URSA MAJOR

Great Bear Großer Bär Nagy Medve

Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear is one of the most well-known constellations in the northern sky. It is circumpolar from the most parts of the northern hemisphere (i.e. it is visible during the whole year) and it is easily recognisable by the asterism of its main seven stars, which has been called the "Big Dipper", "the Wagon", "Charles's Wain", or "the Plough", among other names. Due to its bright and conspicuous stars its associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. It was already known and used for navigation and measuring time during the night in various parts of Africa, Egypt, India and the Arabian Peninsula.

Originally the seven stars of the Big Dipper formed the constellation but later the Greeks and the Romans attached the fainter stars lying south to it, thus forming the shape of the Bear. It was depicted in the Greek mythology as a young woman named Callisto, a nymph of Artemis. She had a son named Arcas as the result of her rape by Zeus. When Hera, Zeus's wife discovered it, she transformed her into a bear in her jealous rage. The constellation also appears in Hindu and East-Asian traditions.
Ursa Major is among the few star groups that is mentioned in the Bible (Job 9:9; 38:32).