The Big Dipper

    One of the most famous asterisms in the night sky, the Big Dipper has played an important role in navigation and has been recognized as a distinct grouping in many cultures. In the British Isles this pattern is known as the Plough, a nod to the area's farming tradition. Across the Atlantic, in the nineteenth century, runaway slaves would "follow the Drinking Gourd" toward the north and freedom. Hindu astronomy refers to the pattern as Sapta Rishi meaning "The Seven Great Sages." While all stars drift and the constellations we see today will look much different tens of thousands of years from now, the stars that make up the Big Dipper will still make up roughly the same shape. These stars, bound loosely by gravity, belong to an association of stars known as the Ursa Major Moving Cluster and will remain together for future generations to look upon and wonder, just as mankind has done ever since turning its gaze toward the stars.

    The Big Dipper is outlined above

Circled above is one of the stranger constellations in the northern hemisphere, Coma Berenices. This scattering of stars is said to represent a mop of hair. It is named after Queen Berenice II, the wife of Ptolemy III of Egypt, whose beautiful tresses were gifted to Aphrodite. The goddess was so pleased by this gift that she, as gods and goddess of Greek mythology are often wont to do, placed it in the night sky.