What constellation is Ursa Major in? The brightest star in the constellation Ursa Major Add your price to the database Comment

Big Dipper- constellation northern hemisphere sky. The seven stars of Ursa Major make up a figure resembling a ladle with a handle. The two brightest stars, Aliot and Dubhe, have magnitudes of 1.8 apparent magnitudes. According to the two extreme stars of this figure (α and β), you can find the Polar Star. The best visibility conditions are in March-April. It can be seen throughout Russia all year round (with the exception of the autumn months in the south of Russia, when the Big Dipper descends low to the horizon).

There are about 125 stars in the constellation, but only seven are called the largest and brightest: Dubhe, Merak, Fekda, Megrets, Aliot, Mizar and Alkaid. Between themselves, they form a bucket, which is visible to the naked eye.

The legend of the appearance of the constellation

In distant Greenland there is also a legend in which the constellation Ursa Major appears. The mythology and history of this cluster is quite popular. But one story has gained the greatest popularity among the Eskimos, about which absolutely everyone tells. It has even been suggested that this legend is not fiction, but the purest truth. In a snowy house, on the very edge of Greenland, lived great hunter Eriulok. He lived in a hut alone, as he was arrogant, considering himself the best in his field. Therefore, he did not want to communicate with his other compatriots. For many years in a row he went to sea and always returned with rich booty. In his house there was always a lot of food, seal fat, and the walls of his dwelling were decorated with the best skins of walruses, seals and seals.

Eriulok was rich, well-fed, but lonely. And loneliness over time began to burden the great hunter. He tried to make friends with his fellow Eskimos, but they did not want to deal with an arrogant relative. Apparently, he offended them greatly at the time. In desperation, Eriulok went to the Arctic Ocean and called the mistress of the sea depths, the goddess Arnarkuachssak. He told her about himself and his trouble. The goddess promised to help, but in return, Eriulok had to bring her a ladle with magical berries that would restore youth to the goddess. The hunter agreed and went to a distant island, found a cave guarded by a bear. After much torment, he put the forest animal to sleep and stole a ladle of berries. The goddess did not deceive the hunter and gave him a wife, and in return received magical berries.

After all the adventures, Eriulok got married and became the father of a large family, to the envy of all the neighbors in the area. As for the goddess, she ate all the berries, rejuvenated by a couple of hundred centuries, and joyfully threw an empty ladle into the sky, where he, clinging to something, remained hanging.

Stars and asterisms

Ursa Major is the third largest constellation (after Hydra and Virgo), whose seven bright stars form the famous Big Bucket; this asterism has been known since antiquity among many peoples under different names: Rocker, Plow, Elk, Wagon, Seven Wise Men, etc. All the stars of the Bucket have their own Arabic names:

Dubhe(α Ursa Major) means "bear";
Merak(β) - "lower back";
Fekda(γ) - "thigh";
Megrets(δ) - "the beginning of the tail";
Aliot(ε) - the meaning is not clear (but, most likely, this name means "fat tail");
Mizar(ζ) - "sash" or "loincloth".
The last star in the bucket handle is called Benetnash or Alkaid(η); in Arabic, "al-Qaeed banat ours" means "the leader of the mourners." This poetic image is taken from the Arab folk interpretation of the constellation Ursa Major.

In the system of naming stars with Greek letters, the order of the letters simply corresponds to the order of the stars.

Another interpretation of asterism is reflected in the alternative name Hearse and Wailers. Here, asterism is thought of as a funeral procession: in front of the mourners, led by a leader, behind them are a funeral stretcher. This explains the name of the star η Ursa Major "the leader of the mourners."

Bucket inner stars

5 inner stars of the Bucket (except for the extreme α and η) really belong to a single group in space - the moving cluster Ursa Major, which moves quite quickly across the sky; Dubhe and Benetnash are moving in the opposite direction, so the shape of the Dipper changes significantly in about 100,000 years.

Stars Merak and Dubhe

They form the wall of the Bucket, are called pointers, since the straight line drawn through them rests on the North Star (in the constellation Ursa Minor). Six stars of the Bucket have a shine of the 2nd magnitude, and only Megrets is of the 3rd magnitude.

Alcor

Next to Mizar, which was the second among those discovered in a telescope double stars(Giovanni Riccioli in 1650; as of the early 2000s, it was probably observed as a double as early as 1617 by Galileo). A keen eye sees a star of magnitude 4 Alcor (80 Ursa Major), which in Arabic means “forgotten”, or “insignificant”. It is believed that the ability to distinguish the star Alcor has been a recognized test of vigilance since ancient times. The pair of stars Mizar and Alcor is often interpreted as an asterism " horse and rider».

Three gazelle jumps

Peculiar asterism Three gazelle jumps of Arabic origin consists of three pairs of closely spaced stars, and the pairs are on the same straight line and separated by equal distances. Associated with hoofprints of a gazelle moving by jumps. Includes stars:

Alula North and Alula South (v and ξ, first jump),
Taniya North and Taniya South (λ and μ, second jump),
Talita North and Talita South (ι and κ, third jump).

Arcturus

Aliot, Mizar and Benetnash form an extended arc that points to Arcturus, the brightest star north of the celestial equator, and also the brightest star visible in the spring in the mid-latitudes of Russia. As this arc extends further south, it points to Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo.

Lalande 21185

The red dwarf, located in the Alula Severnaya region and inaccessible to observations with the naked eye, is one of the closest star systems to the Earth, only Alpha Centauri, Barnard's star and Wolf 359 are closer to it. The Groombridge 1830 star, which, according to own movement second only to Barnard's star and Kapteyn's star, in a hundred years it shifts by about a third of the lunar disk.

Constellation legends. Star of Dubhe

There are a huge number of legends and tales about the cluster of luminaries Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. The following belief goes about the brightest star Dubhe from the constellation Ursa Major. The daughter of King Lycaon, the beautiful Callisto was one of the huntresses of the goddess Artemis. The almighty Zeus fell in love with Callisto, and she gave birth to the boy Arkas. For this, the jealous wife of Zeus, Hera, turned Callisto into a bear. When Arkas grew up and became a hunter, he attacked the trail of a bear and was already preparing to hit the beast with an arrow. Zeus, seeing what was happening, did not allow the murder. It was he who turned Arkas into a smaller bear. The ruler of heaven placed them in the sky so that mother and son would always remain together.

Ursa Major ranks third among the constellations in terms of area, but unusually few variable stars have been found there - for 2011 it is not included in the top ten constellations in this indicator.

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field was imaged in a region one-twelfth the size of the lunar disk near the star Megrets. For 2011, this is one of the most detailed images of the starry sky, allowing you to distinguish between many galaxies billions of light years away from Earth.
Scars in the shape of the constellation Ursa Major on the chest are worn by the character of the popular in many countries anime and manga Hokuto No Ken, Kenshiro. At the moment, only an independent three-episode novella "The Fist" is available in the official Russian translation. northern star: New Era.
The world's first cryonics company is named after a star from the constellation Ursa Major.
Soviet archaeologist and historian, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Rybakov B.A. in his well-known work he wrote: “The most important constellation of our northern hemisphere - Ursa Major - in the Russian North was called “Elk”, “Prongs” ... The Poles call the North Star the “Elk Star” (Gwiazda Łosiowa). Among the Evenks, the constellation Ursa Major (Ursus Major) is called "Moose Heglen".
In the animated series "Gravity Falls" on the forehead of the main character Dipper Pines there is a birthmark in the form of this constellation. Because of him, he got the nickname Dipper ( dipper from English - ladle, and the constellation Ursa Major is sometimes called the Big Dipper).

Ursa Major ... Wikipedia

Click on the image to enlarge it name Ursa Major (genus n. Ursae Majoris) Abbreviation UMa Symbol Ursa Major Right ascension ... Wikipedia

- (lat. Ursa Major) the constellation of the Northern Hemisphere, in which a group of 7 stars is distinguished Big bucket; the middle star of the bucket handle is called Mizar, next to it is the faint star Alcor ... Big encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Ursa Major), the famous constellation of the northern part of the sky, which is otherwise called the "Plow" or "Big Dipper". Its drawing is formed by seven stars. The five stars from the Plow make up a mobile CLUSTER, a group of stars that move in the same direction across... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

- (The Great Bear, Charles's wain, Ursa major) a vast constellation of the Northern Hemisphere; in our latitudes it is visible at all times of the year. The seven main stars are arranged in the shape of a ladle. Very noticeable in the sky and convenient for orientation. A line drawn ... ... Marine Dictionary

Exist., number of synonyms: 2 arctos (2) constellation (121) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

- (lat. Ursa Major) constellation of the Northern hemisphere of the sky. Seven stars of B. M. make up a figure resembling a ladle with a handle. The two brightest stars, Aliot and Dubhe, are magnitude 1.8 visual magnitudes. According to the two extreme stars of this figure α ... Big soviet encyclopedia

- (lat. Ursa Major), the constellation of the Northern Hemisphere, in which a group of 7 stars is distinguished Big bucket; the middle star of the bucket handle is called Mizar, next to it is the faint star Alcor. * * * URSA MAJOR URSA MAJOR (lat. Ursa… … encyclopedic Dictionary

Big Dipper- The constellation of the Northern Hemisphere, in which there is a group of seven stars Big Dipper. The middle star of the handle of the Mizar bucket, next to it is the star Alcor. Seven stars of the Big Dipper shone low over the horizon (V. Garshin. From the memoirs ... ... Phraseological dictionary of Russian literary language

- (lat. Ursa Major), the constellation Sev. hemispheres, in which a group of 7 stars is distinguished Big bucket; cf. bucket handle star Mizar, next to her is the faint star Alcor ... Natural science. encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

Big Cart, Max Frei. "Big Cart, or Big Cart, - this is how some nations called the constellation Ursa Major. The concept of the book is as follows: the map of the constellation was in a certain way superimposed on the map of Europe, ...
Big Cart, Fry Max. A new book Max Frey connects geography and astronomy, earthly and heavenly. "Big Cart or, Big Cart, - this is how some nations called the constellation Ursa Major. The concept of the book ...

Ursa Major is a constellation with which schoolchildren get acquainted in the 2nd grade, taking the course "The world around us".

It is important for children to learn how to find the star "bucket" in the night sky, because the constellation is a guide for searching for many other celestial objects.

Description of the constellation Ursa Major

Ursa Major (Ursa Major) is the 3rd largest constellation in the northern hemisphere. Common name celestial object- A large ladle, since from the seven main stars a figure is formed that looks like a ladle with a long handle.

On the territory of Eastern Europe and all of Russia, the object is observed throughout the year(the exception is autumn in the southern regions of Russia, when the constellation is too low above the horizon). The best visibility is in early spring.

The Big Dipper has been known to mankind since ancient times, and is significant in many cultures. The constellation is mentioned in the Bible and Homer's story "The Odyssey", its description is in the writings of Ptolemy.

The ancient peoples associated the star figure with a camel, a plow, a boat, a sickle, a basket. In Germany, the constellation is called the Great Basket, in China - the Imperial Chariot, in the Netherlands - the Pot, in the Arab countries - the Grave of the Mourners.

How many stars are in the constellation Ursa Major? There are seven in total, and they are all in different countries have interesting names. The inhabitants of Mongolia call them the Seven Gods, the Hindus - the Seven Wise Men.

In the representation of the American Indians, the three stars that form the "dipper handle" are three hunters chasing a bear. Alpha and beta constellations are also called "pointers", because with the help of these stars it is easy to find the North Star.

Bucket of the Big Dipper in autumn, winter, spring, summer

At different times of the year, the position of the "bear" is not the same relative to the horizon. For better orientation, use a compass.

On a clear spring night, a cluster of stars is directly above the observer. From mid-April, the "bucket" begins to move west. During the summer, the constellation gradually moves to the northwest, descends. In the last days of August, the stars can be seen in the north, as low as possible above the horizon.

On the autumn sky it is noticeable how the constellation slowly rises, during the winter months, as you can see in the diagram below, moving to the northeast, it again rises as high as possible above the horizon by spring.

To quickly find the constellation, you should remember that in summer it is located in the northwest, in autumn - in the north, in winter - in the northeast, in spring - directly above the observer.

Depending on the time of day, the position of the star figure changes relative not only to the vault of heaven, but also to its own axis. The image below shows that in the evening in January-February, the "ladle" is in the northeast (in the picture on the right), and its "handle" is directed downwards.

During the night, the constellation passes a semicircle, in the morning it reaches the northwest (in the picture on the left), and the "handle" rushes up.

In July-August, daily changes are opposite. The same contrast is noted in the spring and autumn months.

The position of the constellation in the sky is characterized by a daily change, specific for each season of the year.

Stars of Ursa Major

Answering the question, how many stars are in the Big Dipper, indicate the 7 most noticeable points. This seven forms the same “bucket”, which is clearly visible in the night sky.

But in reality, the constellation is more extensive, consists of a larger number of points. Stars of lesser brightness form the legs and muzzle of the "bear".

The seven main stars that make up the constellation include:

Dubhe("bear") - the alpha of the constellation, the second most intense glow. One of two signposts to the North Pole. A red giant that is 125 light years away from Earth.
Merak(translated as "loin") - a beta star, the second pointer to the North Pole. The object is about 80 light-years distant from Earth, slightly larger than the Sun, and emits a powerful stream of infrared radiation.
Fekda("thigh") - gamma, a dwarf star located at a distance of just under 85 light-years from our planet.
Megrets(from Arabic "base") - delta, a blue dwarf, more than 80 light-years from Earth. The object is so named because it is the base of the long tail of the "heavenly beast".
Aliot("tail") - epsilon, the brightest point of the constellation, is in 31st place in terms of the luminosity of objects visible in the sky (magnitude 1.8). White star, luminosity 108 times higher than that of the Sun. One of 57 celestial objects used in navigation.
Mizar(from Arabic "belt") - a zeta star, the fourth brightest in the "bucket". The star is double, there is a less bright companion - Alcor.
Alkaid("leader") or Benetnash ("crying") - this star, the third in luminosity, the end of the "bear's tail". Blue dwarf, distance - 100 light years from our planet.

The total number of objects in the constellation is about 125.

Of these, three pairs of stars located on the same line, located at a short distance from each other, should be noted:

Alula Borealis (nude constellation) and Alula Australis (xi);
Thania Borealis (lambda) and Thania Australis (mu);
Talita Borealis (iota) and Talita Australis (kappa).

These three pairs are also known as the three gazelle jumps and are located at the bottom of the star cluster on the map below.

The figure shows the location of the main seven stars and objects of the Talita, Thania and Alula groups.

Legend of the Big Dipper

There is an ancient Greek myth by which one can understand why the constellation Ursa Major is so called.

Callisto, heiress of King Lycaon, was one of the most beautiful nymphs who served Artemis. Zeus turned his gaze to the beauty. He took the form of Artemis and seduced the girl. The goddess got angry when she noticed in the bath that her beloved nymph was pregnant and drove her away. The unfortunate Callisto went to the mountains, where she gave birth to her son Arkas.

But the misadventures of the nymph did not stop there. Hera, the wife of the seductive god, found out about Arkas, the illegitimate son of Zeus, and in revenge turned her rival into a bear. As an adult, Arkas took up hunting. Once in the mountains, he ran into a bear, but he could not even think that his own mother was in front of him. The young man wanted to shoot an arrow at the beast, but Zeus stopped him.

The main god did not allow the son to commit a terrible act, but could not break the curse given by the Hero. Taking pity on the unfortunate Callisto, Zeus turned her and his son into stars and sent them to heaven. So the Big Dipper appeared in the sky, and next to it was the son - the Little Dipper.

How to find the Big Dipper in the sky

In the temperate zone of Russia, the "bear" refers to non-setting constellations, as it is located near the North Pole. Finding a "bucket" in the sky in the evening and at night is not difficult. It is enough to see a star cluster once to remember what it looks like.

Below in the photo you can see what a "bucket" might look like in the night sky.

For those living at the latitude of Moscow, it is best to observe the star cluster on an April night. In the time interval between 23 and 24 hours, the "ladle" will be at its zenith. The observer will only have to build a figure by points.

If it’s not April outside the window, then you should look for the “bear” in other areas of the sky:

January-February - northeast, angle above the horizon 30 - 70 °, the figure is located vertically;
March - east, angle 50 - 80 °, the figure is almost vertical;
May - west, 60 - 90 °, the "ladle" is tilted down by 60 - 80 °;
June-July - northwest, elevation above the horizon 40 - 70 °, tilt of the figure down 20 - 60 °;
August-September - northwest (closer to the north), 20 - 50 °, the figure is parallel to the horizon;
October - north, angle 20 - 30 °, "ladle" inclined upwards by 10 - 30 °;
November-December - northeast (closer to the north), 20 - 40 °, the figure is tilted upwards by 30 - 80 °.

After getting acquainted with the Big Dipper, the possibilities of studying the starry sky are significantly expanded. The North Star is the first thing that can be found, knowing the location of the large "bucket". And the Polar (alpha star Ursa Minor) is the main celestial landmark in the cardinal points.

Big Dipper- constellation of the northern hemisphere of the sky. The seven stars of Ursa Major make up a figure resembling a ladle with a handle. The two brightest stars, Aliot and Dubhe, have magnitudes of 1.8 apparent magnitudes. According to the two extreme stars of this figure (α and β), you can find the Polar Star. The best visibility conditions are in March-April. It can be seen throughout Russia all year round (with the exception of the autumn months in the south of Russia, when the Big Dipper descends low to the horizon).

The legend of the appearance of the constellation

In distant Greenland there is also a legend in which the constellation Ursa Major appears. The mythology and history of this cluster is quite popular. But one story has gained the greatest popularity among the Eskimos, about which absolutely everyone tells. It has even been suggested that this legend is not fiction, but the purest truth. In a snowy house, on the very edge of Greenland, lived the great hunter Eriulok. He lived in a hut alone, as he was arrogant, considering himself the best in his field. Therefore, he did not want to communicate with his other compatriots. For many years in a row he went to sea and always returned with rich booty. In his house there was always a lot of food, seal fat, and the walls of his dwelling were decorated with the best skins of walruses, seals and seals.

Stars and asterisms

Dubhe(α Ursa Major) means "bear";
Merak(β) - "lower back";
Fekda(γ) - "thigh";
Megrets(δ) - "the beginning of the tail";
Aliot(ε) - the meaning is not clear (but, most likely, this name means "fat tail");
Mizar(ζ) - "sash" or "loincloth".
The last star in the bucket handle is called Benetnash or Alkaid(η); in Arabic, "al-Qaeed banat ours" means "the leader of the mourners." This poetic image is taken from the Arab folk interpretation of the constellation Ursa Major.

In the system of naming stars with Greek letters, the order of the letters simply corresponds to the order of the stars.

Bucket inner stars

Stars Merak and Dubhe

Alcor

Next to Mizar, which was the second among the double stars discovered in the telescope (Giovanni Riccioli in 1650; according to the data of the early 2000s, it was probably observed as a double as early as 1617 by Galileo). A keen eye sees a star of magnitude 4 Alcor (80 Ursa Major), which in Arabic means “forgotten”, or “insignificant”. It is believed that the ability to distinguish the star Alcor has been a recognized test of vigilance since ancient times. The pair of stars Mizar and Alcor is often interpreted as an asterism " horse and rider».

Three gazelle jumps

Alula North and Alula South (v and ξ, first jump),
Taniya North and Taniya South (λ and μ, second jump),
Talita North and Talita South (ι and κ, third jump).

Arcturus

Lalande 21185

The red dwarf, located in the Alula Severnaya region and inaccessible to observations with the naked eye, is one of the star systems closest to the Earth, only Alpha Centauri, Barnard's Star and Wolf 359 are closer to it. Groombridge 1830, which is inferior in its own motion to only Barnard's star and Kapteyn's star, in a hundred years it shifts by about a third of the lunar disk.

Constellation legends. Star of Dubhe

Ursa Major ranks third among the constellations in terms of area, but unusually few variable stars have been found there - for 2011 it is not included in the top ten constellations in this indicator.

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field was imaged in a region one-twelfth the size of the lunar disk near the star Megrets. For 2011, this is one of the most detailed images of the starry sky, allowing you to distinguish between many galaxies billions of light years away from Earth.
Scars in the shape of the constellation Ursa Major on the chest are worn by the character of the popular in many countries anime and manga Hokuto No Ken, Kenshiro. At the moment, only the independent three-part novella "Fist of the North Star: New Era" is available in the official Russian translation.
The world's first cryonics company is named after a star from the constellation Ursa Major.
Soviet archaeologist and historian, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Rybakov B.A. in his well-known work he wrote: “The most important constellation of our northern hemisphere - Ursa Major - in the Russian North was called “Elk”, “Prongs” ... The Poles call the North Star the “Elk Star” (Gwiazda Łosiowa). Among the Evenks, the constellation Ursa Major (Ursus Major) is called "Moose Heglen".
In the animated series "Gravity Falls" on the forehead of the main character Dipper Pines there is a birthmark in the form of this constellation. Because of him, he got the nickname Dipper ( dipper from English - ladle, and the constellation Ursa Major is sometimes called the Big Dipper).

The constellation Ursa Major is located in the northern hemisphere of the starry sky.. People have known it for thousands of years. He was known by the astronomers of Egypt, Babylon, China and Ancient Greece. It was included by Claudius Ptolemy in his monograph Almagest as early as the 2nd century. And this work combined all the knowledge of astronomy at that time.

If we talk about mythology, then the ancient Greeks associated this constellation with the myth of the nymph Callisto. Zeus, the god of thunder and lightning, drew attention to her. It is not known whether his feeling for the nymph was mutual or not, but she soon gave birth to a boy Arcade. The proud goddess Hera, the wife of the loving Thunderer, found out about this. In a fit of jealousy, she turned Callisto into a bear.

Time passed, Arkad became a teenager and one day he met his mother in the forest. But he did not guess this, because before him stood a furry beast. The young man raised his bow, about to shoot an arrow at him. However, Zeus, tormented by remorse, did not allow his former mistress to be killed. Directly from heaven, he extended his divine hand, grabbed the bear by the tail and lifted her into the blue sky. This is how a new constellation appeared in the sky, which was once the beautiful nymph Callisto.

This education includes 7 stars. If you connect them with a straight line, you get a figure that resembles a bucket with a handle. Each star has its own name. At the top of the bucket, opposite the handle, there is a star called Dubhe. It is the second brightest among its cosmic counterparts. This is a multiple star. That is, several stars from the Earth are seen as one due to the close distance to each other.

In this case, we are dealing with 3 stars. The largest of them is a red giant. That is, the core has already lost all its hydrogen reserves, and thermonuclear reaction goes to the surface of the luminary. It dies, and in time should turn into white dwarf or become black hole. The other two stars are Main Sequence stars, that is, the same as our Sun.

On the same straight line with Dubhe, at the base of the ladle, is the star Merak. This is a very bright light. It is 69 times brighter than our Sun, but due to the vast space it does not make the proper impression. If the straight line between Merak and Dubhe is extended towards the constellation Ursa Minor, then you can rest against the North Star. It is located at a distance that is 5 times the distance between the indicated luminaries.

The other extreme lower point of the bucket is called Fekda. This is a Main Sequence star. The upper point of the bucket opposite it is called Megrets. She is the dullest in a friendly company. This star is almost 1.5 times larger than our star and 14 times brighter.

At the beginning of the handle is the star Aliot. It is the brightest in the constellation Ursa Major. Among all visible stars in the sky, it ranks 33rd in brightness. From the end of the handle, it is the third in a row, and the second is the star Mizar. Next to it is another luminary, which is called Alcor. Anyone with good eyesight can see it. They say that in ancient times, Alcor was used to test the visual acuity of young boys who aspired to become sailors. If a young man could see this star next to Mizar, then he was enlisted as a sailor.

In reality, not 2 stars, but as many as 6 shine in the space distance. These are the double stars Mizar A and Mizar B, as well as the double star Alcor. But from the Earth, with the naked eye, only a large bright dot and a small one, which is nearby, are visible. These are the surprises sometimes presented by space.

And finally, the most extreme star. It's called Benetnash or Alkaid. All these names are taken from Arabic. In this case, the literal translation means "the leader of the mourners." That is, the al-qaid is the leader, and our banat is the mourners. This luminary is the third brightest after Aliot and Dubhe. It ranks 35th among the brightest stars in the sky.

This is how you can characterize the constellation Ursa Major, known since ancient times. This space region also includes many galaxies. For example, the Pinwheel galaxy. It is better known as M 101. In size, it exceeds the Milky Way. Her detailed pictures were taken by the Hubble telescope at the beginning of the 21st century. To get to this huge cluster of stars, you need to spend 8 million light years.

The Owl Nebula is also of interest. It enters our galaxy and looks like 2 dark spots located side by side. In 1848, Lord Ross considered these spots to be like the eyes of an owl. That's where the name came from. This nebula is about 6 thousand years old, and it is located at a distance of 2300 light years from the solar system.

But the most interesting thing is that the constellation Ursa Major is considered as one of the likely sources of extraterrestrial intelligence. In this part of space there is a certain star named 47UMa. This is a yellow dwarf, and its planetary system is very similar to ours. solar system. At least, today 3 planets are known that revolve around this star. In 2003, a radio message was sent to him. Earthlings are persistently looking for brothers in mind, and stubborn ones are always lucky.