Constellation tour in Spring
Ursa Major (The Big Bear)


Click on image to enlarge

Date & Time: Apr 25 2020, from 22:10 to 22:28 JST(+0900)
Composed 5 shots with 3 minutes exposed
Optical: TAMRON 17-35mm Di OSD (f=17mm, stop: F3.2)
with Kenko PRO Softon[A] filter
Auto-guided with EYEBELL CD-1 portable Equatorial
Digital Camera: Canon EOS 6D (Remodeled)
Location: Hitachi-oota city, Ibaraki pref.

Camera Settings: Recording Format...14bit CCD-RAW, converted to 16bit TIFF(5472×3648)
Sensitivity...ISO1600




Astroarts StellaNavigator
The Big Bear, Ursa Major, is the third largest constellation in the skies, seen at northern sky in evening of spring. The constellation has no first magnitude stars, but the Big Dipper that forms the bear's tail is a rough guide on the clarity of the evening's sky. You can find out the Polaris by expanding five-times a link from β UMa (Merak) to α UMa (Dubhe) that form the ladle of the Big Dipper.
Although Ursa Major contains no bright celestial objects, it has plenty of galaxies in outer space.
This image has been cropped with an equivalent focal length of 28mm.



Guide for Deep Sky Objects

M40 .....A double star about 1.5 deg. NE of delta UMa
M81, M82 .....Pair Galaxies above the head of Bear, 18 million ly. away
M97(Owl Nebula) .....Round planetary nebula 2 degrees East of Beta Ursae Majoris
Pinwheel Galaxy M101 .....Face-on Galaxy 4 degree East of Mizar, 22 million ly. away
M108 .....Irregular galaxy 2 degrees East of Beta Ursae Majoris
M109 .....Compact galaxy 40 minutes SE of gamma UMa, 41 million ly. away
NGC2654 .....Edge-on galaxy located 2.4 deg. east of οUMa at the nose of Big Bear
NGC2685 .....A small "Polar Ring Galaxy" positioned at the mouth of Big Bear
NGC2742, NGC2768 .....Spiral & elliptic galaxies at the throat of Big Bear
NGC2787 .....Small galaxy positioned 3deg west of M81 & M82
Around NGC2805 .....Medium galaxy and companions in head of Ursa Major
NGC2841 .....A spiral galaxy at the tip of Big Bear's forefoot
Around NGC2857 .....Three paralleling small galaxies 3 deg. SW of theta UMa.
NGC3079 .....At the root of hindleg, a bit warped edge-on galaxy
NGC3184 .....At the tip of hindleg, a dimmed face-on galaxy
NGC3198 .....Medium sized spiral galaxy at the tip of hind leg of Big Bear
NGC3310 .....Face-on galaxy with bright nucleus & dimmed arms in SW of beta UMa
NGC3319 .....Medium-scaled but faint barred galaxy at 3deg. east of mu UMa
NGC3359 .....Medium spiral galaxy at 2.5deg. NW of α UMa
Around NGC3619 .....Three medium-scaled galaxies floating in the square of Big Dipper
NGC3631 .....Spiral Galaxy in 5deg. west of gamma UMa, 70 millions ly away
NGC3642 .....Spiral galaxy in the Big Dipper, 90million ly away
NGC3675 .....Small spiral galaxy between hind legs of Big Bear, 40 million ly. away
Arp299 (NGC3690, IC694) .....Small coliding galaxy pair in the Big Dipper
Arp205 (NGC3448) .....An irregular galaxy in 3deg. SSW of beta UMa.
NGC3718, NGC3729 .....Two bared-galaxies 3deg. west of gamma UMa
NGC3726 .....A medium sized spiral in 2deg. WSW of chi UMa, 55 million ly away
Around NGC3733, NGC3756, Abell 1318 .....Medium-scaled galaxies & a galaxy cluster at 3deg. WNW of gamma UMa
NGC3877 .....6'-long spiral galaxy at 17' south of χUMa
Around NGC3898, Abell 1377 .....Three galaxies and neighboring galaxy cluster in the square of Big Dipper
NGC3938 .....Well-proportioned face-on galaxy in 4deg. SE of chi UMa, 55 million ly away
NGC3945 .....Inconspicuous bared galaxy between alpha and delta UMa
NGC3953 .....Medium-sized bared galaxy 1.3 deg. south from gamma UMa
Around NGC3972 .....Small galaxies scattered at 2deg. north of γ UMa
NGC4036, NGC4041 .....Lenticular & spiral galaxies paralleling at north of Big Dipper
NGC4051 .....A seyfert galaxy at the hind leg of Big Bear.
NGC4088 .....An unique-shaped spiral between M106 & M109
NGC4096 .....Medium-scaled spiral galaxy at 3.4deg. east of chi UMa, 25 million ly away
NGC4100 .....Medium-scaled spiral galaxy at 3.7deg. NE of chi UMa, 65 million ly away
NGC4157 .....Small edge-on galaxy lying between M106 & M109
NGC5204 .....A magellanic irregular spiral at 3.5deg. north of Mizar, 14.5 million ly. away
NGC5216, NGC5218(Arp104) .....Interacting galactic pair near a border to Draco, 17 million ly. away
NGC5322 .....Medium elliptical galaxy near a border to Draco in NE region
Around NGC5389 .....An edge-on and surrounding small galaxies floating at 6.3deg. NE of Mizar
NGC5474 .....An indistinct spiral lying 44 arc minutes south of M101
NGC5585 .....Medium-sized spiral galaxy in 4deg. NE of M101
IC2574 .....A large but dimmed irregular galaxy in northern region of UMa
Mayall's Object(Arp 148) .....Small clliding galaxy at 3.8deg. SSW of ψUMa, 450 million ly away
UGC4305(Holmberg II) .....Dwarf galaxy in NW edge, 11 million ly away
Abell 1185 .....Galaxy cluster at a border to Leo, 430 millions ly away
Around Abell 1616 .....Small galaxy cluster & surrounding tiny galaxies at 1.5deg. SW if epsilon UMa.
Molecular Cloud around M81, M82 .....Distribution of dimmed inter-stellar gaseous matter around northwest of M81 & M82




Leo

The Big Dipper


Copyright(c) 2020 by Naoyuki Kurita, All rights reserved.
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