Officially, the Dipper is not a full-fledged constellation, but an asterism — just a part of the constellation known as Ursa Major, the Great Bear. And indeed, Ursa Major is a big bear.

The seven brightest stars of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, form this well-known asterism which is known as the Big Dipper. Photograph by Jamie Cooper.

This week on Star Watch you will be able to see multiple planets in the night sky and the big and little dipper constellations. Friday, June 28, at 11 PM you will be able to see 2 planets in the sky.

Week of April 13-19, 2025 Spring has sprung in the Earth's Northern Hemisphere, and with it come some pleasant evenings perfect for stargazing. And front and center right now appears one of the ...

The Big Dipper is what we call an asterism. It's basically just a pattern of bright stars that aren't official constellations. Sometimes these patterns are just part of a bigger constellation. In ...

Mizar, a star in the Big Dipper's handle, has a tiny companion. This star, Alcor, was known to the ancients. The pair was popularly known as the "Horse and Rider." ...

(WJHL) – This week on Star Watch, we’re going to be talking about a few things that you can see in the night sky, from planets to some classic constellations. The moon and the planet Saturn ...

I'm probably the least knowledgeable member of the Popular Astronomy Club. I “married into” astronomy more than 41 years ago when I married Roy, a passionate amateur astronomer.

The Big Dipper in the Ursa Major constellation as seen from Backwater Reservoir in Scotland. ... Going back to the Big Dipper, ... Spica is a blue-white first magnitude star 250 light-years away.