Constellation Ursa Major - myths and legends about the origin

Probably, every adult person remembers a wonderful lullaby from an old Soviet cartoon about Umka. It was she who for the first time showed the constellation Big Dipper to small TV viewers. Thanks to this cartoon, many had an interest in astronomy, wanted to find out more about this so strangely named set of bright planets.

The constellation Ursa Major is an asterism of the northern hemisphere of the sky, having a huge number of names that have come down to us from antiquity: Moose, Plow, Seven Wise Men, Wagon and others. This set of bright celestial bodies is the third largest pleiad of the whole sky. The most interesting is that some parts of the "bucket", which is part of the constellation Ursa Major, are visible all year round.

It is due to its characteristic location and brightness that this galaxy is recognizable. The constellation consists of seven stars, which have Arabic names, but Greek designations.

The stars in the constellation Ursa Major

There is a huge variety of theories about the origin of the constellation Ursa Major.

The first legend relates to Eden. Once upon a time there lived a nymph Callisto - the daughter of Lycaon and the assistant of the goddess Artemis. Her beauty was legendary. Even Zeus himself could not resist her charms. The union of God and the nymph led to the birth of the son of Arkas. Enraged, Hera turned Callisto into a bear. During one of the hunts, Arkas nearly killed his mother, but Zeus saved her in time, sending him to heaven. There he also moved his son, turning it into a constellation of the Little Bear.

The second legend relates directly to Zeus. As the legend says, the ancient Greek Titan Kronos destroyed every his heir, for it was predicted to him that one of them would overthrow him from the throne. However, Rhea - mother of Zeus - decided to save her child's life and hid it in the cave of Ida, located on the modern island of Crete. It was in this cave that he was reared by the Amalfean goat and two nymphs, who, according to legend, were bears. They were called Helis and Melissa. Having overthrown his father and the rest of the titans, Zeus gave his brothers - Hades and Poseidon - the underground and water kingdom, respectively. In gratitude for feeding and nursing Zeus immortalized the bear and goat, taking them to heaven. Amalfeo became a star in the constellation of the Auriga. And Helis and Melissa are now two pleiades - the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.

Myths of Mongolian peoples identify this asterism with the mystical number "seven". They have long constellation The Great Bear was called the Seven Elders, the Seven Wise Men, the Seven Blacksmiths and the Seven Gods.

There is a Tibetan legend for the emergence of this galaxy of bright stars. The belief says that once upon a time a man with a cow's head lived in the steppes. In the fight against evil (in tradition it appears as a black bull), he stood up for the white bull (good). For this man was punished by a witch, having smashed with an iron weapon. From the impact, he broke up into 7 parts. A kind white bull, estimating the contribution of man to the fight against evil, took him to heaven. Thus appeared the constellation Ursa Major, in which there are seven bright stars.