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URSA MAJOR

The most famous of all the northern constellations; circumpolar in England and the northern United States. Mythologically it represents Callisto, daughter of King Lycason of Arcadia. Her beauty surpassed that of Juno, which so infuriated the goddess that she ill naturedly changed Callisto’s into a bear. Years later Arcas, Callisto’s son found the bear while out hunting, and was about to shoot it when Jupiter intervened, swinging both Callisto and Arcas – also transformed into a bear – up to the sky: Callisto as Ursa Major, Arcas as Ursa Minor. The Sudden jolt explains why both bears have tails stretched out to decidedly un-ursine length! The seven main stars of Ursa Major are often called the plough; sometimes King Charles’ Wain and, in America, the Big Dipper. One of the Plough star is Mizar, the most celebrated naked eye double in the sky since it makes a pair with Alcor; Mizar is itself a compound system, and the two main components are easily separable with a small telescope. Ursa Major contains nineteen stars above the fourth magnitude: Several of the Plough stars have alternative proper names; thus hmay also be called Benetnasch, while gmay be Phekda or Phecda. However, Mizar is the only star whose proper name is generally used.

(Abbreviation: UMa).

BRIGHTEST STARS

STAR	R.A.			DEC			MAG	ABS.MAG.	SPEC	DIST.PC
STAR	H	M	S	o	‘	“	MAG	ABS.MAG.	SPEC	DIST.PC
1 o	08	30	15.8	+60	43	05	3.36	-0.9	G4	71 MUSCIDA
4 p²	08	40	12.9	+64	19	40	4.60	-0.1	K2	87 TA TSUN
9 i	08	59	12.4	+48	02	29	3.14	2.4	A7	15 TALITA
10	09	00	38.3	+41	46	57	3.97	3.4	F5	14
12 k	09	03	37.5	+47	09	23	3.60	-0.6	A0	28
15 f	09	08	52.2	+51	36	16	4.48	+2.1	A0	29
14 t	09	10	55.0	+63	30	49	4.67	0.5	F6 + A5	70
23 h	09	31	31.7	+63	03	42	3.67	1.7	F0	25
25 q	09	32	51.3	+51	40	38	3.17	2.2	F6	14
24 d	09	34	28.8	+69	49	49	4.56	3.0	G2	21
26	09	34	49.4	+52	03	05	4.50	1.4	A2	42
29 u	09	50	59.3	+59	02	19	3.80v	1.9	F2	26
30 f	09	52	06.3	+54	03	41	4.59	0.9	A3	13
33 l	10	17	05.7	+42	54	52	3.45	0.6	A2	37 TANIA BOREALIS
34 m	10	22	19.7	+41	29	58	3.05	-0.4	M0	48 TANIA AUSTRALIS
48 b	11	01	50.4	+56	22	56	2.37	1.2	A1	19 MERAK
50 a	11	03	43.6	+61	45	03	1.79	0.2	K0	23 DUBHE
52 y	11	09	39.7	+44	29	54	3.01	0.0	K1	37
53 x	11	18	10.9	+31	31	45	3.79	4.9	G0	7.7 ALULA AUSTRALIS
54 n	11	18	28.7	+33	05	39	3.48	0.2	K3	46 ALULA BOREALIS
63 c	11	46	03.0	+47	46	45	3.71	0.2	K0	37 ALKAFZAH
64 g	11	53	49.7	+53	41	41	2.44	0.6	A0	23 PHAD
69 d	12	15	25.5	+57	01	57	3.31	1.7	A3	20 MEGREZ
77 e	12	54	01.7	+55	57	35	1.77v	0.2	A0	19 ALIOTH
79 z	13	23	05.5	+54	55	31	2.09	0.4	A2 + A6	18 MIZAR
80	13	25	13.4	+54	59	17	4.01	2.1	A5	25 ALCOR
83 g	13	40	44.1	+54	40	54	4.66	0.5	M2	100
85 h	13	47	32.3	+49	18	48	1.86	-1.7	B3	33 ALKAID

DOUBLES

STAR	R.A.			DEC			MAGS.	P.A.	DIST.”
STAR	H	M	S	o	‘	“	MAGS.	P.A.	DIST.”
9 i	08	59	12.4	+48	02	29	3.1, 10.8	004	5.0 CLOSING
13 s²	09	10	23.1	+67	08	04	4.8, 8.5	024	2.2 BINARY, 700 YEARS
14 t	09	10	55.0	+63	30	49	4.7, 10.5	048	57.1 OPTICAL
29 u	09	50	59.3	+59	02	19	3.8, 11.5	293	11.6 FIXED
30 f	09	52	06.3	+54	03	41	4.6, 5.5	048	0.4 BINARY, 107 YEARS
53 x	11	18	10.9	+31	31	45	4.4, 4.8	125	2.9 BINARY, 60 YEARS
54 n	11	18	28.7	+33	05	39	3.5, 9.7	147	7.2 FIXED
79 z	13	23	05.5	+54	55	31	2.27, 3.95	150	14.5 NAKED-EYE PAIR WITH ALCOR

VARIABLES

STAR	R.A.		DEC		RANGE	PERIOD, D.	SPEC	TYPE
STAR	H	M	o	‘	RANGE	PERIOD, D.	SPEC	TYPE
R	10	44.1	+69	02	6.7 – 13.4	302	M	MIRA
VY	10	41.6	+67	40	5.0 – 6.6	---	N	IRREGULAR
TX	10	42.4	+45	50	6.8 – 8.9	3.06	B + F	ECLIPSING (ALGOL)
Z	11	53.9	+58	09	6.8 – 9.1	198	M	SEMI-REGULAR
RY	12	18.1	+61	35	7.0 – 8.2	311	M	SEMI-REGULAR
T	12	34.1	+59	46	6.6 – 13.4	257	M	MIRA
S	12	41.8	+61	22	7.4 – 12.3	226	S	MIRA

e and u are both variable, but with ranges of below 0.1 magnitudes.

CLUSTERS AND NEBULÆ

OBJECT	R.A.		DEC		TYPE	NOTES
OBJECT	H	M	º	‘	TYPE	NOTES
NGC2681	09	50.0	+51	31	GALAXY	MAG.10.4. TYPE Sa
NGC2768	09	07.8	+60	16	GALAXY	MAG.10.5. TYPE E5
NGC2841	09	18.6	+51	12	GALAXY	MAG.9.3. TYPE Sb
NGC 2950	09	39.1	+59	05	GALAXY	MAG.10.9. TYPE Sa(P)
NGC2976	09	43.2	+68	08	GALAXY	MAG.11.4. TYPE S
NGC3031 M.81	09	51.2	+69	18	GALAXY	MAG.7.9. TYPE Sb
NGC3034 M.82	09	51.9	+69	56	GALAXY	MAG.8.8. IRREGULAR. RADIO SOURCE
NGC3079	09	58.6	+55	57	GALAXY	MAG.11.2. TYPE Sb
NGC3077	09	59.4	+68	58	GALAXY	MAG.10.9. TYPE E2(P)
NGC3184	10	15.2	+41	40	GALAXY	MAG.12. TYPE Sc
NGC3198	10	16.7	+45	49	GALAXY	MAG.12.4. TYPE Sc
NGC3310	10	35.7	+53	46	GALAXY	MAG.10.1. IRREGULAR
NGC3359	10	43.4	+63	30	GALAXY	MAG.11. TYPE Sc
NGC 3348	10	43.5	+73	07	GALAXY	MAG.11.2. TYPE E
NGC3516	11	03.4	+72	50	GALAXY	MAG.11.6. TYPE Sa
NGC3556 M.108	11	08.7	+55	57	GALAXY	MAG.10.7. TYPE Sc. ‘EXTRA’ M OBJECT
NGC3587 M.97	11	12.0	+55	18	PLANETARY	MAG.12. OWL NEBULA. CENTRAL STAR (MAG.14.3)
NGC3613	11	15.7	+58	17	GALAXY	MAG.11.2. TYPE E5
NGC3619	11	16.5	+58	02	GALAXY	MAG.11.7 TYPE S
NGC3631	11	18.3	+53	28	GALAXY	MAG.11.2. TYPE Sc
NGC3642	11	19.6	+59	21	GALAXY	MAG.11.4. TYPE Sc
NGC3665	11	22.1	+39	02	GALAXY	MAG.11.4. TYPE E2
NGC3675	11	23.5	+43	52	GALAXY	MAG.10.6. TYPE Sb
NGC 3718	11	29.9	+53	21	GALAXY	MAG.11.2. TYPE S
NGC3738	11	33.1	+54	48	GALAXY	MAG.11.8. IRREGULAR
NGC3893	11	46.1	+49	00	GALAXY	MAG.11.3. TYPE Sc
NGC3898	11	46.7	+56	22	GALAXY	MAG.11.4. TYPE Sb
NGC3938	11	50.2	+44	24	GALAXY	MAG.11.5. TYPE Sc
NGC3941	11	50.3	+37	16	GALAXY	MAG.9.8. TYPE Sa
NGC3949	11	51.1	+48	08	GALAXY	MAG.11.0. TYPE Sb
NGC3982	11	53.9	+55	24	GALAXY	MAG.11.3. TYPE Sb
NGC3992 M.109	11	55.0	+53	39	GALAXY	MAG.10.8. TYPE Sb. ‘EXTRA’ M OBJECT
NGC3998	11	55.3	+55	44	GALAXY	MAG.11.3. TYPE E2
NGC 4026	11	56.9	+51	14	GALAXY	MAG.10.7. TYPE E8
NGC4036	11	58.9	+62	10	GALAXY	MAG.10.7. TYPE E6
NGC4041	11	59.7	+62	25	GALAXY	MAG.11.0. TYPE Sc
NGC4088	12	03.0	+50	49	GALAXY	MAG.10.9. TYPE Sc
NGC4111	12	04.5	+43	21	GALAXY	MAG.9.7. TYPE E8