Number of bright stars in the bucket of the Great Bear. How many of the stars in the constellation Ursa Major

The most notable and well-known constellation is the Great Bear, of course. Rather, it is not visible in the night sky itself, but its part is the Big Dipper. If you take a good look, you can see from the bottom and to the right of it a few more stars, which make up the paws and the head of the Bear. The shape of this constellation is really very interesting. After all, no one has ever seen bears with such long tails.

The most visible part of the constellation

The number of bright stars in the bucket of the Great Bear is known to all. There are exactly seven of them. The name of these asterisks was given by Arab astronomers in the Middle Ages. For our ear, their "names" sound really strange:

• Merak.
• Mizar.
• Feghda.
• Megrec.
• Doubge.
• Aliot.
• Benetnash.

From the ground, these stars seem equidistant. In fact, this is far from the case. The number of bright stars in the bucket of the Big Dipper is seven and all of them are not at equal distances from the Earth and the Sun.

The closest to our planet is Benetnash. To the farthest star - Aliot - sixty light years. Nevertheless, it looks brighter than Benetnasha. This is the brightest and shining object of the bucket. According to the visible intensity of the light emitted, all the stars of this part of the Ursa Major are close to the stars of the second magnitude.

Interesting Facts

If you look very closely at one of the stars of the Bucket - Mitsaru, you can notice a faint flicker right next to it. This is explained very simply. Mizar is not an ordinary star, but a double star.

The object, located right next to it, is called Alcor. From Arabic, these two words are translated as "Horse" and "Horseman". Alcor and Mizar are one of the most noticeable from the Earth double stars.

The number of bright stars in the bucket of the Great Bear is seven. However, if you look at it through binoculars or a telescope, you will see two more small strokes of light. Unlike stars, they look fuzzy and fuzzy. This is how distant galaxies look from Earth. Located inside the Dipper are called Whirlpool and Pinwheel.

Rotation of the Big Bucket

It is known to any schoolchild that our land is not in place. Because of her movement, it seems that the stars in the sky are spinning. The bucket is not an exception in this respect either. In winter and autumn the Big Dipper is located in the northern part of the night sky, not too high from the horizon. In the spring and summer, this most noticeable constellation can be seen almost at the zenith. And at this time of year the Big Dipper looks upside down.

The Celestial Compass

So, the number of bright stars in the bucket of the Big Dipper is exactly seven. Two of them can serve as a guide for those who are on the road. The fact is that it is easy to find the most famous star of the world - Polar. It is not difficult to do this. It is only necessary to draw an imaginary line along the two outer stars of the Bowl. Further on it it is necessary to measure approximately the distance between them. The Polaris itself is located almost above the northernmost pole.

In ancient times, when there were no navigational instruments, it served as a guide for all seafarers and travelers. So, if you suddenly find yourself in a difficult situation in an unfamiliar area - look at the constellation Ursa Major. The polar star, found on it, will show you the way to the north. This small and not too bright celestial object has already many times rescued lost ones in the taiga, in the desert or in the sea. The Polar Star is headed by the closest neighbor of the Big Dipper - the Little Dipper. The location of both these "animals" is considered by the classification of near-polar astronomers.

How many stars in the Big Dipper

Of course, in this constellation of stars is much more than in its most visible part - the bucket. At the moment, they are known about 125. This is over a hundred bright objects, against which the Sun would have looked like a small and faint glowing dot. The closest star to Earth, unfortunately, is not even visible to the naked eye. It also does not have names. According to the astronomical classification, it passes like a star of 7.5 m. The light from it to the Earth goes about 8.25 years. This is almost twice as much as from the closest star to us, Alpha Centauri. Thus, the answer to the question of how many stars in the Big Dipper is simple is more than a hundred and not all of them are visible without a telescope or binoculars. To see in the bucket of a wild beast with a long tail, in fact you need to have a rich imagination.

The Legend of the Big Dipper

Of course, about such notable objects of the night sky, as the stars of the constellation Ursa Major, there simply can not exist many different kinds of myths and legends. The most famous legend about her was invented by the Greeks. Chroniclers of this ancient country say that once the king of Arcadia was unusually beautiful daughter of Callisto. And this girl was so proud of her attractiveness that she dared to compete with the very Hero, the wife of Zeus. The enraged goddess, using her mystical power, of course, avenged the pride, turning her into a bear. Returning at this time from hunting, the son of Callisto Arkas, seeing at the door of the palace of a wild beast, decided to kill him. However, at the last moment he was stopped by the Zeus, who was not indifferent to the beauty. After the rescue, Callisto was raised to heaven. The stars of the Big Dipper bucket are it. At the same time, the supreme god raised his beloved dog to heaven. Nowadays it is known as the Little Dipper.

Nearest constellations

The stars in the constellation Ursa Major, or rather in its Dipper - the most notable in the night sky. However, in addition to the Little Dipper, there are several other famous constellations in this region. An orientation for finding one of them may be the same Polar Star. Behind her, with the opposite side of the Big Dipper side, about the same distance, flaunts the familiar to many by the name of Cassiopeia. Outwardly this constellation is similar to the Russian letter "M". At some positions of the Earth, Cassiopeia "turns" and takes the form of a Latin W.

Between it and the Little Bear you can see not so noticeable, but also not unknown constellation Cepheus. Clearly viewed form it does not. Between Big and Little Dipper, it's also easy to see the wriggling Dragon. The chain of its stars is easily connected on the map by a broken line.

Well, we hope, we answered the main question of the article about how many glowing permanent objects there are in the Great Bear. There are only seven of them in the Bucket. The main constellation includes about 125 distant "suns".