Probably every adult remembers a wonderful lullaby from an old Soviet cartoon about Umka. It was she who first showed the small constellation Ursa Major. Thanks to this cartoon, many have become interested in astronomy, I wanted to find out more about this so strange named set of bright planets.
The Ursa Major constellation is the asterism of the northern hemisphere of the sky, which has a huge number of names that have come down to us from antiquity: Elk, Plow, Seven Wise Men, Wagon and others. This combination of bright celestial bodies is the third largest galaxy of the whole sky. The most interesting thing is that some sections of the "bucket", which is part of the constellation Ursa Major, are visible all year round.
Thanks to its characteristic location and brightness, this galaxy is well recognizable. The constellation includes seven stars that have Arabic names, but Greek designations.
Stars entering the constellation Ursa Major
Designation | Title | Interpretation |
α | Dubhe | Bear |
β | Merac | Loin |
γ | Fekda | Hip |
δ | Megrets | Tail start |
ε | Aliot | Name origin unknown |
ζ | Mizar | Loincloth |
η | Benetnash (Alkaid) | Mourner Leader |
There are a huge variety of theories about the occurrence of the constellation Ursa Major.
The first legend is associated with Eden. Once upon a time there lived the nymph Callisto - the daughter of Lycaon and the assistant to the goddess Artemis. Legends circulated about her beauty. Even Zeus himself could not resist her spell. The union of god and nymph led to the birth of the son of Arkas. The angry Hera turned Callisto into a bear. During one of the hunts, Arkas nearly killed his mother, but Zeus saved her in time, sending her to heaven. He also moved his son there, turning him into the constellation Ursa Minor.
The second legend is directly related to Zeus. According to legend, the ancient Greek titan Kronos destroyed every his heir, for it was predicted to him that one of them would overthrow him from the throne. However, Reya - the mother of Zeus - decided to save the life of her child and hid him in the cave of Ida, located on the modern island of Crete. It was in this cave that he was fed by the goat Amalfey and two nymphs, who, according to legend, were dipper. Their names were Gelis and Melissa. Having overthrown his father and the rest of the titans, Zeus presented his brothers - Hades and Poseidon - an underground and water kingdom, respectively. In gratitude for the feeding and care, Zeus immortalized the she-bears and the goat, lifting them to heaven. Amalfey became a star in the constellation of the charioteer. And Gelis and Melissa are now two galaxies - Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Myths of the Mongolian peoples identify this asterism with the mystical number "seven". They have long had the constellation Ursa Major called the Seven Elders, the Seven Wise Men, Seven Blacksmiths and Seven Gods.
There is a Tibetan legend of the origin of this galaxy of bright stars. The legend says that once upon a time a man with a cow’s head lived in the steppes. In the fight against evil (in tradition it appears as a black bull), he stood up for the white bull (good). For this, a witch punished a person by smashing an iron cannon. From the blow, it fell into 7 parts. A good white bull, appreciating the human contribution to the fight against evil, lifted him up to heaven. So the constellation Ursa Major appeared, in which there are seven bright stars.