The Big Dipper

One of the largest and most well known star constellations is named “Ursa Major,” meaning “the Great Bear.” Many ancient peoples imagined that they could see the shape of a bear in this constellation. They told stories about how the bear had ended up in the sky and where it was going next.

Today, most of us need to use a lot of imagination to see the bear! However, cultures around the world have seen different objects within the constellation of Ursa Major. Click on the buttons below to see the different constellations


	The constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, is at its highest point in the sky in the spring and its lowest point in the fall. Some American Indian legends say that this is the time when the bear is looking for a place to lie down and hibernate during the winter months.


	In the United States and Canada, the most familiar star pattern within Ursa Major is known as the Big Dipper. Its four brightest stars form the outline of a long-handled spoon. Three smaller stars form the outline of a bowl.


	In England, the pattern of the bowl is called the Plough because English people see a farmer’s plow raking a field. In England a plow is referred to as a plough. The handle is the plow’s wooden harness, the outer edge of the bowl is the handle of the plow, and the inner edge is the cutting blade.


	Many ancient cultures imagined that they could see animals. The ancient Egyptians saw the Big Dipper as a “thigh in the sky” – the shape of a Bull’s Hind Leg.