The Big Dipper is also known by other names around the world, such as the Plough, the Seven Sages, a boat, a salmon net, and others. In the picture above you can see the dipper is just part of the larger bear. While the Big Dipper is part of Ursa Major, it is not all of it. The dipper is not a constellation itself, but is called an “asterism” which is a collection of stars. This group of stars is visible all year even in places with light pollution and is very recognizable. Many of us are familiar with the Big Dipper. Many other stories explain these stars, like this legend from the Cheyenne people about the Big Dipper called “The Quillwork Girl and Her Seven Brothers.” You can also watch a video version of the Never Ending Bear Hunt from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Here is one version of an Iroquois story of the Hunting of the Great Bear. As with the Greek and Roman myths, there are many versions of this story amongst Native people. Instead, the stars were seen hunters that were following the bear. However, they did not see the handle of the dipper as a giant bear tail. Interestingly, some of the Native people in the Americas told stories of a bear in this collection of stars. One story says that when Zeus threw the bear into the sky, he stretched out its tail. In the drawing of Ursa Major based on the Greek myths, many people notice something unusual - the bear’s tail! Bears did not have long tails like this, even thousands of years ago. In general, bears are in declining numbers in Europe due to loss of habitat, but several groups in Greece are working to protect their bears. Currently, there are estimated to be 450 brown bears living in the mountains of Greece. These bears are different from the black bears that live in New Mexico. The bears in ancient Greece were Eurasian brown bears that are related to the grizzly bears found in North America. Other stories use the Roman form of the gods, Jupiter and Juno. In other stories, Zeus turned Callisto into the bear to hide her from Hera. Callisto became Ursa Major and her son, Arcus, became Ursa Minor. To save them both Zeus threw them into the sky. Then one day Callisto’s son was out hunting and saw a great bear, not realizing it was his mother. When Zeus’ wife, Hera, found out, she turned Callisto into a bear. One version is that Ursa Major represents Callisto who had a child with Zeus, king of the Greek gods. It is mentioned in even earlier works, such as a poem by Aratus in 275 BCE. In this blog post, the author lists myths going back even farther in history.Īs with many stories from history, there is more than one version of the myth of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Ptolemy listed Ursa Major and Ursa Minor as one of 48 constellations in one of the earliest surviving books on astronomy. The written history of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor goes back thousands of years. Can you find the Big Dipper within Ursa Major? The two stars at the bottom of the bowl point to Polaris, the North Star. These drawings represent the constellations Ursa Major (the Greater Bear) and Ursa Minor (the Lesser Bear).

Ursa minor