COSMOS / CONSTELLATIONS / UMA
Ursa Major (Great Bear)
The Great Bear. IAU abbreviation UMa. One of the 48 classical constellations listed by Ptolemy in the Almagest in the 2nd century AD.
STAR CHART
KEY FACTS
- IAU abbreviation
- UMa
- Latin name / genitive
- Ursa Major / Ursae Majoris
- Position
- Right ascension ≈ 10 h 56 m; declination +32° to +73°
- Visibility from Türkiye
- Visible in full from anywhere in Türkiye. When it crosses the meridian its centre stands about 78° above the horizon from Ankara.
- Best time to observe
- Best placed at 21:00 Türkiye time around 3 May.
- Number of stars
- 218 stars brighter than magnitude 6.5 in the catalogue; 39 brighter than 5 and 20 brighter than 4.
INTERACTIVE LAB
Where is Ursa Major tonight?
The lab opens for Ankara on today’s date. Drag the time slider through the night; the “Best night” button jumps to the date when the constellation is highest at 21:00 (around 3 May). Change the city to compare the view from elsewhere in Türkiye and around the world.
MYTH, HISTORY AND OBSERVING
The Big Dipper, the best-known star pattern in the sky, is only part of this large constellation. Merak and Dubhe at the lip of the bowl point to Polaris; Mizar and Alcor in the handle are a famous naked-eye pair. The galaxies M81 and M82 and the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) are here.
BRIGHTEST STARS
| Star | Magnitude | Distance (light-years) | Spectral type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alioth | 1.76 | 83 | A0p |
| Dubhe | 1.81 | 123 | F7V |
| Alkaid | 1.85 | 104 | B3V |
| Mizar | 2.23 | 86 | A2V |
| Merak | 2.34 | 80 | A1V |
| Phecda | 2.41 | 83 | A0V |
| ψ UMa | 3.00 | 145 | K1III |
| Tania Australis | 3.06 | 230 | M0III |
Magnitude: apparent brightness; the smaller the number, the brighter the star. Distances derive from parallax measurements and are uncertain for distant stars. Source: HYG v4.1 star catalogue (CC BY-SA 4.0).
SOURCES
Position, visibility and best observing time were computed approximately for this page from the catalogue stars (Ankara, 39.9° N). The 88 constellations were adopted by the IAU in 1922; their boundaries were drawn by Eugène Delporte in 1930.