Ursa Major – Great Bear or Big Dipper

Ursa Major

Ursa Major (Great Bear of Big Dipper) is well-known in most world cultures and associated with a number of myths.

It lies in the northern sky. Of all the star patterns in the sky, the Big Dipper is the most universally recognized. The dipper’s seven bright stars form a portion of the great bear (see picture)  Polaris, the north star, lies along this line, about five times the distance between the two pointers.

Ursa Major was one of the constellations catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. In Greek mythology, it is associated with Callisto, a nymph who was turned into a bear by Zeus’ jealous wife Hera. The Ancient Greeks identified Ursa Major as a bear – its name is Latin for ‘the greater bear’. However, some historians believe this tradition dates back at least 10.000 years.

Bode’s map of Ursa Major constellation (with Leo Minor)

This is a rare and extraordinary elephant folio celestial, constellation, or star map of Ursa Major (the Great Bear or Big Dipper) and Leo Minor by Johann Elbert Bode in 1801.

Considered the largest and most dramatic celestial maps of their era, possibly ever published, this is a stars heightened with gold.

Bode’s gigantic star charts detail thousands of stars, nebulae, and clusters. Constellations are dramatically represented in pictorial form, as was the convention of the previous century.

May of  the newly discovered nebulae, double stars, star and clusters recently discovered by European astronomers such as Lacaille, Lalande, Messier, and Herschel, are identified. Bode presents this map on a conic geocentric projection in which most constellations are seen from the front.

Messier 81 discovered by Bode (in the Ursa Major Constellation)

Messier 81 (or M81) was first discovered by Johann Elert Bode on 31 December 1774. Consequently, the galaxy is sometimes referred to as “Bode’s Galaxy”.

Messier 81 (also known as Bode’s Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away, with a diameter of 90.000 light years, about half the size of the Milky Way, in the constellation of Ursa Major. Due to its proximity to Earth, large size, and active galactic nucleus (with a supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers. The galaxy’s large size and relatively high brightness also makes it a popular target for amateur astronomers.