"Kim commented, ""At that time, I didn't sleep well studying for my final exams at university. When I stepped outside to watch the sky, I could see the Big Dipper. I began writing the song after being impressed by the fact that we get to see the asterism wherever on Earth stars are visible. (However,) it was actually the Orion's Belt rather than the Big Dipper."" He added that ""Not only exactly for romance or love, I hope the song becomes a direction for those who are pinched with cold, worried, or disoriented."" ""The Great Dipper"" peaked at number 30"
"to telescopic objects: The ""Seven Stars"" referenced in the Bible's Book of Amos may refer to these stars or, more likely, to the Pleiades. In addition, the constellation has also been used in corporate logos and the Alaska flag. The seven stars on a red background of the Flag of the Community of Madrid, Spain, are the stars of the Big Dipper Asterism. It can be said the same thing about the seven stars pictured in the bordure azure of the Coat of arms of Madrid, capital of Spain. Big Dipper The Big Dipper (US) or the Plough (UK, Ireland)"
"same year. Although not an exclusively communist symbol, the Plough, or Starry Plough, is a symbol of Irish socialism. It may have the same roots as the original hammer and Plough that was replaced by the hammer and sickle in Soviet Russia. The significance of the banner was that a free Workers Republic of Ireland would control its own destiny from the plough to the stars and the sword forged into the plough would mean the redundancy of war with the establishment of a socialist International. The flag depicts the Big Dipper, part of the constellation of Ursa Major that"
"to the star formation (an ""asterism"") known in America as the Big Dipper and in Europe as The Plough. The pointer stars of the Big Dipper align with the North Star. In this song the repeated line ""Follow the Drinkin' Gourd"" is thus often interpreted as instructions to escaping slaves to travel north by following the North Star, leading them to the northern states, Canada, and freedom: The song ostensibly encodes escape instructions and a map from Mobile, Alabama up the Tombigbee River, over the divide to the Tennessee River, then downriver to where the Tennessee and Ohio rivers meet"
"Wain"" or ""the Plough"" (among others), with its stellar configuration mimicking the shape of the ""Little Dipper"". The general constellation outline often significantly features in numerous world cultures, and frequently is used as a symbol of the north. e.g. as the flag of Alaska. Also the asterism's two brightest stars, named Dubhe and Merak (α Ursae Majoris and β Ursae Majoris), can be used as the navigational pointer towards the place of the current northern pole star, Polaris in Ursa Minor. Ursa Major is visible throughout the year from most of the northern hemisphere, and appears circumpolar above the mid-northern"
"simply as a recognisable pattern of stars whose appearance is associated with mythological characters or creatures, or earthbound animals, or objects. It can also specifically denote the officially recognized 88 named constellations used today. Colloquial usage does not draw a sharp distinction between ""constellations"" and smaller ""asterisms"" (pattern of stars), yet the modern accepted astronomical constellations employ such a distinction. E.g., the Pleiades and the Hyades are both asterisms, and each lies within the boundaries of the constellation of Taurus. Another example is the popular northern asterism known as the Big Dipper (US) or the Plough (UK), composed of the"
"neck, rearwards to the shoulder, potentially giving it the longer head and neck of a polar bear. Ursa Major is also pictured as the Starry Plough, the Irish flag of Labour, adopted by James Connolly's Irish Citizen Army in 1916, which shows the constellation on a blue background; on the state flag of Alaska; and on the House of Bernadotte's variation of the coat of arms of Sweden. The seven stars on a red background of the flag of the Community of Madrid, Spain, may be the stars of the Plough asterism (or of Ursa Minor). The same can be"
"in 1869 by Richard A. Proctor, who noticed that, except for Dubhe and Alkaid (Eta Ursae Majoris), the stars of the Big Dipper asterism all have proper motions heading towards a common point in Sagittarius. Thus, the Big Dipper, unlike most constellations or asterisms, is largely composed of related stars. Some of the brighter stream members include Alpha Coronae Borealis (α CrB or Alphecca or Gemma), Beta Aurigae (β Aur), Delta Aquarii (δ Aqr), Gamma Leporis (γ Lep) and Beta Serpentis (β Ser). More bright and moderately bright stars which are currently believed to be members of the group are"
"best-known patterns in the sky. Like many of its common names allude to, its shape is said to resemble either a ladle, an agricultural plough or wagon; in the context of Ursa Major, they are commonly drawn to represent the hindquarters and tail of the Great Bear. Starting with the ""ladle"" portion of the dipper and extending clockwise (eastward in the sky) through the handle, these stars are the following: Except for Dubhe and Alkaid, the stars of the Big Dipper all have proper motions heading toward a common point in Sagittarius. A few other such stars have been identified,"
"by following a line through the two stars—Alpha and Beta Ursae Majoris—that form the end of the 'bowl' of the Big Dipper, for 30 degrees (three upright fists at arms' length) across the night sky. The four stars constituting the bowl of the Little Dipper are of second, third, fourth, and fifth magnitudes, and provide an easy guide to determining what magnitude stars are visible, useful for city dwellers or testing one's eyesight. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the IAU (International Astronomical Union) in 1922, is ""UMi"". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte"
"The closest is the Ursa Major Moving Group which includes all of the stars in the Plough/Big Dipper asterism except for α Ursae Majoris and η Ursae Majoris. This is sufficiently close that the Sun lies in its outer fringes, without being part of the group. Hence, although members are concentrated at declinations near 60° N, some outliers are as far away across the sky as Triangulum Australe at 70° S. A stellar stream is an association of stars orbiting a galaxy that was once a globular cluster or dwarf galaxy that has now been torn apart and stretched out"
"Pictor Pictor is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, located between the star Canopus and the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its name is Latin for painter, and is an abbreviation of the older name Equuleus Pictoris (the ""painter's easel""). Normally represented as an easel, Pictor was named by Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. The constellation's brightest star is Alpha Pictoris, a white main-sequence star around 97 light-years away from Earth. Pictor also hosts RR Pictoris, a cataclysmic variable star system that flared up as a nova, reaching apparent (visual) magnitude 1.2 in 1925 before fading into obscurity."
"is known as ""The Plough"" in Ireland and Great Britain. The Plough is one of the most prominent features of the night sky over Ireland throughout the year. This was unveiled in 1914 and flown by the socialist workers' militia (the Irish Citizen Army) during the 1916 Easter Rising. In China, the Plough flag (), a red flag with white or yellow plough, is widely used in the period of the First Revolutionary Civil War as the flag of the Chinese peasant associations, an organization led by the Communist Party of China. It is believed that Peng Pai () was"
"Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, are an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. The cluster is dominated by hot blue and luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from the formation of the cluster, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated"
"mentally draw a line from the Pleiades star cluster located in Taurus and the brightest star in Leo, Regulus. In doing so, an imaginary line that is relatively close to the ecliptic is drawn, a line which intersects Gemini roughly at the midpoint of the constellation, just below Castor and Pollux. The constellation contains 85 stars visible to observation on Earth without a telescope. The brightest star in Gemini is Pollux, and the second-brightest is Castor. Castor's Bayer designation as ""Alpha"" arose because Johann Bayer did not carefully distinguish which of the two was the brighter when he assigned his"
"Ursa Major Ursa Major (; also known as the Great Bear) is a constellation in the northern sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means ""greater (or larger) she-bear"", standing as a reference to and in direct contrast with nearby Ursa Minor, the lesser bear. In antiquity, it was one of the original 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy (2nd century AD), and is now the third largest constellation of the 88 modern constellations. Ursa Major is primarily known from the asterism of its main seven relatively bright stars comprising the ""Big Dipper"", ""the Wagon"", ""Charles's"
"designation. It bore the traditional name ""Anser"", derived from when the constellation had the name ""Vulpecula cum Ansere"" 'the little fox with the goose'. In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name ""Anser"" for this star on 30 June 2017 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names. Alpha Vulpeculae Alpha Vulpeculae (α Vulpeculae, abbreviated Alf Vul, α Vul), also named Anser, is the brightest star in the constellation of Vulpecula. It is approximately 297 light-years from Earth."
"Dipper is the celestial compass, and its handle's direction determines the season and month. The stars are divided into Three Enclosures and 28 Mansions according to their location in the sky relative to Ursa Minor, at the centre. Each mansion is named with a character describing the shape of its principal asterism. The Three Enclosures are Purple Forbidden, (), Supreme Palace (), and Heavenly Market. () The eastern mansions are , , , , , , . Southern mansions are , , , , , , . Western mansions are , , , , , , . Northern mansions are"
"of the bier"" ( """"). The daughters of the bier, i.e. the mourning maidens, are the three stars of the handle of the Big Dipper, Alkaid, Mizar, and Alioth; while the four stars of the bowl, Megrez, Phecda, Merak, and Dubhe, are the bier. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included ""Alkaid"" for this star. It is known as 北斗七 (the Seventh"
"Alpha Ursae Majoris Alpha Ursae Majoris (α Ursae Majoris, abbreviated Alpha UMa, α UMa), also named Dubhe, is (despite being designated 'alpha') the second-brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Major. Alpha Ursae Majoris forms part of the Big Dipper (also known as the Plough or the Great Bear), and is the northern of the 'pointers' (or 'guards'), the two stars of Ursa Major which point towards Polaris, the North Star. Dubhe is about 123 light years from the Sun and is a giant star that has evolved away from the main sequence after consuming the hydrogen at its core."
"pair Messier 81 (one of the brightest galaxies in the sky) and Messier 82 above the bear's head, and Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), a spiral northeast of η Ursae Majoris. The spiral galaxies Messier 108 and Messier 109 are also found in this constellation. The bright planetary nebula Owl Nebula (M97) can be found along the bottom of the bowl of the Big Dipper. M81 is a nearly face-on spiral galaxy 11.8 million light-years from Earth. Like most spiral galaxies, it has a core made up of old stars, with arms filled with young stars and nebulae. Along with M82, it"
"Polaris Polaris, designated Alpha Ursae Minoris ( Ursae Minoris, abbreviated Alpha UMi, UMi), commonly the North Star or Pole Star, is the brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star. The revised Hipparcos parallax gives a distance to Polaris of about 433 light-years (133 parsecs), while calculations by other methods derive distances around 30% closer. Polaris is a multiple star, comprising the main star (Polaris Aa, a yellow supergiant) in orbit with a smaller companion (Polaris Ab); the pair in orbit with Polaris B"
"remain in use, likely because of their proximity to the north celestial pole. Within the constellation's borders, there are 39 stars brighter than or equal to apparent magnitude 6.5. Marking the Little Bear's tail, Polaris, or Alpha Ursae Minoris, is the brightest star in the constellation, varying between apparent magnitude 1.97 and 2.00 over a period of 3.97 days. Located around 432 light-years away from Earth, it is a yellow-white supergiant that varies between spectral types F7Ib and F8Ib, and has around 6 times the Sun's mass, 2,500 times its luminosity and 45 times its radius. Polaris is the brightest"
"the sky. Different cultures have created different groupings of constellations based on differing interpretations of the more-or-less random patterns of dots in the sky. Constellations were identified without regard to distance to each star, but instead as if they were all dots on a dome. Orion is among the most prominent and recognizable constellations. The Big Dipper (which has a wide variety of other names) is helpful for navigation in the northern hemisphere because it points to Polaris, the north star. The pole stars are special because they are approximately in line with the Earth's axis of rotation so they"
"Dipper in the Great Bear, and the seven major stars of the Pleiades form the ""Galactic Logos,"" (the consciousness of the ""Divine Being"" of the Milky Way Galaxy), and have their ultimate origin within the mind of God. On the local planetary level, it is believed that the seven rays are transmitted from the Solar Logos through the God of our planet, Sanat Kumara, then through the spiritual hierarchy of our planet which includes the ""Masters of Wisdom"" (Some writings term them the Ascended Masters or the Great White Brotherhood). Each of the seven rays is believed to be associated"
"Ursa Minor Ursa Minor (Latin: ""Lesser Bear"", contrasting with Ursa Major), also known as the Little Bear, is a constellation in the Northern Sky. Like the Great Bear, the tail of the Little Bear may also be seen as the handle of a ladle, hence the North American name, Little Dipper: seven stars with four in its bowl like its partner the Big Dipper. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Ursa Minor has traditionally been important for navigation, particularly by mariners, because of Polaris being"
"The Plough and the Stars The Plough and the Stars is a four-act play by the Irish writer Seán O'Casey that was first performed on February 8, 1926 at the Abbey Theatre. It is set in Dublin and addresses the 1916 Easter Rising. The play's title references the Starry Plough flag which was used by the Irish Citizen Army. It is the third play of O'Casey's well-known ""Dublin Trilogy"" – the other two being ""The Shadow of a Gunman"" (1923) and ""Juno and the Paycock"" (1924). The first two acts take place in November 1915, looking forward to the liberation"
"α UMi, δ UMi, ε UMi, ζ UMi, η UMi, θ UMi, λ UMi) and 北極 ""Běijí"" (Northern Pole) (including β UMi and γ UMi). Ursa Minor is bordered by Camelopardalis to the west, Draco to the west, and Cepheus to the east. Covering 256 square degrees, it ranks 56th of the 88 constellations in size. Ursa Minor is colloquially known in the US as the Little Dipper because its seven brightest stars seem to form the shape of a dipper (ladle or scoop). The star at the end of the dipper handle is Polaris. Polaris can also be found"
"Flag of Alaska The flag of Alaska consists of eight gold stars, forming the Big Dipper and Polaris, on a dark blue field. The Big Dipper is an asterism in the constellation Ursa Major which symbolizes a bear, an animal indigenous to Alaska. As depicted on the flag, its stars can be used as a guide by the novice to locate Polaris and determine true north, which varies considerably from a magnetic north. The design was created by Benny Benson of Seward and selected from among roughly 700 entries in a 1927 contest. More than 30 years before Alaska was"
"Epsilon Ursae Majoris Epsilon Ursae Majoris (ε Ursae Majoris, abbreviated Epsilon UMa, ε UMa), also named Alioth, is (despite being designated 'epsilon') the brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Major, and at magnitude 1.77 is the thirty-second-brightest star in the sky. It is the star in the tail of the bear closest to its body, and thus the star in the handle of the Big Dipper (Plough) closest to the bowl. It is also a member of the large and diffuse Ursa Major moving group. Historically, the star was frequently used in celestial navigation in the maritime trade, because"
"Epsilon Ursae Majoris Epsilon Ursae Majoris (ε Ursae Majoris, abbreviated Epsilon UMa, ε UMa), also named Alioth, is (despite being designated 'epsilon') the brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Major, and at magnitude 1.77 is the thirty-second-brightest star in the sky. It is the star in the tail of the bear closest to its body, and thus the star in the handle of the Big Dipper (Plough) closest to the bowl. It is also a member of the large and diffuse Ursa Major moving group. Historically, the star was frequently used in celestial navigation in the maritime trade, because"
"Polaris is also known as the North Star, and is generically called a pole star or lodestar. Polaris is only visible during fair weather at night to inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere. The asterism ""Big Dipper"" may be used to find Polaris. The 2 corner stars of the ""pan"" (those opposite from the handle) point above the top of the ""pan"" to Polaris. While observers in the Northern hemisphere can use the star Polaris to determine the Northern celestial pole, the Octans constellation's South Star is hardly visible enough to use for navigation. For this reason, the preferred alternative is"
"for the constellation ""Leo"" could be mistaken for ""Leo Minor"" (abbreviated ""LMi""), and ""Tri"" for ""Triangulum"" could be mistaken for ""Triangulum Australe"" (abbreviated ""TrA""). For help with the literary English pronunciations, see the . There is considerable diversity in how Latinate names are pronounced in English. For traditions closer to the original, see Latin spelling and pronunciation. Various other unofficial patterns exist alongside the constellations. These are known as ""asterisms"". Examples include the Big Dipper/Plough and the Northern Cross. Some ancient asterisms, for example Coma Berenices, Serpens, and portions of Argo Navis, are now officially constellations. 88 modern constellations In"