Bear Hunt in the Sky

Perhaps the most well-known star group is the Big Dipper. Technically it is not a constellation, but is part of Ursa Major, the Big Bear. Look toward the north to find it. The dipper may be upside down or sideways, depending on the season or time of night.

 

The Micmac Indians of Nova Scotia share a timely story about a “bear hunt” in the sky. The four stars that make up the bowl of the dipper represent the bear who emerges from her den in spring. During midsummer, she runs across the horizon pursued by three hunters, Robin, Chickadee and her pot, (actually a double star) and Moosebird or Gray Jay. These are the stars that make up the handle. By mid-autumn, the bear stands erect to defend herself. Before winter, Robin fires an arrow and the bear’s blood stains her breast. The injured bear falls close to the horizon, her blood brushing the trees and turning them red. By midwinter, a new bear appears and the hunt is repeated.

 

Follow a line through the two stars at the front of the Big Dipper bowl. It will point directly at Polaris, or the North Star. It’s the last star in the handle of the Little Dipper.

 

Most people are surprised this star is so faint, nevertheless it is important. Because the Earth's axis points right at Polaris, our pole star, it remains in the same relative position all night, and all other stars appear to rotate around it.

 

To identify the rest of the Little Dipper, look for a bowl shape similar to the Big Dipper, but smaller and fainter. The dippers face each other, so something poured from the one would go into the other.

 

The folk song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" (another name for the Big Dipper) was a coded song that gave directions on the Underground Railroad route from Alabama and Mississippi. On their long escape, African Americans used Polaris in the Little Dipper to guide their northward journey.

 

If you trace a line from the front of the Big Dipper bowl to the North Star, and then continue an equal distance beyond, you'll see a wide W- or M-shaped constellation known as Cassiopeia, queen of Ethiopia in Greek mythology. She was beautiful and quite vain. The queen made the mistake of bragging about her loveliness. As punishment, she was banished to the heavens by Neptune. He seated her on her throne, with her head pointing towards the North Star. In this position, she spends half of every night upside-down.