BR 2-12: THE BIG DIPPER

I read this book "THE BIG DIPPER". Do you know it? If you go outside, you will be able to see a lot of stars in a dark night. What do you think "the big dipper"? I have never come up with. So I am going to talk about "the Big Dipper".

We look at a lot of stars in summer and in winter. However they are not always the same. We can see some of them in summer, but others are seen in winter. However, there are some stars that we can see both summer and winter. It is the Big Dipper. To look for it, we can use compass. If the Big Dipper is found, a compass points to the north. Moreover, we can see different kinds of the Big Dipper.

The Big Dipper consists of seven stars; Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Phecda, Merak and Dubhe. Merak and Dubhe are called the pointer stars. They indicate Polaris, the North Star.

There is also a Little Dipper. It also consists of seven stars. We are able to see a Little Dipper and the Big Dipper at the same time.

The Big Dipper was imagined part of a big bear long time ago by people. They called it Ursa Major. Ursa means bear, and major means big. Also the Little Dipper was part of a little bear. minor means little, so they called it Ursa Minor.

If you imagine that, you will be able to find shapes of them. Let's find them!

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