainment. Located in the Milky Way and spanning 1280 degrees of the sky, this vast stretch of space is visible far into the intergalactic limits. Not surprisingly, Ursa Major is rich in galaxies and clusters of galaxies. But there are many other interesting targets as well. Thousands of galaxies with magnitudes above 20 (in practice, 812 are available with magnitude 15 and brighter, of which 56 are brighter than magnitude 12), 7 Hickson groups, 327 Abel galaxy clusters, 641 quasars (the brightest is MKN 421, magnitude 13, 5, 11:05, +38 degrees 11 minutes), two planetary nebulae, 9 diffuse nebulae and one globular cluster (Palomar 4) - and that's not all.
In the Big Dipper (BM) there are several famous stars that are not included in the Bucket. It contains Lalande 21185- a red dwarf with a magnitude of 7.49, which is the fourth closest star to the solar system and is located only 8.1 light years away. Lalande 21185 is the brightest red dwarf visible in the Northern Hemisphere. BM also hosts the 6.45 magnitude Groombridge 1830 star, which is 28 light-years away and is moving at the third fastest speed of any known star. Groombridge 1830 is a class II star and is no younger than many globular clusters. Another famous star in Ursa Major - 47 Ursa Major, which is one of many sun-like stars and may have inhabited planets.
There are a total of 7 Messier objects in Ursa Major, 6 of which are of visual interest. (We'll leave out M40, although double-star observers might want to look at it.)
The first ultra-deep image of Hubble was also taken in Ursa Major, Hubble Deep Field: 12:36:49.4000s +62d 12" 58.000". This tiny window (like a grain of rice at arm's length) allowed the Hubble telescope to look beyond our galaxy and capture at least 1500 galaxies with a 10-day exposure. Almost everything you see in the image below is galaxies. (If you have high speed internet, be sure to check out "Hubble Deep Field Enlargement".)
Before we go any further, let's take a closer look at the stars that make up the Bucket. If you start from the handle, here is Alkaid, then on the bend of the handle is the double Alcor and Mizar visible to the naked eye. Going down the bucket below, we get to Aliot, and a little further we find the first of the stars of the bucket itself - Megrets. Below we come across first Fekda, then Merak and Dubhe. One of the first things any beginner learns is to draw a line through Merak and Dubhe to find the North Star, the north star of Ursa Minor.
I have read in various sources that many civilizations and cultures use Alcor and Mizar as a test of visual acuity, but this puzzles me a little, since I myself have never found it difficult to separate them. Frankly, Ursa Major is an intimidating constellation to write a guide to: it's gigantic and holds a dozen targets even for an observer with the most modest telescope. So I focused on those objects that I myself consider the brightest and most exciting. But I left one area aside - Walter Scott Houston called it the "goblet of the night" - the bowl of the Ladle itself. I recommend that after this month's tour you take some time to look at the area inside the bowl: several targets are suitable for an average telescope. I will provide you with a search map, and at the end of the article you will find a list of bright galaxies in and around the bowl.
Let's start the evening tour at the bottom of the bowl, on the line between Fekda and Merak. Exactly southeast of Phekda (the star on the side of the bottom, which is closer to the handle), we will find Messier's first target for today: M 109.
Méchain's discovery of M 109 was known to Messier, but did not appear on "his" list until the middle of the 20th century. Messier's original list consisted of 103 targets, including several dubious ones (M40 - a double star, and the "missing" messier - M 102). M 109 Photographer Jason Blaschka
Jason Blaschka's picture of M 109 is striking, but not too similar to what I see even in the largest telescopes. A few peculiarities: even in a 4" apochromat (under good skies) the galaxy bears a marked resemblance to a Star Wars fighter (TIE-fighter) - the central bar is often visible, but on rare nights I can catch a hint of spiral arms through the small aperture.
Jay Michaels did an excellent sketch - a great example of what can be seen with an 8-10" telescope on a good night. While you're here, take some time to find NGC 3953, about a degree south of M 109. Then move to the middle of the bottom of the bowl, go down a little to the south and find a nice cluster of objects - NGC 3718,NGC 3729 and one of the complex objects of this month Hickson 56.

At an average magnification, 3718 and 3729 are in the same field of view. I would say that 3718 is about three times the size of 3729, but the galaxies are quite similar to each other in my opinion. In large telescopes, I see that both have prominent (albeit faint) cores, and diffuse outer halos. A little further south you will find Hickson 56 - but we will return to it later.
Move towards the star at the base of the bucket (Meraku) with a wide-angle eyepiece at low power, and you will stumble upon a random celestial pair. First in the field will be M97 - Owl Nebula, a planetary nebula discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781. I believe that this is one of the few objects that actually resembles its nickname. Even with a small telescope (under good conditions) I can catch a glimpse of the outlines of dark spots - owl eyes. The nebula is quite large, so its surface brightness is rather low. Some observers claim to have seen blue or green on the disc's surface. On a superb observing night, I picked up shades of green with a large telescope, but usually the disk looks just grey.

The M97 shot by Rick Krejecki is amazing. Check out the high resolution version on his website (http://www.ricksastro.com/DSOs/owl_XT_xscope.shtml) - a lot of time could be spent just counting the tiny background galaxies. I wonder if any of them have been visually identified by observers with giant telescopes?
If you have a desire to look at extragalactic targets, you don’t have to go far - a little closer to Merak you will find a spiral galaxy M 108, located edge to us. Experiment a little with different magnifications - see if you can make out the mosaic structure and if you can detect any presence of an external halo.

A superb shot by Tom Nicolades shows a shattered and swaying electric blue M 108 and M 97 in one shot. At a low magnification of the wide-angle eyepiece (the field of view of the telescope + eyepiece system, TFOV, must be greater than 1 degree), both objects are easy to catch in the same field of view.

While we're here, let's jump over Ursa's forepaws and take a quick look at NGC 2841. This 9.2-magnitude galaxy is like a beacon of hope for medium-sized telescopes. The bright core region is surrounded by a slightly fainter halo. If you have a large telescope, look for a strip of dust i.e. abrupt fading of the halo on one side of the galaxy.

M 81/M 82 - Photographer John Moody
Having finished with 2841, we move on to a pair of real pearls of the Big Dipper, M81 And M82.
M 81 and 82 make up an exciting pair of galaxies that can be seen even with small binoculars. They are separated by only 3/4 degrees, are visible through wide-angle eyepieces and are a wonderful pair. They were discovered by Bode in 1774 and are an illustration of a galactic morphology that at first glance does not allow for great differences. Both galaxies are members of a small cluster of galaxies called the M 81 group (which is located nearby, 10 million light years away), so it would be appropriate to discuss M 81 first. In small telescopes, M 81 is a bright oval, but large telescopes begin to show it spiral structure. Of the two, M 81 is by far the larger and brighter, and looks like a classic spiral galaxy in long-exposure photographs. M 82, on the other hand, is not curled properly and looks like it has been defeated in some huge celestial conflict. In an 18" telescope, I see it curved at one end, with distinct mottling, and an almost distinct septum about a third of the way from one of the edges. It is slightly dimmer than M 81, but visually I find it much more impressive.
It is worth noting that this is one of the few DSOs in which visualists observe color, but so far not even in 80mm telescopes. A friend of mine in Arizona, who has access to a 30" telescope, describes seeing red or pink color, but I see nothing of the sort, although I see this object with telescopes up to 25" in diameter. I think that this will require excellent night, good optics and the maximum aperture that you can afford. But don't despair! In my opinion, M 82 is one of the most beautiful targets in the night sky, with or without color. Even in small telescopes, this pair is stunning and can be picked out in dark skies with minimal help from optics.

Carol Lakomiak's sketch of this area gives a great idea of ​​what can be seen with large binoculars or a small telescope.
As you can see from the map, there are many other targets in this region. Take some time and scout everything around - follow NGC 3077, 2976 And IC 2574. In my opinion, NGC 3077 and 2976 in large telescopes are similar in brightness to M 81 in small apertures. If you use the "star trail method" in search of M81 and linger on one of them, embarrassment can happen. Your expectations should always match the aperture.
We haven't even begun to really explore the possibilities of the Big Dipper, and yet we will make one more stop, and then we will move on to two complex objects.
Go around the top of the Bucket and keep moving away from the handle to find M 101- galaxy pinwheel (Pinwheel)*. It was discovered by Méchain in 1781 and looks really spectacular in a large telescope, showing an obvious spiral structure and patchiness in the arms.
M101 has a large, loose surface that can be confusing and difficult to see with a small telescope. Remember when you're looking for this large object: it's about 2/3 the size of a full moon, but the surface shininess is very low, so be careful to gradually separate it from the background. The galaxy is huge - reference books indicate from 170,000 to 190,000 light-years across. It is approximately 25 million light-years distant and contains some of the most spectacular and vast star-forming regions known.
Many of these stellar birth centers are bright enough to merit their own NGC numbers: NGC 5441, 5447, 5450, 5449, 5451, 5453, 5458, 5461, 5462, and 5471.
NGC 5471 is the largest and brightest HII region in M101, much larger than anything comparable in the Milky Way (5471B is presumed to contain a hypernova). It is visible in large telescopes, and while I often recommend viewing galaxies at high magnification (my favorite "galactic horse" is the Nagler 13t6 eyepiece and the Obsession 18” telescope provides about 180x magnification and a good wide field of view), the detailed structure of M101 my advice would be to explore at high and low magnifications and see what works best for you personally. Be sure to take a look at the brightest HII regions. Note that the image below does not capture 5450 and 5447 - 5447 is south of 5450.
Region II. Galaxy M 101 Like M81, M101 is the main member of the eponymous group of galaxies, so while you are in this area, keep a close eye on other robbers as well. The brightest are NGC 5474 and NGC 5473, but there are many others.

M101. Photographer James Jacobson
Complex objects In the Big Dipper there are several objects worthy of being called complex. The first thing that comes to mind is the 7 Hickson groups, the Palomar 4 globular cluster, and a fairly bright quasar. Quasars are interesting in and of themselves, not what you see in the eyepiece, and the Palomar 4 can certainly be handled in a large telescope and in dark terrain, so in general I lean towards a group of galaxies. Given the above, I present as complex objects the two "brightest" Hicksons in Ursa Major: Hickson 56 and Hickson 41.
Hickson 56 lies directly south of a pair of galaxies we visited earlier - NGC 3729 and 3718.
Note that the marker marking the position of Hickson 56 is slightly offset in the image above. Hickson 56 has 5 components (although not all of them can be seen) whose brilliance ranges from 16.2 to 15.8, and they are all tiny (the largest takes 1.3x2 arcseconds), so be sure to handle them in good conditions and with a large aperture.
Iiro Sairanen from Finland observed a Hickson 56 with a 16" newton at 292x and provided the following sketch:
Another tricky object of the month - Hickson 41. Hickson 41 is a bit harder to get to, but slightly brighter. Again, note that it does not match perfectly with the maps shown. Rely on DSS images. There are 4 components with magnitudes from 14.6 to 18.1, where the largest element is only 1.5x2 arcseconds in size. Alvin Huey, observing at 377x and 528x, wrote in his excellent Hickson Group Observer's Guide that he failed to catch the fourth member of the group in a 22” f4.1 dobson.

I was able to capture three of these four galaxies with the 18” f4.5 from my driveway, but it took a bit of tweaking - it took a good evening, I covered my head with a towel to get rid of the extraneous light, and used very high magnifications (600x), to sufficiently darken the background of the sky. Finally, I had to resort to tapping on the telescope to make sure I tracked down all three members of the group. The Hicksons, for the most part, are not casual sightings or glimpses. To get a glimpse of these tiny clusters of interacting galaxies, use every trick in the book, including high magnification and tenacity. Additional Goals
As I wrote above, Walter Scott Houston called this area "the cup of the night." Here is a map that may give you a few more reasons to travel around the bowl of the Ladle. And this is the necessary information about additional goals:

* Help from Wikipedia: The Russian name of the Pinion Wheel is the result of an incorrect translation from English. The pinion wheel is used in gears, it resembles a squirrel wheel of two parallel rims connected by pins - pins; in English, both the pinwheel and the pinwheel (breeze) (a children's toy, a multi-bladed impeller mounted on an axis (pin) and spun by the wind) are designated by the term pinwheel, however, in appearance, the galaxy with its spiral arms looks like a pinwheel, and not pinwheel.

Until we meet again
Tom T.

My passion for astronomy arose suddenly. Once I realized that I had missed the amazing knowledge about the incomprehensible space, and I certainly wanted to comprehend at least an insignificant part of it.

Even at the Lyceum, astronomy seemed to me a boring subject. Galaxies, fireballs, some kind of dwarfs… Our lecturer gave a lecture in a gentle, lulling voice, creating an atmosphere of peace and tranquility around, just like in space. He created it so skillfully that the students, one after another, periodically began to yawn. And the teacher suddenly said in the same quiet cosmic voice: “A fly will fly in.” Then I graduated from the lyceum, taught the students of Jerusalem University to whisper the cosmic mantra, but I did not feel love for astronomy.
I remember, as a child, my grandfather desperately tried to draw Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in the night sky for me. I drove my finger across the sky, but I did not understand how among the many of these luminous points one could distinguish the outlines of some constellations. For me, it was a kind of intricate puzzle that I could not put together.
And so, I grew up and realized to my shame that, despite the breadth of my romantic nature, I can’t read the sky at all. It was my inner shame, because the stars and romance are inseparable.

Where to begin

My starting point in the study of the astronomical map was the North Star. By that time, by the way, I armed myself with good glasses, so I saw the sky clearly (maybe that’s why I couldn’t see it before 🙂). It is better for any beginner to start studying the stars with the Polar - guiding one. Navigators called it that for a reason, orienting themselves in which direction to turn the ship. And all because this celestial beacon lies in the northern hemisphere of the Earth and points strictly to the north. Physically speaking, this star is located 1 degree from the North Pole, so from the Earth it seems that it is standing still, and the other stars circle around it in a dance. This is clearly visible in time-lapse astrophotographs.

PIC BY LINCOLN HARRISON / CATERS NEWS — Photographer Lincoln Harrison was really shooting for the stars with this spectacular collection of snaps.

So, the North Star is not at all what it claims to be. Actually, she's not alone. From Earth, we see only one bright luminous dot in the sky, but in fact, this is how the light from three stars, and according to some versions, four, unites. In the very center is a supergiant, an alpha star - Polar A - which is 2000 times brighter than our Sun and 4.5 times its mass. Polar A is 431 light years away from Earth. The beta star Polaris B is 1.39 times the size of the Sun. The fact that the North Star is actually a trio was revealed back in 1929 with a careful study of their spectrum. The third luminary of this company - Polar R - is 1.26 times larger than the Sun and is only 18.5 light-years from its alpha counterpart. It was possible to detect and, accordingly, photograph it only with the help of the Hubble telescope. Stargazing scientists are of the opinion that these Polaris are the remnants of a poor open cluster, and their age dates back to 80 million years.

The polar star has not always been and will be polar

The universe is constantly moving - expanding. We are just an imperceptible moment in the super-slow process of the Big Bang. This means that all celestial bodies also move, are born or die. Inside our solar system, this movement is also noticeable. The earth's axis moves in a circle at a rate of 0.5 degrees per 100 years. Therefore, relative to it, in different eras, the position of the guiding star above the North Pole was occupied by different celestial bodies. So 13 thousand years BC. polar was Vega - the alpha of the constellation Lyra. 9 thousand years BC - the stars Pi and This constellation Hercules turned out to be polar, and 8-4 thousand years BC. it was the star Tau of the same constellation. In the era corresponding to the dynasties of the Egyptian pharaohs - 5.5-3.5 years BC, the star Iota of the constellation Draco became the polar one. In the period marked by the arrival of the Messiah (1500 BC - 1 AD), the star Kochab became the polar star - the beta of the constellation Ursa Minor. At the dawn of a new era (from 1 to 1100) there was no polar star as such. It was a transitional moment. Kokhab went aside, and Kinosura, the alpha of the constellation Ursa Minor, was approaching the starting polar point. Alpha entered the post of a “fixed” star from the year 1100 and, according to scientists, will last there until the year 3200. It has already approached the North Pole by 1 degree, and, according to astrologers, it will pass at a minimum distance from it on April 23, 2102. Then (until the year 5000) the star Alrai, the gamma of the constellation Cepheus, will enter the polar status; from 5000 to 6500 it will be Alfirk - beta of the same constellation; and from 6500 to 8500 - the gamma star of Cepheus - Alderamin. In the period 8500-13000 years A.D. polar will be Deneb (alpha) and Sadr (gamma) of the constellation Cygnus. In 13000, it will again become Vega, the alpha of Lyra.

Precession of the earth's axis around the North Pole of the ecliptic and the corresponding change of polar stars.
Source - wikipedia.org

At one time, different names were born at the guiding one. The Humanity of the World attached great importance to it. So in China, she is a priori called the “Main Queen of the Sacred Sky”, in Kyrgyzstan - the “Golden Pile” (Altyn Kazyk), in Kazakhstan - the “Iron Stake” (Temir Kazyk), the Hindus call it “Dhruvaloka”. At different times, other names were given to her - Star-Magnet, Mizmar, Fonesia, Alrukaba, Alrussabah, Vilduts, Kinosura, Angel Stern, Tramontana, Dhruva, Navigatoria, Funny Star, Altan Gadas Al Kutb.

Distinguish between Ursa Major, Polaris and Ursa Minor

The North Star is always located in the Northern Hemisphere, you can recognize it in the sky by looking in a northerly direction. Alpha Ursa Minor, also known as the North Star, is a rather bright point in the sky. Not as bright as Venus, but still bright. For a guide nearby, you should look for the location of stars resembling the Big Dipper. This method helps to learn at once the two main constellations of our sky - Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. The Big Dipper bucket is often very well distinguishable on the celestial canvas. These are four bright luminous points, visually combined into a geometric figure - a trapezoid resembling a ladle. For a hint, we note that in winter it can be clearly distinguished in the northeast, in spring - it is directly overhead, in summer - in the northwest, and in autumn - in the northern part of the hemisphere.

Further, you can distinguish the curved handle of the bucket - three more bright stars to the left of it. Visually connecting these points, we get the image of the bucket. But the Big Dipper, in fact, is not only a bucket. It is not for nothing that she was called the Bear. The rest of the stars are simply indistinguishable to the human eye. But, if you recreate the star drawing, then the constellation Ursa Major should look like this.

Now we are looking for the North Star! To do this, we define the star Dubhe of astronomy Big Dipper. Dubhe is located right on its neck and is the alpha of Ursa Major (the brightest star in the constellation). Below it, at the bottom of the bucket, is the star Merak. If you mentally continue the segment of the Merak-Dubhe stars for another three such distances, then your gaze will rest on another bright luminous point in the north. This is the North Star - the same immovable and guiding one, by which you can navigate the terrain. Having learned the North Star, it is easy to find the constellation Ursa Minor, since the North Star is the tip of its tail. Nearby, two more stars form a tail (or a handle, because we are looking for a bucket). The handle points to the bucket - it seems to be more regular in shape, in the form of a rectangle. If we compare both drawings of the constellations, it seems as if something is pouring from the Small Dipper into the Big Dipper, since the Small Dipper is turned upside down in relation to the Big Dipper.

By the way, a very interesting fact is that the final star of the “handle” of the Big Dipper (near the constellation Bootes) is called Alkaid or Benetnash, which means “leader of mourners” in Arabic.
To learn how to read the night sky, you should be able to find its main landmarks. Having found them, it is then easier to notice any other constellations, nebulae and even galaxies. In addition, the constellations will make it easier to navigate the terrain if you suddenly get lost.

Since ancient times, people have been watching the night sky. There is something invariably attractive in the process of contemplating a clear moon and distant stars. From all this it is done in the soul well and peacefully.

An inquisitive observer will sooner or later begin to find patterns in the sky - bizarre clusters of stars that form various shapes. It will not escape his attention and we will consider it in detail in our article.

Ursa Major in the view of ancient people

Ursa Major is one of the oldest constellations in the night sky. Almost all peoples in the culture have references to this amazing cluster of stars.

The Hindus were the first to pay attention to him, giving the beautiful name "Sapta Rishi", which means "seven wise men" in Sanskrit. In Chinese astronomy, the constellation was called the "Northern Dipper". The resourceful Chinese began to use it to count the time.

The most interesting explanation for the beautiful cluster of stars in the sky was found by the Greeks. Of course, a myth is dedicated to the Big Dipper. It says that the imperious Zeus fell in love with the beautiful nymph Callisto. The imperious wife of Zeus did not like it. To save a beautiful girl from the revenge of her powerful wife, the God of Thunder turned her into a Bear and sent her to live in heaven. Now the beautiful Callisto delights all lovers of the starry sky with her soft shimmering radiance.

Glowing bucket in the night sky

Now consider the bucket of the Big Dipper. It is most beautiful in autumn. From a scientific point of view, the constellation is the third largest after Hydra and Virgo. Its size is 1280 square degrees. Ursa Major (bucket, photo of which is presented below) has a visible part of seven bright stars. Let's list them:

• Dubhe - Bear;
• Merak - Loin;
• Fekda - Thigh;
• Megrets - Beginning of the tail;
• Aliot - Kurdyuk;
• Mizar - Loincloth;
• Benetnash is the leader of the mourners.

All names are Arabic and mean 7 bright stars that form the legendary Bucket.

Location in the sky

The starry sky is unthinkable without the constellation Ursa Major. The bucket in autumn is located in the northern part of the sky. It can be observed between 3-4 am above the northeastern horizon. A good guide will be his handle, indicating the place of sunrise.

Ursa Major - the path to knowledge of astronomy

Beginners need to learn how to find the Ursa Major bucket in the fall (photo of the constellation is below). This cluster of stars is one of the most visible in the night sky. Such an exercise will be a good preparation for young astronomy lovers for a more detailed study of the starry sky, namely:

• to finding less noticeable constellations in the sky. Advanced astronomers use the Big Dipper as a guide to finding other stars;
• to interesting observation of the sky throughout the year. You can see how already familiar stars change their location, where the month rises, etc.;
• for the first calculations. Over time, a person remembers the distance between the corner stars of the bucket;
• to the first skills of working with a hand-held telescope. In the presence of this, the young observer of the sky will find stars invisible to the ordinary eye. This refers to double and variable stars, it is possible even to notice the exploding galaxy M82.

Ursa Major: ladle in autumn

The location of the constellations largely depends on the time of year. The Big Dipper (bucket) in autumn is no exception to the rule.

The autumn sky is not rich in stars. Even the traditionally bright constellation Ursa Major glows dimly. The Big Dipper bucket in autumn is located in the north under the Polar Star; its tail is directed to the west. At the zenith stands Cassiopeia.

But in the east, the constellation Pleiades rises high, under it the bright star Aldebaran, which is located in the constellation Taurus, clearly shines. At this time, two bright stars rise in the northeast: an experienced specialist in the starry sky immediately recognizes Gemini in them.

So, let's summarize what constellations can be seen in the autumn night sky in its northern part:

• Big Dipper;
• Ursa Minor;
• Gemini;
• Taurus;
• Lira and Swans.

The geometry of the starry sky

Having found the Big Dipper bucket in the fall, you can get carried away and devote an hour or two to the search for other familiar stars. The most important thing is a sincere desire, and, of course, a map of the night sky will not hurt.

Let's turn our gaze to the southern part of the sky. It is there that Andromeda and Pegasus rise every autumn. In the upper left corner of the sky are the two stars of the first constellation, followed invariably by the three stars of the second.

Andromeda consists of four stars located at a great distance from each other. The constellation itself is located under Cassiopeia. Andromeda is somewhat vaguely reminiscent of the shape of an onion. The latter is directed exactly towards the Pleiades and Taurus. There is even a feeling that an arrow will now fly out of the bow and fly to the left, towards the indicated constellations. But this, of course, is not the case. This is just a game of the imagination, which has nothing to do with the majestic starry sky.

Under Andromeda you can see two small stars - this is Aries. And under it, a lot of luminous dots are scattered - it is possible to see Aries and the Whale only during clear weather.

In Pegasus, in addition to three bright stars, it is worth remembering two more: they are located to the right. The very figure of Pegasus looks like horns. There is an impression that they want to hook the Swan.

Image: Big Dipper bucket in autumn

Nothing is more creative than looking at clear skies. Therefore, it is highly likely that you will be "struck" to engage in some kind of creative activity after contemplating the night luminaries. Someone will want to write a fascinating story about their nightly experience, someone will want to dance to their favorite music, and someone will want to sketch a luminous bucket.

We will talk about the last type of creative activity - about the sketch of the Bear.

Drawing a bucket is elementary, because it is just a geometric figure consisting of an inverted trapezoid and a broken line. But with the background, location and color of the picture, you can experiment to your taste. Here everyone will have their own vision of the color and location of a bizarre figure on a piece of paper.

Try to put some of your feelings into the drawing, and then it will turn out to be really interesting. As you can see, drawing a bucket of the Big Dipper in the fall is not difficult at all.

Ursa Major in culture

• the constellation is an asterism. This term refers to a funeral procession followed by 2 benetnash stars (2 mourners);
• the oldest name for Ursa Major is "Arktos". It belongs to the prehistoric era of nomadic hunters. This once again confirms that people of all ages loved the starry sky;
• The Big Dipper (Ladle in autumn) is depicted on the flag of Alaska;
• related to anime. A character from the popular Kenshiro manga wears a bucket scar on his chest. Today, the Russian audience can enjoy the three-episode space novel "Fist of the North Star: New Era";
• in the Museum of Modern Art there is a painting "Big Dipper". It is named so because the cigarettes of smoking people are arranged in a sequence that forms the figure of the same Bucket.