Big Dipper

The Big Dipper (US) or Plough (UK) is an asterism consisting of the seven brightest stars of the constellation Ursa Major; six of them are of second magnitude and one, Megrez (δ), of third magnitude. Four define a "bowl" or "body" and three define a "handle" or "head". It is recognized as a distinct grouping in many cultures.

The North Star (Polaris), the current northern pole star and the tip of the handle of the Little Dipper, can be located by extending an imaginary line from Merak (β) through Dubhe (α). This makes it useful in celestial navigation.

The constellation of Ursa Major has been seen as a bear by many distinct civilizations. This may stem from a common oral tradition stretching back for thousands of years. Using statistical and phylogenetic tools, Julien d'Huy reconstructs the following Palaeolithic state of the story: "There is an animal that is a horned herbivore, probably an elk. One human pursues this ungulate. The hunt proceeds to the sky. The animal is alive when it is suddenly transformed into a constellation-- It forms the Big Dipper".

In Canada and the United States, the asterism is known as the Big Dipper because the major stars can be seen to follow the rough outline of a spoon or "dipper". There are seven stars in this constellation, such as Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Phecda, Megrez, and Dubne, and Mereak.

A widespread Native American figuration had the bowl as a bear. Some groups considered the handle to be three cubs following their mother, while others pictured three hunters tracking the bear. The Anishinaabe or Ojibway First Nation know the Big Dipper as the "Fisher Star" (Ojig-anang) after the small mammal known as the fisher.

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Wikipedia