What is Ursa Major?

Answer 1

The big dipper constellation. The big BEAR, also called.
The end of the "dipper handle" is POLARIS, the North Star. Polaris is the only star that does not rotate in the heavens during the night. (in the northern hemisphere that is). Therefor it is the best star to use for navigational purposes.

Answer 2

it's a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means Great Bear in Latin, and is associated with the legend of Callisto.

The seven brightest stars, located in the Bear's hindquarters and tail, form the well-known Big Dipper asterism. (In Britain, this asterism is known as the Plough.) Except for Dubhe and Alkaid, the stars of the Big Dipper all have proper motions heading towards a common point in Sagittarius. A few other such stars have been identified, and together they are called the Ursa Major Moving Group.

Ursa Major was one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy. It is one of the most widely-known constellations, having been mentioned by such poets as Homer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Tennyson and Bertrand Cantat. The Finnish epic Kalevala mentions it, and Vincent Van Gogh painted it.

The origin of the name is an a mistake founded on approximate sounds. Rakh is Sanskrit for "to be bright" the Greeks corrupted this to the word arktos which means bear. The Romans called it Ursa the bear, and Septemtriones the seven ploughing oxen which lead to Septentrional signifying the north.

In earlier times, Greek mythology did not consider Ursa Major a bear, and instead its 3 bright stars (situated in the tail) were seen as apples growing on a tree (sometimes represented by the fainter stars in the remainder of the constellation). At the same time, the stars of Ursa Minor were associated with the Hesperides. These two groups of stars, together with Libra, Boötes and Draco, may have inspired the myth of the apples of the Hesperides, one of The Twelve Labours of Hercules. In Hindu mythology the seven stars are identified with seven sages and the constellation is called Saptarshi Mandalam.

One of the few star groups mentioned in the Bible (Job 9:9; 38:32 — Orion and the Pleiades being others), Ursa Major was also pictured as a bear by both the Hebrews and most North American peoples. However, as bears do not have long tails, they considered Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid to be either three cubs following their mother or three hunters. ("The Bear" was mistranslated as "Arcturus" in the Vulgate and the error persisted in the KJV. Later translations have corrected this.)

The Iroquois Native Americans also interpreted Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid as three hunters pursuing the Great Bear. According to one version of their myth, the first hunter (Alioth) is carrying a bow and arrow to strike down the bear. The second hunter (Mizar) carries a large pot on his shoulder in which to cook the bear while the third hunter (Alkaid) hauls a pile of firewood to light a fire beneath the pot.

In Burmese, Pucwan Tārā (pronounced "bazun taja") is the name of a constellation comprising stars from the head and forelegs of Ursa Major; pucwan is a general term for prawn, shrimp, crab, lobster, etc.

Answer 3

Ursa Major is a northern constellation. In latitudes above 0 degrees, it is circumpolar, meaning it never rises or sets. It is also called Big Bear.

Answer 4

A constellation, one of the largest and easiest to spot. Ursa Major literally means "big bear". The other constellation, Ursa Minor ("small bear") is similar in shape but considerably smaller.

Check the link to see a map. In my opinion, without a telescope you'll probably see something that looks like a chair, something like:

(this corresponds to the blue lines in the second link)
.......*....
.......*....
........ *
............*
.......*.......*
............*

Position varies, but it can generally be spotted relatively low on the horizon.

Answer 5

you don't understand what the constellations are: they are components on the celestial sphere, a collection of arbitrary limitations set up by ability of the international Astronomical Union in 1920. those limitations have been based on the varieties of stars used considering the fact that prehistoric circumstances, yet are no longer the celebs themselves. whilst we check out u.s. significant interior the sky, we see a number of interior of reach stars forming the common trend of the large Dipper, and then, _looking previous those stars_ we see 1000's of far greater distant galaxies. the celebs in our very own galaxy are interior the foreground; the 1000's of galaxies type the history. each and every thing interior of a constellation's boundary is seen as though it have been on an imaginary floor, reported as the celestial sphere, however the gadgets themselves are allotted in 3 dimensional area. the closest gadgets are stars in our very own galaxy, then a vast volume of intergalactic area, and then 1000's of galaxies at distinctive distances. some galaxies, like M81, M82, and M101, are particularly close (yet nevertheless lots farther away than the celebs); some are at a medium distance; and a few galaxies, like those interior the Hubble Deep field (that's in u.s. significant) are very a techniques away.

Answer 6

Please go to Wikipedia and search for Ursa Major. There is a beautifully illustrated article about it with star maps, the works.

You'll enjoy it.

Answer 7

A constellation in the northern part of the sky. The big dipper is part of it. It literally means the big bear.

Answer 8

Also know as the Big Dipper is a Constellation.

Answer 9

The big Dipper

Answer 10

a constellation....looks like a bear....also mentioned in the bible