A clear spring night can be a fantastic time to stargaze. The sky is full of different constellations, but one of the easiest to spot is Ursa Major. Also known as the Plough, or the Big Dipper, it’s made up of seven bright stars. It looks a bit like a saucepan! All seven of its stars have different names.
Where can I see it?
During the spring months, Ursa Major can be spotted high in the sky, almost directly overhead. Depending on when and where you’re looking at it, it might appear to be upside-down.
Although all the stars in the constellation look like they’re close to each other, some are much further away. Most of them are around 80 light years away, but two of them are more than 100 light years away!
How can Ursa Major help me find north?
Here’s the really clever part. First, look at the two stars on the right of the constellation (or the right-hand edge of the saucepan!). Then trace an imaginary line that starts at the lower star (named Merak) and carries on through the higher one (named Dubhe). Follow this imaginary line through the sky until you reach another bright star. This is Polaris, also known as the North Star.
The North Star is always found in the sky directly above the North Pole. Other stars rotate around it during the night, but the North Star stays where it is. So when you find it in the sky, it also tells you which direction north is!
What’s Ursa Minor?
Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Dipper, is the constellation that the North Star is a part of. It’s smaller than Ursa Major, but it has a similar shape.
We have six brilliant stargazing sites within our hostel network, and we now offer an exceptional experience for families, individuals and school groups where there is availability to hire a Dark Skies box. Our Dark Skies boxes provide all the equipment and educational information to explore the galaxies and constellations above. Happy stargazing!
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