Joe Malan: More to Ursa Major than meets the eye

Jun. 18—Three bright, bluish-white stars follow each other in a rough line down the middle of the sky: a handle.

A fourth star connects those three to a cup — a Big Dipper, mounted against the framework of the Milky Way like a measuring spoon hanging on a galactic kitchen tool rack.

Ursa Major is arguably the most conspicuous constellation in Earth's sky. And, it can be seen at any time of the year.

The Great Bear, however, is more than just the Big Dipper, even though those are the stars we readily recognize.

There is a triangular formation of stars that creates the face of the stellar creature, and three legs are formed by several branches of dimmer stars (the fourth leg only requires your imagination!).

But there is yet more that hides within this constellation.

Merriam-Webster, by the way, defines "constellation" in this way: "Any of 88 arbitrary configurations of stars or an area of the celestial sphere covering one of these configurations."

So, if we were to examine that definition more closely, we would see that a constellation is more than what the naked eye can see.

Within every constellation, we find what are called "deep-sky objects": nebulae, clusters of stars that hang out around the galactic center or beyond, and objects that are even farther away: galaxies.

And dancing around the Great Bear are several prominent galaxies, one of the most notable being Messier 81, a bold, bright spiral island of stellar birth and death 12 million light years away.

The galaxy — sometimes called "Bode's Nebula," along with nearby M82 — has a visual magnitude of about +6.8, making it right on the very high end of the human visual range. Binoculars and small telescopes will enhance the view, with an even larger telescope revealing even more shape.

M82, called the Cigar Galaxy, is picked out as a fuzzy patch of light, sometimes in the same field of view as M81.

Closer to the tip of the tail of the Bear, we find M101, a galaxy known as the Pinwheel Galaxy. Its spiral shape really does make it look like a pinwheel, turned by an invisible wind in the galactic darkness.

So, while finding the Big Dipper is quite easy, I challenge you to look even deeper.

Joe Malan is ENE presentation editor .

Joe Malan is astronomy writer and presentation editor for the Enid News & Eagle. Email him at jmalan@enidnews.com.

Have a question about this story? Do you see something we missed? Do you have a story idea for Joe? Send an email to jmalan@enidnews.com.