Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Thursday, April 11th.  The sun will rise at 7:04.  It’ll be up for 13 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 8:22.   The moon, 1 day past new, will set at 10:01 this evening.

The Big Dipper is now nearly overhead in the northeast at 10 p.m.  The seven bright stars are second to Orion in the west 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.  Many Native Americans, 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

The Big Dipper part of Ursa Major with Leo right below in spill range. This is for 10 p.m. on April 11, 2013. Created using Stellarium.