48Ursa Major, The Larger Bear
NAME: Ursa Major (ER-suh MAY-jur)
SEASON: Spring
CULMINATION: midnight, 11 March
ABBREVIATION: UMa
GENITIVE: Ursae Majoris (ER-sigh muh-JOR-is)
NEIGHBORS: Boo, Cam, Com, CVn, Dra, Leo, LMi, Lyn
BINOCULAR OBJECTS: NGC 3031 (M 81), NGC 3034 (M 82), NGC 3556 (M 108), NGC 3587 (M 97), NGC 3992 (M 109), Win 4 (M 40), NGC 5457 (M 101)
URBAN OBJECTS: NGC 3031 (M 81), NGC 3034 (M 82)
Ursa Major is a large, bright, northerly constellation that ranks 3rd in size among the 88 constellations. Ursa Major covers 1,280 square degrees of the celestial sphere, or about 3.1%. The brightest stars in Ursa Major form the prominent asterism known in the United States as The Big Dipper and in Britain as The Plough. Ursa Major, along ...
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