How many stars make up the constellation Ursa Major? How many stars are there in Ursa Major?

The most noticeable and well-known constellation to everyone without exception is, of course, the Big Dipper. Or rather, what is clearly visible in the night sky is not itself, but part of it - the Big Dipper. If you look closely, you can see several more stars below and to the right of it, making up the paws and head of the Ursa. The shape of this constellation is really very interesting. After all, no one has ever seen bears with such long tails.

The most visible part of the constellation

Quantity bright stars in a bucket Ursa Major everyone knows. There are exactly seven of them. These stars were named by Arab astronomers back in the Middle Ages. To our ears their “names” actually sound strange:

• Merak.
• Mizar.
• Fegda.
• Megrets.
• Dubge.
• Alioth.
• Benetnash.

From the earth, these stars appear equidistant. In fact, this is far from the case. The number of bright stars in the Big Dipper bucket is seven and all of them are not at equal distances from the Earth and the Sun.

Benetnash is located closest to our planet. Do - Alioth - sixty However, she looks brighter than Benetnash. This is the brightest and most brilliant object of the Bucket. In terms of the apparent intensity of the emitted light, all the stars in this part of the Big Dipper are close to second magnitude stars.

If you look very closely at one of the stars of the Bucket - Mizar, you can notice a faint flicker right next to it. This is explained very simply. Mizar is not an ordinary star, but a double one.

The object located right next to it is called Alcor. From Arabic these two words are translated as “Horse” and “Rider”. Alcor and Mizar are one of the most visible double stars from Earth.

The number of bright stars in the Ursa Major bucket is seven. However, if you look at it through binoculars or a telescope, you can see two more small smears of light. Unlike stars, they look fuzzy and blurry. This is what distant galaxies look like from Earth. Located inside the Ursa are called Whirlpool and Pinwheel.

Big Dipper Rotation

Any schoolchild knows that our Earth does not stand still. Due to its movement, the stars in the sky seem to rotate. Kovsh is no exception in this regard. In winter and autumn, Ursa Major is located in the northern part of the night sky, not too high from the horizon. In spring and summer, this most noticeable constellation can be seen almost at the zenith. Moreover, at this time of year the Big Dipper looks upside down.

Celestial compass

So, the number of bright stars in the Ursa Major bucket is exactly seven. Two of them can serve as reference points for those on the move. The fact is that using them it is easy to detect the most famous star in the world - Polaris. This is not difficult to do. You just need to draw an imaginary line along the two outer stars of the Ladle bowl. Next, you should measure approximately the distance between them. The North Star itself is located almost above the northernmost pole.

In ancient times, when no navigation instruments yet existed, it served as a guide for all sailors and travelers. So, if you suddenly find yourself in a difficult situation in an unfamiliar area, look at the constellation Ursa Major. The polar star found from it will show you the way to the north. This small and not too bright celestial object has rescued those lost in the taiga, desert or sea more than once. The North Star leads Ursa Major's closest neighbor, Ursa Minor. The location of both of these “animals” is considered circumpolar according to the classification of astronomers.

How many stars are there in Ursa Major?

Of course, there is much more to this itself than to its most visible part, the Bucket. At the moment, about 125 of them are known. These are over a hundred bright objects, against the background of which the Sun would look like a small and dim luminous point. The closest star to Earth, unfortunately, is not even visible to the naked eye. It also doesn't have a name. According to astronomical classification, it passes as a 7.5 m star. Light from it travels approximately 8.25 years to Earth. This is almost twice as much as from the closest star to us - Alpha Centauri. Thus, the answer to the question of how many stars are in Ursa Major is simple - more than a hundred and not all of them are visible without a telescope or binoculars. To spot a wild beast with a long tail in the Bucket, you actually need to have a fairly rich imagination.

The Legend of Ursa Major

Of course, there simply cannot be many different kinds of myths and legends about such noticeable objects of the night sky as the stars of the constellation Ursa Major. The most famous legend it was invented by the Greeks. The chroniclers of this ancient country say that once upon a time the king of Arcadia had an unusually beautiful daughter, Callisto. And this girl was so proud of her attractiveness that she dared to compete with Hera herself, the wife of Zeus. The enraged goddess, using her mystical power, of course, took revenge on the proud woman, turning her into a bear. Callisto's son Arkas, who was returning from a hunt at that time, saw a wild beast at the door of the palace and decided to kill it. However, at the last moment he was stopped by Zeus himself, who was not indifferent to the beauty. After being rescued, Callisto was raised to heaven. The stars of the Ursa Major bucket are what she is. At the same time, the supreme god raised the beauty’s beloved dog to heaven. Nowadays she is known under the name Ursa Minor.

Nearest constellations

The stars in the constellation Ursa Major, or rather in its Bucket, are the most noticeable in the night sky. However, in addition to Ursa Minor, there are several other famous constellations in the area. The same Polar Star can become a reference point for finding one of them. Behind it, on the opposite side from the Big Dipper, at approximately the same distance, flaunts Cassiopeia, familiar to many by name. Outwardly it looks like the Russian letter “M”. At certain positions of the Earth, Cassiopeia “turns over” and takes the form of a Latin W.

Between it and Ursa Minor you can see a not so noticeable, but also well-known. It does not have a clearly visible form. Between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor it is easy to see the wriggling Dragon. The chain of its stars is easily connected on the map by a broken line.

Well, we hope we have answered main question articles about how many luminous permanent objects there are in Ursa Major. There are only seven of them in Kovsh. The main constellation includes about 125 distant “suns”.

Ursa Major (lat. Ursa Major) is a constellation in the northern hemisphere of the sky. The seven stars of Ursa Major form a shape resembling a ladle with a handle. The two brightest stars, Alioth and Dubhe, have a magnitude of 1.8 apparent magnitude. From the two extreme stars of this figure (α and β) one can find North Star. The best visibility conditions are in March - April. Visible throughout Russia all year round(except for the autumn months in southern Russia, when Ursa Major descends low to the horizon).

Brief description

Big Dipper
Lat. Name	Ursa Major (genus Ursae Majoris)
Reduction	UMa
Symbol	Big Dipper
Right ascension	from 7 h 58 m to 14 h 25 m
Declension	from +29° to +73° 30’
Square	1280 sq. degrees (3rd place)
Brightest stars (value< 3 m)	Alioth (ε UMa) – 1.76 m Dubhe (α UMa) – 1.81 m Benetnash (η UMa) – 1.86 m Mizar (ζ UMa) – 2.23 m Merak (β UMa) – 2.34 m Fekda (γ UMa) – 2.41 m
Meteor showers	Ursids Leonids-Ursids April Ursids
Neighboring constellations	Dragon Giraffe Little Leo Veronica's hair Hound Dogs Bootes
The constellation is visible at latitudes from +90° to -16°. Best time for observation - March.

Detailed description

The constellation Ursa Major is located in the northern hemisphere starry sky . People have known it for many thousands of years. He was known to astronomers in Egypt, Babylon, China and Ancient Greece. It was included by Claudius Ptolemy in his monograph “Almagest” back in the 2nd century. And this work united all the knowledge on astronomy for that period of time.

The Big Dipper is formed by the following seven stars:

1. Dubhe (Alpha Ursa Major), the name comes from the Arabic expression - “back of the big bear.”
2. Merak (β) – from Arabic “loin” or “groin”.
3. Fekda (γ) – “thigh”.
4. Megrets (δ) – “base of the tail.” It is the faintest star among the stars of the Big Dipper.
5. Aliot (ε) – “fat tail”. The brightest star in this constellation.
6. Mizar (ζ) – from Arabic – “belt”. Near Mizar there is another star - Alcor. It is noteworthy that the ability to distinguish between these two stars is a consequence of good vision (with myopia of no more than 1 diopter).
7. Benetnash (η) or otherwise – Alkaid. The third brightest star in Ursa Major. “Al-Qaeed banat our” is translated from Arabic as “leader of the mourners.”

As you can see, this formation includes 7 stars. If you connect them with a straight line, you get a figure that resembles a ladle with a handle. Each star has its own name. At the top point of the bucket, opposite the handle, there is a star, which is called Dubhe. It is the second brightest among its cosmic counterparts. This is a multiple star. That is, several stars from Earth are seen as one due to close range to each other.

In this case we are dealing with 3 stars. The largest of them is a red giant. That is, the core has already lost all its hydrogen reserves, and a thermonuclear reaction is taking place on the surface of the star. It dies, and over time should turn into a white dwarf or become black hole. The other two stars are Main Sequence stars, that is, the same as our Sun.

On the same straight line with Dubhe, at the base of the bucket, there is a star Merak. This is a very bright light. It is 69 times brighter than our Sun, but due to the vastness of outer space it does not make the proper impression. If the straight line between Merak and Dubhe is extended towards the constellation Ursa Minor, then you can run into the North Star. It is located at a distance that is 5 times the distance between the indicated luminaries.

The other lowest point of the bucket is called Fekda. This is a Main Sequence star. The top point of the bucket located opposite it is called Megrets. She is the dimmest in the friendly company. This star is almost 1.5 times larger than our star and 14 times brighter.

There is a star at the beginning of the handle Aliot. It is the brightest in the constellation Ursa Major. Among all visible stars in the sky it ranks 33rd in brightness. From the end of the handle it is the third in a row, and the second is a star Mizar. Next to it is another luminary, which is called Alcor. Anyone with good eyesight can see it. They say that in ancient times, Alcor was used to test the visual acuity of young men who aspired to become sailors. If a young man could see this star next to Mizar, then he was enrolled as a sailor.

In reality, not 2 stars shine in the cosmic distance, but as many as 6. These are the double stars Mizar A and Mizar B, as well as the double star Alcor. But from Earth naked eye All you can see is a large bright dot and a small one that is nearby. These are the kind of surprises that space sometimes brings.

And finally, the outermost star. It's called Benetnash or Alkaid. All these names are taken from Arabic. In this case, the literal translation means “leader of the mourners.” That is, the alkaid is the leader, and our banat is the mourners. This star is the third brightest after Aliot and Dubhe. It ranks 35th among the brightest stars in the sky.

The brightest stars of Ursa Major

Star	α (2000)	δ (2000)	V	Sp. Class	Distance	Luminosity	Notes
Aliot	12h 54min 01.7s	+55° 57′ 35″	1,76	A0Vp	81	108
Dubhe	11 03 43,6	+61 45 03	1,79	K0IIIa	124	235	Triple. ΑΒ=0.7″ AC=378″
Benetnash	13 47 32,3	+49 18 48	1,86	B3V	101	146
Mizar	13 23 55,5	+54 55 31	2,27	A1Vp	86	71	6 star system including Alcor A and B
Merak	11 01 50,4	+56 22 56	2,37	A1V	78	55
Fekda	11 53 49,8	+53 41 41	2,44	A0Ve	84	59
ψ UMa	11 09 39,7	+44 29 54	3,01	K1III	147	108
μUMa	10 22 19,7	+41 29 58	3,05	M0III	249	296	sp. double?
ιUMa	08 59 12,4	+48 02 30	3,14	A7IV	48	10	sp. double and wholesale double
θ UMa	09 32 51,3	+51 40 38	3,18	F6IV	44	8

Other objects of Ursa Major

In addition to the Big Dipper, in the constellation Ursa Major you can also see an asterism called the Three Leaps of the Gazelle, which looks like three pairs of stars.

We are talking about the following pairs:

1. Alula North South (ν and ξ),
2. Taniya North and South (λ and μ),
3. Talitha North and South (ι and κ).

Near Alupa North there is a red dwarf called Lalande 21185, which is elusive to observation with the naked eye. However, it is the sixth closest star system to the Sun. Closer to the stars Sirius A and B.

Observational astronomers are well aware that this constellation contains the galaxy M101 (called Pinwheel), as well as the galaxies M81 and M82. The last two form the core of what is probably the closest group of galaxies, located at a distance of about 7 million light years. In contrast to these distant objects, the astronomical body M 97 (“Owl”) is located within the Milky Way, hundreds of times closer. The Owl is one of the largest planetary nebulae.

In the middle, between the first and second “gazelle jump”, with the help of optics you can see a small yellow dwarf, similar to our Sun at number 47. From 2000 to 2010, scientists discovered three exoplanets, gas giants, orbiting around it. This star system is also one of the most similar to the Solar System and ranks 72nd on the list of candidates for the search for Earth-like planets carried out as part of the planned NASA Terrestrial Planet Finder mission. So for an astronomy lover, the constellation is of great interest.

In 2013 and 2016, two of the most distant galaxies from us were discovered in the constellation, z8 GND 5296 and GN-z11, respectively. The light from these galaxies, recorded by scientists, lasted 13.02 (z8 GND 5296) and 13.4 (GN-z11) billion years.

This is how we can characterize the constellation Ursa Major, known since ancient times. This cosmic region also includes many galaxies. For example, the Pinwheel galaxy. It is better known as M 101. In size it exceeds Milky Way. Its detailed photographs were taken by the Hubble telescope back in beginning of XXI century. To get to this huge cluster of stars, you need to spend 8 million light years.

The Owl Nebula is also of interest. It enters our galaxy and looks like two dark spots located nearby. In 1848, Lord Ross believed that these spots were similar to the eyes of an owl. This is where the name came from. This nebula is approximately 6 thousand years old, and it is located at a distance of 2300 light years from the Solar system.

But the most interesting thing is that the constellation Ursa Major is considered as one of the likely sources extraterrestrial intelligence. In this part of space there is a certain star called 47UMa. This is a yellow dwarf, and its planetary system very similar to ours solar system. At least, today there are 3 known planets orbiting this star. In 2003, a radio message was sent to him. Earthlings persistently search for brothers in mind, and luck always accompanies those who persist.

How to find the Big Dipper in the sky?

If you want to learn how to navigate the starry sky, then your primary task is to be able to find the Big Dipper bucket. Although it is not far from the North Star, it is still not so close to it as to be at one point in the sky all the time.

The Big Dipper is easiest to spot in the fall and winter. At this time, in the evenings, the asterism is located in the north, low above the horizon and in our usual position.

Towards the end of winter, the position of Ursa Major in the evening sky changes. The seven stars of the bucket shift to the east, and the Big Dipper itself stands vertically on the handle.

This is not surprising. Let us remember that every day all the stars describe circles around the celestial pole, thereby reflecting the rotation of the Earth around its axis. But over the course of a year, the stars make one more additional circle, thereby reflecting the movement of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. The stars of Ursa Major are no exception - moving from the lowest point, the bucket seems to rear up.

In mid-spring, Ursa Major is at its zenith in the evenings, right above your head! At this time, it is in an inverted position in relation to the North Star. Its ladle faces west, and its handle faces east.

For those who live north of Moscow, the most difficult time to find the Big Dipper in the sky is in the summer, during the period of short nights. At this time, the constellation is in the west, and the bucket is tilted down and looking north.

How to find the North Star using Ursa Major?

Now let's see how to find the North Star using Ursa Major. This is done simply. Take the two outermost stars in the bucket, Dubha and Merak (alpha and beta Ursa Major), and mentally connect them with a line. And then extend this line five times the distance Merak - Dubhe.

You will see a star whose brilliance is approximately equal to the brilliance of the stars of the bucket. This is the famous Polar Star, the “iron nail,” as the Kazakhs called it, meaning Polar’s ​​immobility in the earth’s firmament.

Knowing the position of the North Star, you can easily navigate in space. Draw a plumb line from Polyarnaya down. The place where it intersects with the horizon will point north. The rest of the cardinal directions are easy to find: east will be on the right, south behind you, and west on the left. So, guided by the stars, in Russia in the Middle Ages they built the Moscow-Yaroslavl and Moscow-Vladimir roads, straight as an arrow.

Secrets of the constellation Ursa Major: how different peoples saw it

Egypt "Bull's Thigh"

The ancient Egyptians were among the first astronomers in history, with some of their round stone "observatories" dating back as far as the fifth millennium BC. It was the Egyptians who laid the foundations of the constellation system that was borrowed from them by the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, the Greeks, the Arabs, and then modern science. At that dizzyingly distant time due to precession earth's axis It was not the North Star that pointed to the north, but Alpha Draconis (Thuban). Its surroundings, together with the nearest luminaries, were considered by the Egyptians to be the “fixed sky,” the habitat of the gods. Instead of a ladle, the priests could see the leg of Set, the god of war and death, who turned into a bull and killed Osiris with a blow of his hoof. Falcon-headed Horus cut off his limb in revenge for the murder of his father.

China "Emperor Shangdi's Cart"

Astronomers Ancient China divided the sky into 28 vertical sectors, “houses,” through which the Moon passes on its monthly journey, just as the Sun passes through the signs of the Zodiac in its annual rotation in Western astrology, which borrowed the 12-sector division from the Egyptians. In the center of the heavens, like an emperor in the capital of a state, the Chinese placed the North Star, which by that time had already taken its usual place. The seven brightest stars of the Big Dipper are located in honorable proximity to it, within the Purple Fence - one of the three Fences surrounding the palace of the “royal” star. They could be described as the Northern Dipper, whose orientation corresponds to the seasons, or as part of the carriage of the Shangdi Heavenly Emperor.

India "Seven Wise Men"

Observational astronomy in ancient India did not develop as brilliantly as, say, mathematics. Its ideas were greatly influenced by both Greece and China - for example, the 27-28 “stays” (nakshatras) through which the Moon passes in about a month are very reminiscent of the Chinese lunar “houses”. The Hindus also attached great value The polar star, which, according to experts in the Vedas, is the abode of Vishnu himself. The Ladle asterism located underneath it was considered the Saptarishas - seven sages born from the mind of Brahma, the forefathers of the world of our era (Kali Yuga) and everyone living in it.

Greece "Bear"

Ursa Major is one of 48 constellations listed in Ptolemy's star catalog around 140 BC, although it was first mentioned much earlier, in Homer. The intricate Greek myths offer different backstories for its appearance, although everyone agrees that the bear is the beautiful Callisto, companion of the hunter goddess Artemis. According to one version, using his usual tricks with transformation, the loving Zeus seduced her, provoking the wrath of both his wife Hera and Artemis herself. Saving his mistress, the Thunderer turned her into a bear, who wandered in the mountain forests for many years until her own son, born of Zeus, met her while hunting. The Supreme God had to intervene once again. Preventing matricide, he ascended both to heaven.

America "Great Bear"

It seems that the Indians understood something about wild animals: in the Iroquois legend about the origin of the asterism, the “heavenly bear” does not have any tail. The three stars that form the handle of the ladle are three hunters pursuing the beast: Aliot draws a bow with an arrow embedded in it, Mizar carries a cauldron for cooking meat (Alcor), and Benetnash carries an armful of brushwood to light the fire. In the fall, when the Bucket turns and sinks low to the horizon, the blood from the wounded bear drips down, painting the trees in variegated colors.

• The closest bright star in Ursa Major– star South Alula or xi Ursa Major. This is a beautiful double star that can be separated into its components in a telescope with a lens greater than 80mm. Both components are similar in their characteristics to the Sun and each of them also has a satellite - a cool red dwarf! The distance to ξ Ursa Major is 29 sv. years. A little further away is the star θ - 44 light years from the Sun. Well, farthest from all the bright stars of the constellation is the red giant μ Ursa Major, one of the stars in the front “paw” of the Ursa Major. The distance to it is 249 light years.
• The constellation Ursa Major is featured on the Alaska flag. The flag of White Sea Karelia, which was approved on June 21, 1918, depicts the Big Dipper. Also, the flag with the image of the Big Dipper is used by Irish left-wing radical organizations.
• You can admire the Big Dipper during the day. This can easily be done by finding it on one of the interactive constellation maps. On the maps you can find other large and small constellations and look at them at close range.
• Need I say that the huge constellation Ursa Major is a real treasure trove for a true astronomy lover?! This part of the sky contains a huge number of attractions that can be observed with small telescopes: double and variable stars, several bright galaxies and dozens of fainter galaxies, an open star cluster and even a planetary nebula. There is no way to fit descriptions of these objects into one article. Therefore, we decided to publish separate articles devoted to observations of the sights of the Big Dipper.

Video

Sources

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bear https://biguniverse.ru/posts/sozvezdie-bolshaya-medveditsa/ http://spacegid.com/sozvezdie-bolshoy-medveditsyi.html

how many stars are in Ursa Major? and got the best answer

Answer from Daniel Friedman[guru]

Ursa Major consists of SEVEN stars. .
All the stars of the Bucket have their own Arabic names: Dubhe (α Ursa Major) means “bear”; Merak (β) - “lower back”; Fekda (γ) - “thigh”; Megrets (δ) - “beginning of the tail”; Aliot (ε) - the meaning is not clear; Mizar (ζ) - “sash” or “loincloth”. The last star in the handle of the Ladle is called Benetnash or Alkaid (η); in Arabic, “al-Qaeed banat our” means “leader of the mourners.”
Ursa Major (lat. Ursa Major) is a constellation of the northern hemisphere of the sky. The seven stars of Ursa Major form a shape resembling a ladle with a handle. The two brightest stars, Alioth and Dubhe, have a magnitude of 1.8 apparent magnitude. By the two extreme stars of this figure (α and β) you can find the North Star. The best visibility conditions are in March-April. Visible throughout Russia.
Ursa Major is the third largest constellation of constellations, whose seven bright stars form the famous Big Dipper; this asterism has been known since ancient times among many peoples under different names: Plow, Elk, Cart, Seven Sages, etc.
Another version of the interpretation of asterism is reflected in the alternative name Hearse and Mourners. Here the asterism is thought of as a funeral procession: in front are mourners, headed by a leader, followed by a funeral bier. This explains the name of the star η Ursa Major, “leader of the mourners.”
It is curious that the 5 inner stars of the Bucket (except for the outer ones α and η) really form a single group in space - the moving Ursa Major cluster, which moves quite quickly across the sky; Dubhe and Benetnash move in the opposite direction, so the shape of the Bucket changes significantly in about 100,000 years.
The stars Merak and Dubhe, forming the wall of the Bucket, are called Pointers, since the straight line drawn through them rests on the North Star (in the constellation Ursa Minor). All stars of the Bucket have a magnitude of 2-3 magnitudes.
Next to Mizar, which was the second among double stars discovered in a telescope (G. Riccioli in 1650), a keen eye sees the 4th magnitude star Alcor (80 Ursa Major), which in Arabic means “forgotten”, or “insignificant”. It is believed that the ability to distinguish the Alcor star has been a recognized test of vigilance since ancient times. The pair of stars Mizar and Alcor is often interpreted as the Horse and Rider asterism.

Reply from 2 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: how many stars are there in Ursa Major?

The most noticeable and well-known constellation to everyone without exception is, of course, the Big Dipper. More precisely, what is clearly visible in the night sky is not itself, but part of it - the Big Dipper. If you look closely, you can see several more stars below and to the right of it, making up the paws and head of the Ursa. The shape of this constellation is really very fascinating. After all, no one has ever seen bears with such long tails.

The number of bright stars in the Ursa Major bucket is clear to everyone. There are exactly seven of them. These stars were named by Arab astrologers back in the Middle Ages.

To our ears their “names” actually sound strange:

• Merak.
• Mizar.
• Fegda.
• Megrets.
• Dubge.
• Alioth.
• Benetnash.

From the earth, these stars appear equidistant. In fact, this is far from the case. The number of bright stars in the Big Dipper bucket is seven and they are all not at equal distances from the Earth and the Sun.

Benetnash is located closest to our planet. The farthest star, Alioth, is sixty light years away. However, it looks brighter than Benetnash. This is the brightest and most brilliant object of the Bucket. In terms of the apparent intensity of the emitted light, all the stars in this part of the Big Dipper are close to 2nd magnitude stars.

Noteworthy facts

If you look very closely at one of the stars of the Bucket, Mizar, you can see a faint flicker right next to it. This is explained very simply. Mizar is not an ordinary star, but a double one.

The object located right next to it is called Alcor. From Arabic these two words are translated as “Horse” and “Rider”. Alcor and Mizar are one of the most visible double stars from Earth.

The number of bright stars in the Ursa Major bucket is seven. However, if you look at it through binoculars or a telescope, you can see two more small smears of light. Unlike stars, they look fuzzy and blurry. This is how distant galaxies look from Earth. Located inside the Ursa are called Whirlpool and Pinwheel.

Rotation of the Huge Bucket

The fact that our Earth does not stand still is clear to any schoolchild. Due to its movement, it seems that the stars in the sky are spinning. Kovsh is no exception in this regard. In winter and autumn, Ursa Major is located in the northern part of the night sky, not too high from the horizon. In spring and summer, this most noticeable constellation can be seen almost at its zenith. Moreover, at this time of year the Big Dipper looks upside down.

Celestial compass

So, the number of bright stars in the Ursa Major bucket is exactly seven. Two of them can serve as reference points for those on the move. The fact is that using them it is easy to detect the most famous star in the world - Polaris. This is not difficult to do. You just need to draw an imaginary line along the two outer stars of the Ladle bowl. Next, you should measure approximately the distance between them. The North Star itself is located almost above the northernmost pole.

In ancient times, when there were no navigational instruments yet, it served as a guide for all sailors and travelers. So, if you suddenly find yourself in a difficult situation in an unfamiliar area, look at the constellation Ursa Major. The polar star found from it will show you the way to the north. This small and not too bright celestial object has rescued those lost in the taiga, desert or sea more than once. The North Star leads Ursa Major's closest neighbor, Ursa Minor. The location of both of these “animals” is considered circumpolar according to the systematization of astrologers.

How many stars are there in Ursa Major?

Of course, there are even more stars in this constellation itself than in its most noticeable part - the Bucket. At the moment, there are about 125 of them. This is over a hundred bright objects, against the background of which the Sun would look like a small and dim luminous point. The closest star to Earth, unfortunately, is not even visible to the naked eye. It also doesn't have a name. According to astronomical systematization, it passes as a 7.5 m star. Light from it travels approximately 8.25 years to Earth. This is almost twice as much as from the closest star to us, Alpha Centauri. Thus, the answer to the question of how many stars are in Ursa Major is simple - more than a hundred and not all of them are visible without a telescope or binoculars. To spot a feral animal with a long tail in the Bucket, you actually need to have a pretty rich imagination.

The Legend of Ursa Major

Of course, there simply cannot be many different kinds of myths and legends about such noticeable objects of the night sky as the stars of the constellation Ursa Major. The most popular legend about her was invented by the Greeks. The chroniclers of this old country say that once upon a time the king of Arcadia had an unusually beautiful daughter, Callisto. And this woman was so proud of her attractiveness that she dared to compete with Hera herself, the wife of Zeus. The enraged goddess, using her mystical power, of course, took revenge on the proud woman, turning her into a bear. Callisto's son Arkas, who was returning from a hunt at that time, saw a wild animal at the door of the palace and decided to kill it. However, at the last moment he was stopped by Zeus himself, who was not indifferent to the beauty. After being rescued, Callisto was raised to heaven. The stars of the Ursa Major bucket are what she is. At the same time, the supreme god raised the beauty’s beloved dog to heaven. Nowadays it is known under the name Ursa Minor.

Nearest constellations

The stars in the constellation Ursa Major, or rather in its Bucket, are the most noticeable in the night sky. However, in addition to Ursa Minor, there are several other recognizable constellations in the area. The same Polar Star can become a reference point for finding one of them. Behind it, on the opposite side from the Big Dipper, at approximately the same distance, flaunts Cassiopeia, familiar to many by name. From the outside, this constellation looks like the Russian letter “M”. At certain positions of the Earth, Cassiopeia “turns over” and takes the form of a Latin W.

Between it and Ursa Minor you can see the not so noticeable, but also well-known constellation Cepheus. It does not have a clearly visible form. Between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor it is easy to see the wriggling Dragon. The chain of its stars is easily connected on the map by a broken line.

Well, we hope we have answered the main question of the article about how many luminous permanent objects there are in Ursa Major. There are only seven of them in Kovsh. The main constellation contains about 125 distant “suns”.

The constellation Ursa Major is one of the most famous constellations, located in the northern part of the sky. It belongs to the circumpolar region and is visible all year round in the northern hemisphere, although in the fall in southern regions it can drop very low to the horizon. The Dipper's Dipper is easy to recognize and can usually be found easily by most people.

This constellation is located in the northern part of the sky and can be found at any time of the year. By winter it drops to the horizon, then begins to rise higher. During the night it manages to describe a large arc, thanks to daily rotation Earth. It is best seen in spring.

Stars of the constellation Ursa Major

The constellation Ursa Major is much larger than many people think, and is not limited to just the well-known “bucket” of seven stars. In terms of area, it ranks 3rd among all constellations, after Hydra and Virgo. Up to 125 stars can be seen with the naked eye.

The stars that form the “bucket” of Ursa Major are the brightest in this constellation, but they also have a brightness of about 2 magnitudes, except for delta - its brightness is 3.3m.

All the stars of the “bucket” have their own names - Dubhe, Merak, Fekda, Kaffa, Aliot, Mizar, and Benetnash. The most famous of them, perhaps, is Mizar - the middle star in the handle of the “bucket”. This star is a double star, and with excellent vision you can detect its companion, Alcor.

Stars of the constellation Ursa Major.

Merak and Dubhe are called Pointers - if you draw a line through them and continue it further, it will rest on the North Star. The constellations Ursa Minor and Ursa Major are located nearby, which greatly simplifies the task of finding the North Star.

All the stars in the “bucket” of Ursa Major, due to approximately the same brightness, seem equally distant from us. In fact, this is not true at all. Some of these stars are closer and some are much farther than others. That they form such a figure is simply a matter of chance. Due to the stars' own movement in space, the figure of this constellation changes greatly over time. In 10 thousand years, people will not see such a form in the sky at all, just as it did not exist 10 thousand years ago. However, 5 of these stars fly in the same direction and are similar in their characteristics, which allows us to think about their relationship in terms of common origin. They are called the Ursa Major moving group of stars.

Ursa Major is a constellation that contains a lot of double and even multiple stars, but most of them are either too dim or too close to be observed with most amateur telescopes. There are also many variable stars here, but they are also quite dim and you will need a telescope or good binoculars to study them.

Mizar - sixfold system

Mizar is the middle star in the handle of the “bucket” of the Big Dipper. It is curious because it is a double star, one of the most famous and easiest to observe. The second component is named Alcor - it is a faint star with a magnitude of 4.02m, located at a distance of 12 arc minutes. Only people with excellent eyesight can see Alcor near Mizar with the naked eye, so this has long been considered a kind of eye test.

For a long time there was no evidence of a physical relationship between Mizar and Alcor, because in space the distance between them is a quarter of a light year, and the orbital motion of the stars is very slow. In 2009, such evidence was obtained, and now it is known that the Mizar-Alcor system is actually not even double, but sixfold!

Mizar itself is visible even in a small telescope as a double star - the distance between its components A and B is 15 arc seconds, and the stars have a magnitude of about 4m. However, each of these components is also a close double system! In total, Mizar is a four-fold star. Component A consists of a pair of hot white stars, each 3.5 times larger and 2.5 times more massive than the Sun. Component B stars are also white stars, but somewhat smaller—twice as large and 1.6 times as massive as the Sun.

Alcor is also not as simple as it seems. It is a binary system consisting of a hot white star twice as massive and larger than the Sun, and a red dwarf star four times as massive and three times smaller than the Sun.

In total, in the Mizar system we can see a curious set of five almost identical hot white stars and one red dwarf. Approximately the same interesting sixfold system is located in the Castor star.

Variable stars in Ursa Major

There are more than 2,800 variable stars known in this constellation, but most of them can only be seen with a powerful telescope. Three of them are quite interesting - W, R and VY of Ursa Major, and can be observed with binoculars or a telescope.

W Ursa Major

This is an eclipsing variable star, similar to the famous Algol, but here everything is much more extreme. Here, a pair of white stars, comparable in size and mass to the sun, are located so close to each other that they practically touch. Due to such a close arrangement, under the influence of the gravity of its neighbor, each star took on an elongated egg-shaped shape, and when orbiting around a common center of gravity, these stars always face each other with one, convex side. In this place they even exchange substance with each other.

As it rotates in orbit, one of the stars in this pair periodically covers (eclipses) the other, and the overall brightness of the system decreases. In addition, the stars are visible sometimes with a wide, elongated side, sometimes with a narrow side. Therefore, the brightness of W Ursa Major is constantly changing from 7.8 to 8.6m. The full period is only 8 hours - these stars rotate around each other so quickly. Therefore, the entire cycle can be observed in one night.

R Ursa Major

This is a variable star that belongs to the class of Miras. Its brightness varies over a very wide range - at its maximum brightness (6.7m) it can be seen with binoculars, and at its minimum (13.4m) you will need a fairly powerful telescope. The period of brightness fluctuations is about 300 days.

VY Ursa Major

Compared to the previous one, this is a fairly bright star - its brightness varies between 5.9 - 6.5m. So it can be easily observed with 8-10x binoculars. This is a semi-regular variable - it has a period of 180 days, but there are irregular fluctuations superimposed on it.

We recommend even just looking at this star, even if you are not going to observe changes in its brightness. The fact is that this is one of the carbon stars, that is, it is a giant with a lot of carbon in its atmosphere. Because of this, the star has a rich red color, which makes it stand out sharply against the background of ordinary stars.

There are a lot of other interesting objects, mainly galaxies, in the constellation Ursa Major. Some of them can be detected even with binoculars, but they will be discussed in.

To study the starry sky more productively, we recommend using.