Finding Stars and Constellations: Ursa Major and the Big Dipper

The Big Dipper is part of the Ursa Major constellation (Big Bear). The handle of the dipper is the tail of the bear. The Big Dipper is easily recognizable in the sky. A line created from joining the 2 brightest stars of the Big Dipper (Dubhe and Merak) points roughly towards Polaris and it helps finding it.

The next picture will show the Equatorial Coordinate Grid, which clearly shows Polaris in the North Celestial Pole

Previous Posts

Concepts in Astronomy #1. Introduction
Concepts in Astronomy #2. The Ecliptic
Concepts in Astronomy #3. The Celestial Equator
Concepts in Astronomy #4. Right Ascension
Concepts in Astronomy #5. Declination
Concepts in Astronomy #6. The Celestial Sphere
Concepts in Astronomy #7. Azimuth
Concepts in Astronomy #8. Altitude
Concepts in Astronomy #9. The Equatorial Coordinate System
Concepts in Astronomy #10. The Topocentric Coordinate System
Concepts in Astronomy #11. Equinox
Concepts in Astronomy #12. Solstice
Concepts in Astronomy #13. Rotation Period
Concepts in Astronomy #14. Orbital Period
Concepts in Astronomy #15. Axial Precession
Concepts in Astronomy #16. Axial Tilt
Concepts in Astronomy #17. Finding Planets, Stars and Constellations: Polaris

Credits

- Galaxy image obtained from Pixabay under CC0. No Copyright. The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law

- Ursa Major and Big Dipper Images © 2018 marcusantoniu26. All rights reserved. Created using Stellarium