Big Dipper

The "Big Dipper" is perhaps the most famous of all asterisms. Seven bright stars form a dipper-shaped pattern in the northern sky. The Big Dipper includes the stars Merak and Dubhe, which are the pointer stars to Polaris, the North Star. The Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It is visible in the evening sky from March to August from Northern hemisphere locations. It appears too far north to be seen from the Southern Hemisphere.