Secrets of the constellation Ursa Major: how different peoples saw it

The stars scattered across the dark sky only seem to be countless: only about 6,000 distant stars can be seen with the naked eye. But it is not easy to navigate in them either. Since ancient times, astronomers of different nations have folded constellations from them, following their legends, beliefs and ideas about the world. The same asterisms - bright groups of stars - could turn into anything. For example, the famous Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major often did not contact either the dipper or the bear at all.

Egypt

Bull's thigh

The ancient Egyptians were among the first astronomers in history, with some of their round stone "observatories" dating back to the fifth millennium BC. It was the Egyptians who laid the foundations of the constellation system that the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, the Greeks, the Arabs, and then modern science borrowed from them. At that dizzyingly distant time, due to the precession of the earth's axis, it was not the North Star that pointed to the north, but the Alpha Dragon (Tuban). Its surroundings, together with the nearest luminaries, were considered by the Egyptians to be a "motionless sky", the dwelling place of the gods. Instead of a bucket, the priests could see the leg of Set, the god of war and death, who turned into a bull and killed Osiris with a blow of his hoof. Hawkeye Horus cut off his limb in revenge for the murder of his father.

China

Emperor Shandi's wagon

Astronomers of ancient China divided the sky into 28 vertical sectors, "houses" through which the Moon passes on its monthly journey, just as the Sun passes through the signs of the Zodiac in its annual rotation in Western astrology, which borrowed the 12-sector division from the Egyptians. In the center of the heavens, like the emperor in the capital of the state, the Chinese placed the Pole Star, which had already taken its usual place by that time. The seven brightest stars of the Big Dipper are in an honorable proximity to it, within the Purple Fence - one of the three Fences that surround the palace of the "royal" star. They could be described as the North Bucket, orientated according to the season, or as part of the carriage of the Heavenly Emperor Shandi.

India

Seven wise men

Observational astronomy in ancient India did not develop as brilliantly as, say, mathematics. Her performances were greatly influenced by both Greece and China - for example, 27-28 "stations" (nakshatras), through which the Moon passes in about a month, are very reminiscent of the Chinese lunar "houses". The Hindus also attached great importance to the North Star, which, according to Vedic scholars, is the abode of Vishnu himself. The asterism of the Bucket located under it was considered the saptarish - seven sages born from the mind of Brahma, the forefathers of the world of our era (Kali-yuga) and everyone living in it.

Greece

She-bear

Ursa Major is one of 48 constellations listed in Ptolemy's star catalog around 140 BC, although it was first mentioned much earlier, even by Homer. Confusing Greek myths offer different prehistories for his appearance, although everyone agrees that the bear is the beautiful Callisto, the companion of the hunter goddess Artemis. According to one version, using his usual tricks with reincarnation, the loving Zeus seduced her, causing the anger of both his wife Hera and Artemis herself. Rescuing his mistress, the thunderer turned her into a bear who wandered in the mountain forests for many years until her own son, born of Zeus, met her while hunting. The Supreme God had to intervene again. Preventing matricide, he lifted both of them to heaven.

America

Great Bear

It seems that the Indians understood something about wild animals: in the legend of the Iroquois about the origin of asterism, the "heavenly bear" has no tail. The three stars that form the handle of the bucket are three hunters chasing the beasts: Aliot draws a bow with an arrow embedded in it, Mizar carries a cauldron for cooking meat (Alcor), and Benetnash carries an armful of brushwood to kindle the hearth. In the fall, when the Bucket turns around and sinks low to the horizon, the blood from the wounded bear drips down, painting the trees in variegated colors.

MAC

Big Dipper

The Big Dipper is an asterism that is part of the third largest of the 88 modern constellations. Ursa Major occupies more than 3% of the entire area of the sky; not only stars are observed here, but also many distant bright galaxies. Among them is the famous Pinwheel Galaxy (NGC 5457), located northwest of Benetnash, the outermost star in the "handle" of the bucket. Today it is known that the five bucket stars (minus Dubhe and Benetnash) really belong to a single group of stars (Colinder 285), related by a common origin and motion. Its center is 80 light-years from the Sun, making Kolinder 285 the closest cluster of stars to us, and it continues to approach at a speed of almost 50 km / s.

Alina Eremeeva, historian of astronomy, senior researcher at the Moscow State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering:

“Even in the Chinese chronicles of the 3rd millennium BC. describes systematic observations of the stars of the Big Dipper, which noticed a change in the evening position of its handle. The pole was then close to the alpha of the Dragon, and the Bucket seemed to revolve around it, orienting itself differently in different seasons. Looking closely at this rotation, it is not difficult to see in it the likely source of the swastika, a symbol of eternity and ever-flowing time. This is indirectly evidenced by the traditional form of one of the main Chinese inventions, the compass, which was made in the form of a bucket with a handle pointing to the south. I hope that understanding the real content of this ancient symbol will help cleanse its reputation, tainted by its connection with fascism."