What's the story behind Polaris and Big Dipper?

The position of Polaris and the Big Dipper.

Polaris is a star located near the north celestial pole. Because it is almost on the earth's axis of rotation, people in the northern hemisphere can see it in the northern sky all year round. People can also use it to guide the way. The easiest way to find the North Star is through the Big Dipper. From the outermost second star (Tian Xuan) on the Big Dipper (spoon) to the 1 star (Shu Tian) outside the Big Dipper, you can see a bright light, which is the North Star. Polaris is the main star of Ursa minor. The Big Dipper is the main star of Ursa major. See figure g.

Second, the story of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor

First, introduce Polaris. In ancient China, due to the special position of Polaris, people regarded the whole Arctic region as a symbol of kingship. That is, Sanyuan (pronounced yuán) means Ziweiyuan, Taiweiyuan and Tianshiyuan. (Is the name familiar? There are more names you are familiar with, don't say you don't know that these are all from our ancestors. ) Each wall has two stars, the east and the west, which are left and right circle permutation, and its shape is like a wall, so it is called "wall". Ziwei Garden is in the middle, and Taiwei Garden and Tianshi Garden are outside. Ziweiyuan is the middle wall of three yuan, living in the center of the northern sky, so it is also called Zhonggong, or Ziweiyong. Wei Zi Palace means Imperial Palace. Of course, the Polaris in the middle is God (Taiyi God, Hao Hao God, Emperor and God). With the emperor, there will naturally be stars representing harem, illegitimate children, princes and concubines. There are fifteen stars on the left and right walls of Ziweiyuan, which are the palace walls of the Heavenly Palace. Each star is named after the official names of the Zhou and Han Dynasties, such as the Prime Minister, the Guard Officer, the Assistant Minister, and so on. Outside the city wall, there are some facilities for the palace. The emperor should have a chef to eat. There are two kitchens, a paradise kitchen and an inner kitchen. The emperor has a bed for rest, a prison for prisoners and a prison for going to the toilet. There is a Wenchang Palace related to the reputation of literati ... it really exists in the world and in the sky. It is famous that the Big Dipper is also here.

Taiwei Courtyard is the upper wall of Sanyuan, located in the lower northeast of Ziwei Courtyard and south of Beidou. Too small is the meaning of the government. Stars are often named after official names, such as Ting Wei, left law enforcement officer and right law enforcement officer. Shi Tian Wall is a three-dimensional lower wall, which is located in the southeast direction under Wei Zi Wall. It takes the throne as the center and becomes a screen fan. It is "Market" and "Book of Jin"; There is a cloud in Tian Wenzhi: "The emperor leads his ministers to prosper the city. "Therefore, the names of stars are often named after the market names of goods, equipment and business contents, such as the Book of Jin; Tian Yun: The emperor's seat is yin and yang, and the fight is quantity. Welcome to fight for measuring solids, while barrels fight for measuring liquids. It lists the "goods representing Baoyu", Baoyu's exclusive market, the "main goods area" of the car shop, the commodity market, the "city government" of the tower, the main market price, law, money and jade.

The Big Dipper corresponds to the seven-star god worshipped by Taoism-the King of the Big Dipper. The fourth star from 1 in the Big Dipper is the first star, and the fifth to seventh stars are spoons, which make a bucket. 1-7 are called Shu Tian, Tian Xuan, Tianji (machine), Tian Quan, Yuheng, Lvyang and Yaoguang respectively. "Huang Lao Jing" said: Shu Tianxing, headed by Beidou, is the soul of Yangming Star; The next day, the star will be the soul of the Yin essence star. On the third day, the star is the soul of the real star; On the fourth day, the right star, then the spirit of the mysterious star is also fine; The fifth jade star is the spirit of Dan Yuanxing; The sixth rising star in Ran Ran is Polaris spirit; The seventh light star, the soul of the star is bright. In addition to the above seven names, there are seven other names, which say, "Kaiyang is a treasure, so there are auxiliary wings." It's easy to name Beidou in battle: Pojun first, Wu Qu second, Lian Zhen third, Wen Qu fourth, Lucun fifth, Giant Gate sixth, Wolf Greed seventh. Ancient times attached great importance to the role of the Big Dipper. Historical records? "The Official Book of Heaven" said: "The Big Dipper, the so-called' balance of spin, power and jade, is the same as Zheng'. ..... fight for the emperor,

There is an old story about the North Pole and the Big Dipper: Mrs. Ziguang thinks that the lotus flower has turned into the Big Dipper. According to legend, Dawn Yuan Junyuan was originally the concubine of Zhou Yu, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and her name was "Lady Ziguang". She is clever and kind. "I swear that I made a wish in the dust robbery, and I would like to have a son to assist Gan Kun and benefit nature." According to myths and legends, at some time in spring, she played games in the backyard, went to the edge of Wenyu Pool in Jinlian and went in for a bath. "I suddenly felt that I developed nine packages of lotus flowers in time and transformed nine children. The second eldest son is the emperor, Emperor Wei Zi; Lao Qi is the star of Wolf-greedy, Giant Gate, Lucun, Wen Qu, Lian Zhen, Wu Qu and Pojun. Whether it is good or evil, it will lead to group feelings. " It is transported in the central government and transported in the four townships. Dividing yin and yang, building four seasons, all five elements, shifting degrees and setting disciplines are all tied together with fighting. "by

It is called "Seven Politics" and refers to spring, autumn, winter, summer, astronomy, geography and humanities. In other words, the movement of heaven and earth in nature, the changes of the four seasons, the distribution of the five elements and the peace of the world are all determined by the Big Dipper.

In ancient Greek myths and legends, there was a beautiful and kind girl named Crystal. Among the fairies around the moon god and the hunting goddess Artemis, she is the most touching one. But she never relied on it. She is always very kind to every partner, and let everyone feel her heartfelt care from time to time. People also like her very much, and everyone has a carefree and happy time together.

Callisto is unique in that there is a resolute character under her gentle appearance. Unlike other fairies, she wandered around the stream all day, strolled in the garden, recited poems and danced. She always wears a mighty hunting suit, carries a bow on her shoulder, and holds A Jin hair, bravely following Al themis to chase wild animals in the mountains and forests. The tiger's roar made all the animals tremble, but it didn't scare her, and the cunning fox couldn't escape her vigorous skill. She became Al themis's most effective and trusted assistant.

On a hot summer day, callisto drove wild animals to a clearing. Hot and tired, she lay in the shade and soon fell into a deep sleep.

All this was seen by Zeus Almighty. In ancient Greek mythology, Zeus was the biggest god in the sky and the father of the gods. He is supreme and admired by all things, but he often does shady things. It is common for him to secretly seduce the goddess in the sky and the beauty on the earth.

Zeus was surprised to see the beautiful Callisto lying on the green grass, and he naturally refused to miss such an opportunity. He flew down from the clouds and became the image of Al themis. He approached Crystal gently and held her in his arms. Crystal woke up from her dream and was inexpressibly happy to see Artemis in this remote place. Was about to stand up and continue hunting with themis when Zeus suddenly showed his true colors. Poor callisto was unprepared. She fought hard, but to no avail. After all, Zeus is omnipotent. Although Callisto has the ability to subdue dragons and tigers, it still can't escape Zeus' clutches.

Zeus proudly returned to the Heavenly Palace. As the master of the universe, he will naturally not be punished or rewarded. Unfortunately, it can only be innocent Callisto! She wiped away her tears and silently returned to everyone. I can't tell you how painful I am, but I have to smile in front of everyone. However, old Callisto will never see it again. She always lowers her head and looks at the ground in shame; The smile on his face disappeared, and he often sat silently away from everyone; When hunting, I don't have the courage and aura to watch the prey slip away from my eyes.

To make matters worse, she found herself pregnant. No matter how to hide it, finally one day, everyone still knows the secret. Artemis, who knew nothing about it, was furious. Although she regarded Crystal as her daughter, she couldn't restrain her anger and drove her out of the hunting ground.

Helpless callisto built a thatched shed deep in the forest and settled down. He can no longer see the laughter of his sisters and hear the call of the goddess. Soon after, she gave birth to a boy and named him Arcaz, which became a little sustenance in her life.

Zeus thought it was secret and no one would know. However, when God also miscalculated, his wife Hera, the queen of God, heard about it. Hera was born in a noble family and was arrogant since childhood. Even Zeus sometimes had to respect her. Zeus did such an ugly thing behind her back. Little Achatz was born and was walking with his mother! Hera, who has always been uncompromising, is going crazy. She vowed to punish Crystal with her magic and let her know the majesty of Tianhou.

Hera came to the woodland where Crystal lived and swore at her as soon as she saw her. Regardless of Crystal's pleading, she threw her to the ground by pulling her hair and said cruelly, "I'm going to ruin your beauty so that you can't be charming anymore!" "

While speaking, Hera secretly cast a spell. Suddenly, Callisto's snow-white arm grew long and thick black hair, delicate fingers turned into sharp claws, and delicate red lips suddenly turned into maw. Hera is still not Japanese. She was afraid that Crystal's prayer would be heard by Zeus, so she was deprived of the ability to speak and turned the silvery voice into a dull roar. In a blink of an eye, the angelic Callisto disappeared forever and she became a big bear.

Poor Crystal wanted to cry, but she kept wailing, lamenting her tragic fate and cursing the heartless Zeus. Once upon a time, the heroic hunter has become a beast chased by hunters, hiding in the deep mountains and forests all day, and there is no peaceful time in the past.

Time flies, fifteen years have passed. Little Achatz grew up to be a beautiful young man, as brave and determined as his mother, and became an excellent hunter. One day, Hera happened to meet Achatz. The son of her enemy is so handsome. More than ten years ago, the evil spirit came to my mind, and a deadly trap was born in her heart.

One day, Achatz was looking for prey in the forest with a pike in his hand. Suddenly, a big bear came slowly towards him. This bear is Callisto. She recognized that the brave hunter in front of her was the little Achatz she had been missing for fifteen years. She excitedly ran to hug her baby.

God, how could Achatz think that this bear in front of him is his mother who has been lost for fifteen years! Seeing such a big bear coming at him, he flashed back excitedly, raised his spear and stabbed the bear with all his strength.

Seeing a tragedy is about to happen. Fortunately, Zeus, who was touring the sky at this time, saw this scene. He really couldn't bear to let his son kill his mother himself. So he turned Achatz into a bear with a little magic. In this way, little Achatz immediately recognized his mother. He came running affectionately and snuggled up in his mother's arms, and the mother and son were happily reunited.

In order not to let the mother and son suffer any more accidents, Zeus lifted them to the sky and gave them two brilliant positions among the stars, namely Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, which shone brilliantly in the northern sky.

Hera stole the chicken and wasted the rice. She was furious, but she couldn't anger Zeus, so she sent a hunter with two fierce hounds to chase the two bears. This hunter is the shepherd in the sky, and the two hounds he leads are the dog constellation.

The ancient Greeks saw this big bear wandering in the sky every night and never fell below the horizon. They think this must be Hera's trick again. It turned out that Hera sent hunters and hounds to chase the bear mother and son, but she still wouldn't give up. She came to the blue sea again and asked her brother Poseidon for help. Poseidon listened to his sister's story and agreed to her request. So we can see that other constellations have the phenomenon of rising east and setting west. Once in a while, they sank below the horizon and went to Poseidon's territory to rest. Except for two bears. But fortunately, Crystal can stay with her Achatz all the time, so that Hera won't come up with any bad ideas.

Third, the knowledge of this constellation.

Polaris (bear α, dog Chen Yi, scientific name: Polaris): Polaris is the brightest star closest to the north celestial pole, with a difference of 45' from the North Pole, so it is called Polaris. Polaris is of great significance in production and life, especially when the productivity level in ancient times was low. However, Polaris is not always in the North Pole, because the earth's axis of rotation is also slowly swinging periodically. Therefore, the position of the sky pointed by the north pole of the earth's rotation axis naturally changed. It can be seen that the "throne" of Polaris also has the possibility of taking turns to sit in the village. Astronomers have made it clear for a long time that 4800 years ago, Polaris was not the present alpha star of Ursa minor, but the alpha star of Draco called right pivot in ancient China. At that time, the right fulcrum won the honor of Polaris. By the year 1000, that is, the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty in China, the sky referred to by the North Pole of the earth was still 6 degrees away from the current Polaris Ursa minor.

Apparent magnitude: 1.98 (Apparent magnitude, distance and luminosity are all data on the sky map).

Distance: 43 1 26 light years

Brightness: 2290 282 x the brightness of the sun.

Surface temperature: 5986K

Xiong α (Shu Tian, Pojun):

Apparent magnitude: 2.02

Distance: 124 2 light years

Brightness: 18 1 7 x solar luminosity.

Xiong β (Tian Xuan, Wu Quxing):

Apparent magnitude: 2.35

Distance: 79.4 1. 1 light year

Brightness: 55.2 1.6 x solar luminosity.

Bear γ (cat):

Apparent magnitude: 2.39

Distance: 83.7 1.4 light years

Brightness: 59.0±2.0 x the brightness of the sun.

Xiong δ (Tianquan, Wenquxing):

Apparent magnitude: 3.29

Distance: 8 1.4 1.2 light years

Brightness: 24.4 0.7 times that of the sun.

Bear ε (Yuheng):

Apparent magnitude: 1.76

Distance: 80.9 1.2 light years

Brightness: 98.7±3.0 x the brightness of the sun.

Xiong Zeta (Kaiyang):

Apparent magnitude: 2.22

Distance: 78.2 1. 1 light year

Brightness: 60.2 1.7 x solar luminosity.

Kaiyang is a famous binary star. Its companion star (Xiong 80) was named "Fu" in ancient China, with an angular distance of 1 1'49 "and a brightness of 3.95. In ancient times, the army used these binary stars to test soldiers' eyesight. It seems to have been used both at home and abroad.

Bear η (Yao Guang, Wolverine Star):

Apparent magnitude: 1.85

Distance: 10 1 2 light years

Brightness: 14 1 6 x solar luminosity.

There are many beautiful deep space objects near the North Pole. (See Figure G) There are still some things I don't remember clearly. Please add them with your friends. I won't say the specific location, please use the electronic map to find it (just press Alt+D in skymap).

Name: M 8 1

Celestial body type: galaxy

Magnitude: 7.8

Surface brightness: 12.3 equivalent/square arc minute.

Size: 24.9 inches x 1 1.5 inches

Name: M 82

Celestial body type: galaxy

Magnitude: 9.2

Surface brightness: 1 1.8 equivalent/square arc minute.

Size: 10.5'x5. 1'

Name: M 10 1

Celestial body type: galaxy

Magnitude: 8.2

Surface brightness: 14.0 equivalent/square arc minute.

Size: 28.5 inches x28.3 inches

Name: M 102

Celestial body type: galaxy

Magnitude: 10.8

Surface brightness: 1 1.8 equivalent/square arc minute.

Size: 6.5 inches x3. 1 inch

Name: M 108

Celestial body type: galaxy

Magnitude: 10.6

Surface brightness: 13.3 equivalent/square arc minute.

Size: 8.6 inches x2.4 inches

Name: M 109

Celestial body type: galaxy

Magnitude: 10.6

Surface brightness: 13.5 equivalent/square arc minute.

Size: 7.5 inches x4.4 inches

Name: M 97

Common name: owl nebula

Type of celestial body: planetary nebula

Magnitude: 12.0

Size: 3.2 feet

The Big Dipper is the main part of Ursa Major, but there are also Ursa Minor and a Little Dipper. Why? The following are fairy tales.

A long time ago, a panda gave birth to a baby panda. The little panda grew up healthily under the careful care of her mother, grew up gradually and followed her mother everywhere. One day, the mother and son went out to play, the little panda was playful and played hide-and-seek with his mother. Mother panda couldn't find the little panda for a while, but suddenly she heard the cry of the little panda. Mother panda followed the sound to find it. It turns out that the little panda fell into a trap, and fell into a hunter's trap. The poor little panda was caught easily like this.

When the mother panda saw it, she rushed up and cried and begged the hunter not to hurt her child. If she wanted to take it away, she would take it away by herself. The hunter wouldn't give up if he caught such a treasure, but he couldn't bear to hear the mother panda's pleading, so he let the little panda go, but took the mother panda away.

The little panda is even sadder. He followed the hunter, but he couldn't catch up with him. He ran around looking for his mother. The poor little panda got lost and couldn't find his way home, let alone where his mother was. The little panda was surprised and hungry, but did not dare to shout loudly. His mother told him that many fierce beasts would come out to eat small animals when it was dark.

So the little panda spent the night in fear and fatigue. The next day, he went to see his mother again, but the little panda didn't know how to get there. Instead, he got lost and got farther and farther away from home, but he didn't know it. He just wants to find his mother.

A few days later, the little panda was tired and hungry, and could no longer walk. He cried so sadly that he was tired. Maybe he was more tired after crying for so long, and the little panda fell asleep in a daze. This time, the little panda dreamed of her mother. Her mother told Panda that she was killed soon after being caught by the hunter, but her soul was not at ease with Panda, so she came back to see Panda. Although his mother died, the little panda loves his mother very much and he won't let her leave. Crying makes the listener sad and the listener tears. The gods were moved, so they raised the mother panda to the gods and turned it into a constellation to guide the little panda home.

So the Big Dipper can show the way, that's why. Later, the little panda died and became a bear constellation, reunited with her mother.