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Ursa Major (abbr. UMa, gen. Ursae Majoris)
The Great Bear; a very large and prominent northern constellation, located west of Lyra and north of Leo and Leo Minor. Ursa Major is a good starting point to find other stars and constellation in the sky. A line through the Pointers, Alpha UMa (Dubhe) and Beta UMa (Merak), leads to north to the pole star, Polaris, and south toward Regulus. Capella in Auriga can be found by following a line from Delta UMa to Alpha UMa. Likewise, a line from Delta UMa to Beta UMa and beyond, leads to Alpha Gem. Ursa Major is most famous for the Big Dipper (or Plough) asterism, made from the stars Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta and Eta UMa. See below for details of the constellation's brightest stars and interesting deep sky objects.
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| Ursa Major. © 2003 Torsten Bronger. Copied here under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
| Stars brighter than magnitude 4.0 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star | Visual mag. |
Abs. mag. |
Spectral type |
Distance (lt-yr) |
R.A. (h m s) | Dec. ( ° ' '' ) |
| Epsilon (Alioth) | 1.76 | -0.22 | A0VpCr | 81 | 12 54 02 | +55 57 35 |
| Alpha (Dubhe) | 1.81 | -1.09 | F7Va | 124 | 11 03 44 | +61 45 03 |
| Eta (Alkaid) | 1.85 | -0.60 | B3V | 101 | 13 47 32 | +49 18 48 |
| Zeta (Mizar) | 2.23 | 0.33 | A1VpSrSi+A1m | 78 | 13 23 06 | +54 55 31 |
| Beta (Merak) | 2.34 | 0.41 | A1V | 79 | 11 01 50 | +56 22 56 |
| Gamma (Phekda) | 2.41 | 0.36 | A0Ve | 84 | 11 53 50 | +53 41 41 |
| Psi | 3.01 | -0.27 | K1III | 147 | 11 09 40 | +44 29 54 |
| Mu (Tania Australis) | 3.06 | -1.35 | M0III | 249 | 10 22 20 | +41 29 58 |
| Iota (Talita) | 3.12 | 2.29 | A7IV | 48 | 08 59 12 | +48 02 29 |
| Theta | 3.17 | 2.52 | F6IV | 44 | 09 32 51 | +51 40 38 |
| Delta (Megrez) | 3.32 | 1.33 | A3V | 81 | 12 15 26 | +57 01 57 |
| Omicron (Muscida) | 3.35 | -0.41 | G4II | 184 | 08 30 16 | +60 43 05 |
| Lambda (Tania Borealis) | 3.45 | 0.37 | A2IV | 134 | 10 17 06 | +42 54 52 |
| Nu (Alula Borealis) | 3.49 | -2.07 | K3IIIBa0.3 | 421 | 11 18 29 | +33 05 39 |
| Kappa (Al Kaprah) | 3.57 | -2.00 | A1Vn | 423 | 09 03 38 | +47 09 23 |
| h | 3.65 | 1.82 | F0IV | 76 | 09 31 32 | +63 03 42 |
| Chi (Alkafzah) | 3.69 | -0.21 | K0III | 196 | 11 46 03 | +47 46 45 |
| Upsilon | 3.78v | 1.04 | F0IV | 115 | 09 50 59 | +59 02 19 |
| 10 | 3.96 | 2.88 | F5V | 54 | 09 00 38 | +41 46 57 |
| Other objects of interest | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Type of Object | Notes |
| Owl Nebula | planetary nebula | See separate entry |
| M81 (NGC 3031) | galaxy | See separate entry |
| M82 (NGC 3034) | galaxy | See separate entry |
| M101 (NGC 5457) | galaxy | See separate entry |
| M108 (NGC 3556) | galaxy | Nearly edge-on type Sc spiral. Distance 45 million light-years; magnitude 10.0; diameter 8' × 1'; R.A. 11h 11.5m, Dec. +55° 40' |
| M109 (NGC 3992) | galaxy | A type SBc barred spiral that looks like a "theta" in the sky. Distance 55 million light-years; magnitude 9.8; diameter 7' × 4'; R.A. 11h 57.6m, Dec. +53° 23' |
| Ambartsumian's Knot | galaxy | See separate entry |
| Constellations |
| Andromeda | Antlia | Apus | Aquarius | Aquila | Ara | Aries | Auriga | Bootes | Caelum | Camelopardalis | Cancer | Canes Venatici | Canis Major | Canis Minor | Capricornus | Carina | Cassiopeia | Centaurus | Cepheus | Cetus | Chamaeleon | Circinus | Columba | Coma Berenices | Corona Austrina | Corona Borealis | Corvus | Crater | Crux | Cygnus | Delphinus | Dorado | Draco | Equuleus | Eridanus | Fornax | Gemini | Grus | Hercules | Horologium | Hydra | Hydrus | Indus | Lacerta | Leo | Leo Minor | Lepus | Libra | Lupus | Lynx | Lyra | Mensa | Microscopium | Monoceros | Musca | Norma | Octans | Ophiuchus | Orion | Pavo | Pegasus | Perseus | Phoenix | Pictor | Pisces | Piscis Austrinus | Puppis | Pyxis | Reticulum | Sagitta | Sagittarius | Scorpius | Sculptor | Scutum | Serpens | Sextans | Taurus | Telescopium | Triangulum | Triangulum Australe | Tucana | Ursa Major | Ursa Minor | Vela | Virgo | Volans | Vulpecula |
Related categories
• NOTABLE STARS
• NEBULAE AND STAR CLUSTERS
• GALAXIES
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