Talk:Ursa Major

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[edit] Photograph for article

I tried to integrate this photograph into the article but it caused trouble with the text around the ursamajor-guide image. I hope someone in the future can find a way to integrate this into the article with out it causing damage to the article. Triddle 23:46, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Ok, nice photo. How's it look now? I put it in the notes field of the infobox. If it could be cropped on the right, it would make the fainter stars look better. -Wikibob | Talk 00:18, 2005 Apr 1 (UTC)
Nice! Thanks =) I cropped the photo to just Ursa Major now and it sure looks better. Triddle 04:16, 1 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Bear

The article should explain how the constellation looks like a bear. I can't see it myself. --JimmyTheWig 11:38, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

I included this image. Does it make sense now? --KRISTAGAα-ω 12:33, 13 September 2005 (UTC)
The drawing Hevelius made of Ursa Major. Note that the drawing is mirrored to match the view in a telescope
The drawing Hevelius made of Ursa Major. Note that the drawing is mirrored to match the view in a telescope
Makes sense, but I still think it is very tenuous! Ok, the tail looks a bit like a tail, but I fail to see how four stars in a trapezium that make up half the bear's body mean the constellation is a bear. Bizarre.

--JimmyTheWig 15:20, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

I suspect you're considering the Big Dipper as being equivalent to the constellation Ursa Major; the Dipper is only part of it. Strictly speaking, the Big Dipper is an asterism, not officially a constellation. The Hevelius picture is not very clear to me either. I've seen other pictures that make it more clear. There are some stars that suggest legs and paws, and there's a triangle for the head. But there is something funny. Think about it; have you ever seen a bear with a long tail? 140.147.160.78 14:45, 6 November 2007 (UTC)Stephen Kosciesza

[edit] Big Dipper v. Ursa Major

I changed 213.100.150.190's edit of October 13th back to read Big Dipper instead of Ursa Major when discussing the asterism of the Big Dipper that is part of the larger constellation.--Kalsermar 00:04, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Plough only

The picture at the top only shows The Plough (aka The Big Dipper in the US) not the whole constellation of Ursa Major. It provides a link to a diagram of The Plough, so why isn't there one of all of Ursa Major? --Jcvamp 16:28, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

Which picture are you referring to? The one in the infobox at the top is of the whole constellation.--Kalsermar 16:34, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

I was refering to the picture at the top, and the whole constellation isn't highlighted, only the asterism of 'The Plough'.--Jcvamp 07:10, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

The way how lines are drawn in a constellation map is more or less just aesthetics. The constellation maps here on Wikipedia seem to follow rather minimalistic style.--JyriL talk 08:52, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
aesthetics or not, the way the stars are highlighted right now is confusing and might make a lot of people think that the big plough/big dipper is actually ursa major and i doubt that's what the article should go after. Private meta 08:40, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wider table

You should add right ascension, declination, absolute magnitude and spectral type to every star table. For the right ascension and declination, you should put the digits of seconds down to hundredths. For the absolute magnitude, don't put the plus sign if it is positive and put the minus sign before negative. For spectral type, you must put the spectral letter, a number, a luminosity class, and other like peculiar lines (p) and m.... lines (m). For the distance, you should add the known distances to the blanks like a lot of Flamsteed stars and Bayer stars with Latin letters. And also correct the distances that I added from the parallaxes in alcyone software that is only down to thousands but it should be down to hundredth-thousandths or it should be in milliarcseconds down only to hundredths. If it is wrong, you must change it and causes the correction of absolute magnitude. The table below lists in order from left to right is shown.

Bayer designation {BD} || Flamsteed designation {F} || Names and other designations || Right Ascension || Declination || Apparent magnitude {App Mag} || Absolute magnitude {Abs Mag} || Distance (Ly) || Distance (Pc) || Spectral type || Comments —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.57.140.150 (talk) 17:44, 22 December 2006 (UTC).

The list should be moved to List of stars in Ursa Major (cf. List of stars in Andromeda). It doesn't belong to the main article.--JyriL talk 22:19, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation

Is the given IPA pronunciation British? I ask because it doesn't have any R sound in it.

[edit] Capitalization bug

On this page and the Ursa Minor page, the capitalization in the box at the right has the second word lowercase. This makes the link to the list of stars not work right, and if you change it the star map will not work. How can this be fixed?

Rdl381 20:01, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Exoplanets

According to the article "47 Ursae Majoris has a planetary system with two confirmed planets, 2.54 times and 0.76 times the mass of Jupiter." Does anyone know what the names or numbers of these planets are? Vsst 02:30, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Origins of the name

The page originally read:

The origin of the name is a mistake founded on approximate sounds. Rakh is Sanskrit for "to be bright" the Greeks corrupted this to the word arktos which means bear. The Romans called it Ursa the bear, and Septemtriones the seven ploughing oxen which lead to Septentrional signifying the north.

The idea that it came from a corruption of "rakh" seems just as probable as the word "Greek" coming from people interpreting the Hellenes sounding like "greek greek greek greek" when they spoke. I also know that arktos shares the indo-european root "arth" which means "bear" which is also present in sanskrit. אמר Steve Caruso 04:45, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hesperides

The paragraph read:

Formerly, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor were associated with the Hesperides. These two groups of stars, together with Libra, Boötes and Draco, may have inspired the myth of the apples of the Hesperides, one of The Twelve Labours of Hercules. In Hindu mythology the seven stars are identified with seven sages and the constellation is called Saptarshi Mandalam.

As the last sentence has nothing to do with the rest of the paragraph, it would normally be separated out to stand on its own. However, as the subject is not Ursa Major as a whole, but only the Big Dipper, I have deleted it instead. (A similar sentence already appears in the Big Dipper article.)

It is hard to imagine how the southern constellation Libra could be associated in a myth with four northern circumpolar groups. It seems that its inclusion here is an error due to a misunderstanding of a line in the article Draco: "Due to its position and nearby constellations in the zodiac sign of Libra (i.e. Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, and Boötes), the group of constellations can be seen to tell the tale of the eleventh labour."

On the other hand, one wonders at the exclusion of Hercules from the group. I have, therefore, substituted Hercules for Libra, and rewritten the paragraph.

B00P (talk) 10:20, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Merge proposal - Delaware Diamond

The stub article Delaware Diamond is a single line note regarding the location of a star that has been adopted as a symbol for the U.S. State Delaware. It has a citation (to Delaware legislature). I do not see a significant advantage to having this (sub)stub exist as a standalone article at this time, but I do not think the information should be removed from Wikipedia, either. Thus my proposal to merge. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 10:24, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

There is no star called "Delaware Diamond". This isn't something they bought off one of those "name a star" companies, is it?Skeptic2 (talk) 15:55, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
I believe so, yes. There is likely an official designation, inclusion of which would be a prerequisite for merging, I think. I have not done any checking for more information yet, but I do plan to do so. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me)