How the Sky Turns · 5 of 8
The Big Dipper & Friends
How can one star pattern lead you to four bright stars?
One asterism, four departures: Arcturus, Spica, Polaris and Regulus, each on a line you can draw with your hand.
You’ll be able to hop from the Big Dipper to Arcturus, Spica, Polaris and Regulus.
Before this: Finding the North Star (6 min)
Where and which night
Working out when this is best placed from where you are…
Where
Kept for this guide only, until you change it here — your map settings, and every other guide, stay as they are.
Print, play outside or present
Scan with a phone's camera, or open
Sources
- HYG stellar database v4.2 — star positions, magnitudes and every separation quoted here
- Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, 2nd ed. (1998), ch. 17 — the great-circle separations behind each hop
- Gaia DR3 (ESA, 2022) — the Ursa Major moving group, and Mizar and Alcor as physical companions
- van Leeuwen, Hipparcos: the New Reduction, A&A 474, 653 (2007) — the proper motions every star is carried by
- Mamajek et al., AJ 139, 919 (2010) — Alcor is a binary, and it is bound to Mizar
With a keyboard, focus the sky, aim it with the up and down arrow keys, and press Enter to drop the pin at the centre of the view; or press Show me.