Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Tuesday, March 29th.  The sun will rise at 7:29.  It’ll be up for 12 hours and 36 minutes, setting at 8:05.   The moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 5:29 tomorrow morning.

The Big Dipper is now nearly overhead in the northeast at 10 p.m.  The seven bright stars are second to Orion in the southwest as the seven brightest stars in a constellation.  If you looked up a list of constellations, you’d find that the Big Dipper isn’t there.  Ursa Major or the Great Bear is the constellation of which the Big Dipper is a part.  The seven bright stars of the dipper is the rump and long tail of this constellation.  The rest of the bear, including his head and legs are delineated by dimmer stars.    An anatomical problem is its long tail, which was drawn in by the ancients of the old world.    The American Indians, also saw a bear in the stars here, but the handle of the dipper became three hunters following the bear.

* Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

My rather crude drawing of Ursa Major, the Great Bear