File:Big Dipper in Summer (ann22042c-summer).jpg

Original file(6,016 × 4,016 pixels, file size: 7.85 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Summary

edit
Description
English: Image title: Big Dipper in Summer
Author: Giorgia Hofer
Country: ItalyUrsa Minor, the Little Bear, is a constellation of the northern hemisphere, and it contains the northern celestial pole, in our current epoch marked by a bright star called Polaris or the Pole Star. For centuries Polaris has been used for navigation in the northern hemisphere, as it has been almost at the exact pole position for roughly 200 years. In the Middle Ages and antiquity, there was no pole star; the celestial north pole lay in a dark region and the Greeks considered the “Little She-Bear” as a companion of the “Great She-Bear”, which is more easily recognizable. The brightest stars of these constellations were alternatively also considered as chariots by the Greeks, as written in Aratus’s famous didactic poem from the 3rd century before the common era. The most famous asterism in Ursa Major, composed of seven stars, has different names across the (northern) world. While considered as a chariot by the Greeks, it is “The Northern Dipper” in China, and “The Seven Oxen” for the ancient Romans.It was also the navigational purpose that led to the name The Great She-Bear, Ursa Major; for the Greeks, travelling towards the direction of the horizon above which Ursa Major appears meant moving towards the land of the bears (northern Europe). An animal is clearly recognizable when taking into account all the fainter stars in the vicinity of the seven bright ones. They considered it a female bear because Greek mythology connects this animal with the nymph Callisto, whose story describes the initiation rituals for women.During the year the relative positions of Ursa Minor and the Big Dipper don’t change, but all stars appear to be moved in a circle around Polaris. This star pointing due north lies at the point where Earth’s rotational axis intersects the celestial sphere. The shift of constellations throughout the year is a globe-clock or a globe-calendar, used by ancient civilizations to measure the year, and to predict the changes of seasons. It helps to establish, for instance, the best time for sowing and sailing as winds change with the seasons.
Date 15 December 2022 (upload date)
Source
This media was produced by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), under the identifier ann22042c-summer.

This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing.

Author Giorgia Hofer/IAU OAE
Other versions

Licensing

edit
This media was created by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
Their website states: "The images, videos and web texts on iau.org are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and may on a non-exclusive basis be reproduced without fee, on the conditions outlined below."

Conditions:

  • The full image, footage or web text credit must be presented in a clear and readable manner to all users, with the wording unaltered (for example: "IAU". The credit should not be hidden or disassociated from the image footage. Links should be active if the credit is online. See the copyright Q&A section for guidance.
  • IAU materials may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by IAU or any IAU employee of a commercial product or service;
  • We suggest a copy of the product sent to us to be indexed in our archive;
  • If an image includes a picture of an identifiable person, using that image for commercial purposes may infringe that person's right of privacy, and separate permission should be obtained from the individual.
To the uploader: You must provide a link (URL) to the original file and the authorship information if available.
w:en:Creative Commons
attribution
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
You are free:
  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
  • attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current22:58, 27 June 2023Thumbnail for version as of 22:58, 27 June 20236,016 × 4,016 (7.85 MB)OptimusPrimeBot (talk | contribs)#Spacemedia - Upload of https://www.iau.org/static/archives/images/large/ann22042c-summer.jpg via Commons:Spacemedia

The following page uses this file:

Metadata