How to find Ursa Major
When to look
March, April, May, June evenings
Face north, high up
The Big Dipper is its back and tail. Fainter stars past the bowl make its head, and three pairs of close stars mark its feet. All year, in the north. Highest on spring evenings; low along the northern horizon on autumn evenings. The drawing below is made from the real positions of its 17 stars, as the sky looks when you face it, with bigger dots for brighter stars. No telescope needed.
Ursa Major is a big bear made of stars. The Big Dipper is its back and its tail. Three pairs of stars are its feet. You need a dark night to see the whole bear.
Ursa Major means the Great Bear. Its brightest stars are the Big Dipper, and from a dark place the rest of the bear appears: a head of faint stars past the end of the bowl, and legs that end in three pairs of stars, each pair close together like two footprints.
Ursa Major is the third-biggest of the 88 constellations. Follow the curve of the Big Dipper's handle away from the bowl and you arc to Arcturus, in Boötes; the two pointer stars at the other end lead to Polaris. From most of the United States, the bear's back never sets.
The stars in it
Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid, Muscida, Theta, Talitha, Kappa, Chi, Psi, Tania Borealis, Tania Australis, Alula Borealis, Alula Australis. The brightest is Dubhe.
How to find it
- Go out after dark with a grown-up, and give your eyes ten minutes away from screens.
- Face north, high up and look for: the Big Dipper is its back and tail. Fainter stars past the bowl make its head, and three pairs of close stars mark its feet.
- Hold up this page's drawing or the printed card and match the shape to the sky. If the sky is clear.
More star patterns
“Star patterns turn through the night, so the shape may be tipped on its side. Turn your head, not the sky.”