Last month I featured the Big Dipper, which, according to modern protocol, is not considered an actual constellation but rather just the rear end and the tail of Ursa Major, the Big Bear. Currently the Big Dipper is hanging diagonally in the northwestern evening sky. The four stars that outline the pot also outline the hind end of the Ursa Major and the Big Dipper’s handle is the stretched-out tail of the bear.
Ursa Major’s head is made up of three dimmer stars that form a skinny triangle just below the pot of the Big Dipper. These stars aren’t as bright as the seven stars of the Big Dipper but you should be able to spot them unless you’re really plagued by heavy pollution. Extending to the left of the head and derriere of the bear are his front and rear legs respectively. Both the front and back paws are marked by two closely knit pairs of stars.
The stars that make up the Little Dipper are the same stars that make up the Ursa Minor the Little Bear. At the end of the tail of the Little Bear or the end of the handle of the Little Dipper is Polaris, the North Star. It’s a pivotal star: Polaris shines directly above the Earth’s North pole.
There are many stories about the stars we call the Big Bear. One of my favorites comes from the Zunis, a native American tribe in New Mexico. They see our Big Dipper as a great heavenly bear that patrols the night skies preventing the frozen gods from the north hauling in their cold icy winds. During the winter months, the bear heads below the horizon and the cold gods are free to blow in cold, snowstorms and more.
Another piece of lore comes from the Basque region of Spain. The story goes like this: Two thieves broke into a farmer’s barn and stole a pair of oxen. The extremely upset farmer dispatched his housekeeper, a servant amd his bulldog after the thieves. After a few hours, the highly irritated farmer also joined the chase. The two stars on the right side of the pot section of the Big Dipper are the two oxen. The two stars on the left side are the thieves. The stars in the dipper’s handle represent the servant, followed by the housekeeper and then the furious farmer.
What about the dog? The pooch is a faint star you can barely see right next to the housekeeper star in the middle of the handle.
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