Ursa Major & Minor

All of you must have seen a kite like star constellation towards North in the sky.

It's called Ursa Major .If you extend the line through the outer stars you get Polaris & a smaller replica of Ursa Major which is called as Ursa Minor.

Ursa Major is among the most known and oldest constellations. It has the greatest number of  stars compared to all other constellations.

The Romans called the constellation Septentrio, or “seven plough oxen,” even though only two of the seven stars represented oxen, while the others formed a wagon.

 In Hindu legend, the brightest stars of Ursa Major represent the Seven Sages and the constellation is known as Saptarshi. The sages in question are Bhrigu, Atri, Angirasa, Vasishta, Pulastya, Pulalaha and Kratu.

Ursa Major is primarily known from the asterism of its main seven stars, which has been called the "Big Dipper," "the Wagon," "Charles's Wain," or "the Plough," among other names.

Ursa major in Latin means the great female bear & is the most predominant and common, although most people fail to see the image of the bear to the stars. Ursa Major is visible almost all year long from the northern hemisphere .

Here goes the Greek story.

The Myth of Zeus and Callisto is another myth of love and jealousy, a common theme in the Greek Mythology. 

According to the Greek mythology , Zeus had many girlfriends among the humans and one of his most favorite ones was Callisto.

 He used to visit her often, arousing the jealousy of his wife Hera, who was determined to take revenge against this woman as well.

As Zeus and Callisto were walking through the woods one day, Zeus saw Hera approaching, but he did not know how to hide Callisto in time. 

Therefore, he transformed her into a huge bear. 

When Hera approached them, she saw Zeus walking by himself in the forest. 

She saw the bear, but knowing her husband pretty well, she did not believe that he was alone there.

 She insisted that they would both return to mount Olympus together. 

Zeus did not want to leave, because he knew that he had to bring Callisto back to human form before returning to the Olympus. But Hera insisted and so it happened.

Zeus went back to the mountain with his wife, leaving Callisto as a bear. 

However, the same day, Arcas, the son of Callisto was also out in the woods hunting. 

He saw the big bear in front of him and took a shot at her, aiming at the heart. 

His stroke was successful and the bear was lethally wounded.

 In front of his surprised eyes the bear started dieing, but it started changing back into his mother, Callisto.

 Arcas saw his mother with an arrow in her heart, and started crying loudly for what he had done to his mother.

Arcas understood that Zeus played a game with his mother transforming her into a bear

 He became even angrier and started crying louder. 

Zeus heard him and understood that Hera could hear the man as well, so he went back to earth to persuade Arcas not to reveal the secret. 

Zeus changed Callisto back in to a bear and made her the largest constellation in the northern sky, known as the Great bear or Big Dipper.

 He also turned Arcas into a smaller constellation, known as small bear or Little  Dipper.

Arcas turned to see his mother while being placed on to the skies; this is the main reason why, according to the Greek mythology, the Little Dipper curves towards the Big Dipper.

How's that?

Next time we will see the Polaris story.

Till then good bye.

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