What Constellation Contains the Big Dipper?
The Big Dipper is what astronomers call an asterism---a group of stars within a constellation, or within a number of constellations, that form a recognizable pattern. While many people think the Big Dipper is its own constellation, it is actually a part of Ursa Major.
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The Great Bear
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The Big Dipper consists of seven bright stars that together form what looks like a giant ladle in the sky. The bowl of the ladle is also the body of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, while the handle is the bear's long tail.
Double Star
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Much fainter stars fan out from the Big Dipper and form the legs and head of the bear, making Ursa Major the third-largest constellation in the night sky. The second star in the handle of the dipper, Mizar, is actually a double star system, visible to the keen-eyed observer on a clear night as two stars.
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North Star
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By following an imaginary line upward through the two stars on what would be the "pouring edge" of the dipper, an observer comes to Polaris---the North Star---in Ursa Minor, or the Little Bear.
Arcturus
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Arcturus, a very bright star in Bootes the Herdsman, is along the path of an imaginary line traced out from the arc of the handle of the dipper away from the bowl.
Myth
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In Greek mythology, Ursa Major and Minor were a mother and son that the gods changed into bears and placed in the sky near each other.
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