Ursa Major’s Four Stars from my Telescope
“ Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
or loose the cords of Orion?Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
or can you guide the Bear with its children? “ — Job 38:31–32 (ESV)
The Ursa Major constellation, known as the ‘Great Bear’ or ‘The Big Dipper’ is visible to the Northern Sky throughout the year. It was one of the constellations discovered by Ptolemy around 2AD. Just below the Big Dipper’s position in the sky, you could see Ursa Minor or ‘ the Little Dipper’ where Polaris is found.
This group of stars from the Great Bear is easy to spot by the naked eye. If you want to see the stars up-close, you can use binoculars and telescope to see the color and luminosity. Make sure you can avoid further light pollution from the post lamps on the streets.
ALPHA URSA MAJORIS, aka ‘Dubhe’
Derived from the Arabic word, Dubb, meaning, ‘bear’, this is the second brightest star in this constellation and one of the pair stars pointing at Polaris. It is 123 to 124 light-years away from Earth which is the farthest Big Dipper Stars. It is seen as a main orange giant with a faint companion star (Alpha Ursa Majoris B). From my telescope, I couldn’t see the other Dubhe since I only see this bright yellowish-orange from the telescope. Its apparent magnitude is 1.79.
BETA URSA MAJORIS, aka ‘Merak’
From another Arabic word, al-maraqq, meaning, ‘the bear’s loins’, this bright bluish-white star has an apparent magnitude of 2.37. It also points to Polaris along with its warm-colored sibling, Dubhe. It is 79.4 light-years away from us. For some astronomers, it is identified as a subgiant based from its luminosity class.
Get Blake Reads’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
THE OPPOSITE TWINS: Mizar and Alcor
The twins are located at the middle of the Big Dipper’s handle as they are also visible by the naked eye.
Mizar, also known as, Zeta Ursae Majoris and its Arabic name meaning, ‘apron, wrapper, and cover’ is brighter than its twin. This other bluish-white star has an apparent magnitude of 3.88. The distance from Earth to Mizar is 82.84 light-years.
The fainter white twin, Alcor, also known as, 80 Ursae Majoris, is derived from another Arabic word meaning, ‘the forgotten or neglected one’. Its apparent magnitude is 3.99. This star is 81.79 light-years away from our planet.
Within the Mizar-Alcor system, they are consisted of six stars in which Mizar is a quadruple and Alcor is a binary. From my telescopic view, I could only see the opposite twins travelling around the black void of space. It’s too difficult to search for their other six siblings around.
Comparing them to any twin humans, Mizar appears to be taller and healthier than its sickly and neglected sibling. It would be also the more favored one. Alcor is smaller and more palish than its companion. If they were personified, I could imagine their stark contrast and frequent sibling rivalry within the Ursa Major family, despite sharing their common birth home.
— — — —
These are the four stars within the Ursa Major Family which I have taken some photos from last week. There are other stars to be observed in the coming days.
More to come!
