Little And Big Dipper
The Big Dipper is one of the most distinctive asterisms in the sky, also known as the Ursa Major or the Great Bear. The Big Dipper is a group of seven bright stars, three that form a handle and four that form a bowl. Fugitive slaves before the Civil War knew it as “the drinking gourd”, a signpost in the sky pointing the way north to safety, to Canada where slavery was outlawed. In 1926, when Alaska had to create its own flag, they used the big dipper and the North Star as a design for their flag. It is a piece of Stone Age culture thought to be at least 8,000 to 12,000 years old. In different countries, the Big Dipper has a different name. For instance, In Ireland it was called the “King Davids Chariot,” from one of that islands early kings. In France, it was the “Great Chariot.” And in the British Isles these seven stars are known widely as “The Plough.”
The Little Dipper is a constellation reflecting and being the smaller version of the Big Dipper. It can be found by looking directly up from the two outermost stars which form the bowl on the Big
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