Lynx, is the constellation which is towards west of Ursa Major constellation. If you move your eyes towards east, you will see other constellations named Bootes and Canes Ventaci. In the North of Ursa Major, you will find Camelopardalis and Draco while in South, Leo Minor and Coma Berenices constellations. Ursa Major is near North Pole, and so is fully part of Northern Hemisphere.
It covers up 1280 square degree area of the sky. Area wise it is 3rd largest constellation in the sky.
We can gaze at this shape of Ursa Major constellation from December to June, as seen from India.
Ursa Major
All you need is your naked eyes other than clear skies to see 223 stars of this constellations, as they are the one which are brighter than the lower limit of our naked eyes (i.e. 6.5 apparent magnitude) to see faintest stars. The brightest star of this constellation is Alioth. The Hindu name is Angiras who is a Vedic rishi.
Constellations are made up of single, binary (apparent and absolute), multiple and variable stars. Out of total 223 stars of different types, here is the list of 20 brightest stars as per their nature:
In Indian mythology, it is said that when Rishis and Philosophers first saw Saptarishi (Ursa Major constellation) which is named as Saptarishi by them, actually looked like a shape of seven sages. Actually, there are many stories associated with Saptarishi. But one of them is that, seven stars of mandal are named as Kratu (Dubhe),Pulaha (Merak), Pulastya (Phecda), Atri (Megrez), Angiras (Alioth), Vasistha (Mizar), Marichi (Alkaid).
Deep Sky Objects…
Bode’s Galaxy or M81 || Spiral Galaxy
Pinwheel Galaxy or M101 || Spiral Galaxy
M82 or Cigar Galaxy || Starburst Galaxy
Owl Nebula or M97 || Planetary Nebula
All the stars that we see naked eyes, all belong to our own, Milky way galaxy (Akash Ganga Tara Vishv). Bright stars can be seen naked eye and faint one through telescope. But the curtain of sky that we see in 2D is actually a huge universe we are talking about, with 3 dimension. There are many nebulous objects visible in every constellations. They differ widely by distances and nature. Like Emission Nebula, Reflecting Nebula, Absorption Nebula, Star Birth Nebula, Supernova Remnants (SNR) and Open Starscluster which are within the disk of our own Milky Way galaxy. Globular cluster are also found, which are in the halo of our galaxy and some most distant objects like galaxies are also visible through telescope. Such objects are defined as “Deep Sky Objects”.
In this constellation there are 514 such different types of Deep Sky Objects observed. Below is the list of 20 brightest Deep Sky Objects:
NGC 5474 || Dwarf Galaxy
Polaris Alpha Ursae Minoris system || Star System
M108 or NGC 3556 || Spiral Galaxy
M109 or NGC 3992 || Spiral Galaxy
towards east, you will see other constellations named Bootes and Canes Ventaci. In the North of Ursa Major, you will find Camelopardalis and Draco while in South, Leo Minor and Coma Berenices constellations. Ursa Major is near North Pole, and so is fully part of Northern Hemisphere.
constellation) which is named as Saptarishi by them, actually looked like a shape of seven sages. Actually, there are many stories associated with Saptarishi. But one of them is that, seven stars of mandal are named as Kratu (Dubhe),Pulaha (Merak), Pulastya (Phecda), Atri (Megrez), Angiras (Alioth), Vasistha (Mizar), Marichi (Alkaid).
Bode’s Galaxy or M81 || Spiral Galaxy
Pinwheel Galaxy or M101 || Spiral Galaxy
M82 or Cigar Galaxy || Starburst Galaxy
Owl Nebula or M97 || Planetary Nebula
NGC 5474 || Dwarf Galaxy
Polaris Alpha Ursae Minoris system || Star System
M108 or NGC 3556 || Spiral Galaxy
M109 or NGC 3992 || Spiral Galaxy