Ursa Major (The Great Bear)

Third-largest constellation containing the Big Dipper asterism, whose pointer stars locate Polaris for navigation.

Core Principles & Analysis

• Five of the Big Dipper's seven stars travel together through space as the Ursa Major Moving Group.
• Its double star Mizar was the first double resolved by telescope, in 1617, and later the first spectroscopic binary identified.
• The original Hubble Deep Field of 1995, which revealed thousands of remote galaxies, was taken in a tiny patch of Ursa Major.

Specifications & Metrics

• BRIGHTEST STAR: Alioth (ε UMa)
• HEMISPHERE: Northern
• BEST VIEWED: April