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Ursa Major: Difference between revisions
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* The Hubble Deep Field is located to the northeast of δ Ursae Majoris. | * The Hubble Deep Field is located to the northeast of δ Ursae Majoris. | ||
==Mythology== | |||
The constellation of Ursa Major has been seen as a bear by many distinct civilizations. This may stem from a common oral tradition stretching back more than 13,000 years.[21] Using statistical and phylogenetic tools, Julien d'Huy reconstructs the following Palaeolithic state of the story: "There is an animal that is a horned herbivore, especially an elk. One human pursues this ungulate. The hunt locates or get to the sky. The animal is alive when it is transformed into a constellation. It forms the Big Dipper". | |||
In Burmese, Pucwan Tārā (pronounced "bazun taja") is the name of a constellation comprising stars from the head and forelegs of Ursa Major; pucwan is a general term for a crustacean, such as prawn, shrimp, crab, lobster, etc. | |||
In Roman mythology, Jupiter (the king of the gods) lusts after a young woman named Callisto, a nymph of Diana. Juno, Jupiter' jealous wife, transforms the beautiful Callisto into a bear. Callisto, while in bear form, later encounters her son Arcas. Arcas almost shoots the bear, but to avert the tragedy, Jupiter turns them into bears and puts them in the sky, forming Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Callisto is Ursa Major and her son, Arcas, is Ursa Minor. In ancient times the name of the constellation was Helike, ("turning"), because it turns around the Pole. In Book Two of Lucan it is called Parrhasian Helice, since Callisto came from Parrhasia in Arcadia, where the story is set.[23] The Odyssey notes that it is the sole constellation that never sinks below the horizon and "bathes in the Ocean's waves", so it is used as a celestial reference point for navigation. It is also referred to as the "Wain". | |||
One of the few star groups mentioned in the Bible (Job 9:9; 38:32; — Orion and the Pleiades being others), Ursa Major was also pictured as a bear by the Jewish peoples. ("The Bear" was translated as "Arcturus" in the Vulgate and it persisted in the KJV.) | |||
In Finnish language, the asterism is sometimes called with its old Finnish name, Otava. The meaning of the name has been almost forgotten in Modern Finnish; it means a salmon weir. | |||
The Iroquois Native Americans interpreted Alioth, Mizar, and Alkaid as three hunters pursuing the Great Bear. According to one version of their myth, the first hunter (Alioth) is carrying a bow and arrow to strike down the bear. The second hunter (Mizar) carries a large pot — the star Alcor — on his shoulder in which to cook the bear while the third hunter (Alkaid) hauls a pile of firewood to light a fire beneath the pot. | |||
The Wampanoag people(Algonquian) Native Americans referred to Ursa Major as "maske", meaning "bear" according to Thomas Morton in The New England Canaan.[26]In Hinduism, Ursa Major is known as Saptarshi, each of the stars representing one of the Saptarshis or Seven Sages viz. Bhrigu, Atri, Angirasa, Vasishta, Pulastya, Pulalaha and Kratu. The fact that the two front stars of the constellations point to the pole star is explained as the boon given to the boy sage Dhruva by Lord Vishnu. | |||
In Javanese, as known as "Bintang Kartika". This name comes from Sanskrit which refers "krttikã" the same star cluster. In ancient Javanese this brightest seven stars are known as Lintang Wuluh, literally means "seven stars". This star clusters so popular because its emergence into the start time marker for planting. | |||
In South Korea, the constellation is referred to as "the seven stars of the north". In the related myth, a widow with seven sons found comfort with a widower, but to get to his house required crossing a stream. The seven sons, sympathetic to their mother, placed stepping stones in the river. Their mother, not knowing who put the stones in place, blessed them and, when they died, they became the constellation. | |||
In Shinto, the 7 largest stars of Ursa Major belong to Amenominakanushi, the oldest and most powerful of all kami.In Japan, the Big Dipper is called the "North Dipper" 北斗 (hokutô), and in ancient times, each one of the seven stars had a specific name, often coming themselves from ancient China: | |||
* "Pivot" 樞 (sû) is for Dubhe (Alpha Ursae Majoris) | |||
* "Beautiful jade" 璇 (sen) is for Merak (Beta Ursae Majoris) | |||
* "Pearl" 璣 (ki) is for Phecda (Gamma Ursae Majoris) | |||
* "Authority" 權 (ken) is for Megrez (Delta Ursae Majoris) | |||
* "Measuring rod of jade" 玉衡 (gyokkô) is for Alioth (Epsilon Ursae Majoris) | |||
* "Opening of the Yang" 開陽 (kaiyô) is for Mizar (Zeta Ursae Majoris) | |||
* Alkaid (Eta Ursae Majoris) has several nicknames : "Sword" 劍 (ken) (short form from "End of the sword" 劍先 (ken saki) ), "Flickering light" 搖光 (yôkô), or again "Star of military defeat" 破軍星 (hagun sei), because travel in the direction of this star was regarded as bad luck for an army.[27] | |||
In Theosophy, it is believed the Seven Stars of the Pleiades focus the spiritual energy of the Seven Rays from the Galactic Logos to the Seven Stars of the Great Bear, then to Sirius, then to the Sun, then to the god of Earth (Sanat Kumara), and finally through the seven Masters of the Seven Rays to the human race. | |||
The Lakota people call the constellation Wičhákhiyuhapi, or "Great Bear"." | |||